Alternative rockers Third Eye Blind hit the artificial turf of Leverone Field House Sunday night to deliver a high-energy 90-minute set that attracted an eclectic audience of Dartmouth undergrads and Hanover High School kids alike.
The San Francisco-based quartet strummed out a crowd-pleasing set list that included such Top 40 radio staples as "Graduate" and "Jumper" from the band's 1997 self-titled debut. While the band introduced two new songs from an upcoming fourth album, frontman Stephen Jenkings gave the audience what it came for -- the music that served as the soundtrack to their pubescent years.
Singing along to the familiar songs in unison, both the giddy teeny-bopping townies (and freshmen) and clusters of fraternity brothers in the crowd enjoyed the nostalgic tunes that transported them back to the age of colored braces, awkward middle school dances and Pogs.
The opening riffs of "Semi-Charmed Life," the band's 1997 hit that won them the Billboard Music Award for Modern Rock Track of the Year, earned the most boisterous audience reaction.
Amid the spacious Field House that made the crowd seem even sparser, the band returned for a three-song encore, which included the well-known "Slow Motion," "1,000 Julys" and "How's It Going to Be?" But to satisfy the more dedicated fans in the crowd, Third Eye Blind snuck more obscure songs, such as "Motorcycle Drive By," into the set list.
"I applied to Dartmouth, but did not get in," noted the talkative frontman, just one example of the tame chit-chat the rocker made between songs. He even expressed gratitude to the kind staff of Baker-Berry Library for allowing his bassist, a senior at a California University, to use the facilities to complete his senior thesis today.
Jenkings explained to the crowd that this month marks the 10th anniversary of the band, leadings to their current mini-tour that includes stops at such Ivy rivals as Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton.
Though Programming Board took flak for the selection of the post-peak band (there is nothing wrong with playing Bar Mitzvahs), concert-goers emptied out of the Field House into the mild May evening feeling satisfied with their $20 ticket purchase. And besides, what else is there to do in Hanover on a Sunday night?
