Rap and rock clash at the Tweeter Center
- O.A.R., Little Brother, Nov. 26, 2005, Camden, NJ
- O.A.R. rocks the house, but it's rap artist Little Brother that helps bring it home.
I’ve often wondered, what makes a concert great?
Is it simply the joy of listening to the music live? Or, is it the electric combination of sound and atmosphere blended together to create an unforgettable sensory experience?
Fans of the jam band O.A.R. might tell you it’s definitely the music, but after finally seeing them in concert I can tell you it’s much more than that.
Jam bands like O.A.R. are a dying breed driven by the old-fashioned notion that music should be created solely and entirely by instruments, and not machine. The sanctity of sound for bands like them is never sullied by the mechanical and otherwise artificial excesses of computer-driven harmonies, frankly because they never rely on any.
Their sound is pure rhythm and melody, the way our rock and roll forefathers intended it. Which makes comprehending O.A.R.’s choice of an opening act, Little Brother – a North Carolina hard-core Rap/Hip-Hop outfit – all the more perplexing.
Kicking off the night with a pair of oversized black rappers busting rhymes while a DJ spun a fat beat on dual turntables was not how I envisioned my first O.A.R. experience. Nor was I alone in my incredulity. A stunned silence might best sum up the reaction of the Tweeter Center crowd when Little Brother took the stage, but that soon changed. 
A few boos could be heard along with chants of “O.A.R.” before Little Brother started winning the crowd over. Using audience interaction, rapper MCs Phonte and Big Pooh implored the crowd to join them at the stage while DJ 9th Wonder continued to mix a tasty beat. With a sizable clique of risk-takers now accumulating at their feet, Little Brother began weaving together a delectable sound of raunchy Hip-Hop rhymes, converting audience members with every profanity laden lyric. Before you knew it, the stage was cluttered with what looked like a collection of Abercrombie & Fitch’s best male models gyrating like old-school rap fanatics. (Sure, they were poseurs, but in a good way.) A more bizarre scene straight out of the “Twilight Zone” I could not imagine.
Asking myself what dimension I was now in, it all became apparent that the intent of the unlikely pairing of bands was to cross-promote and expose fans to different musical genres. As I thrust my hand in the air during one of Little Brother’s more invigorating beats, I realized just how well it was working.
Never a huge follower of rap, I was pleasantly surprised at how well Little Brother was able to work the predominantly white crowd at the Tweeter Center and integrate them into the show. Their on-stage energy was contagious as they quickly turned what could have been a hostile crowd in their favor. During their 40-minute set, Little Brother did what an opening act is supposed to do, and that’s warm the audience up, which I never suspected they could do when first taking the stage.
Thanks to them, not only had my live musical boundaries been widened (my first and last rap show? Probably not!), but my first O.A.R. experience was off to a rousing start, and I hadn’t even heard a lick from the band I had come to see.
That would be remedied about 25 minutes later when the Maryland-based band joined the party. A standing ovation fit for a king spoke volumes of the reverence afforded O.A.R., and as they mounted the stage and the first few notes of “Lay Down” were queued, the rabid audience of white middle class America was sent into an all-out frenzy.
As taut as a tethered rope, the band cut through one of their more popular ditties like a surgeon through skin, emanating a sound so clean it was exhilarating. Where other bands like Pavement embrace a wave of distortion on par with static, O.A.R. seems to bask in the polar opposite. Crystal clear in delivery, the band’s live sound is so crisp I had difficulty picking up deviations from the produced and packaged CD studio version.
Is it live or is it Memorex? The hell if I could tell!
Segueing into “Wonderful Day,” O.A.R. turned it up a notch as did the throngs of young people around me. Everywhere, kids in soft hats and Aeropostale lacrosse pullovers danced in place or whisked off to the aisles for more room to express themselves. Pints of beer were spilled as party people swayed, a blow lessened in severity by the sheer amount of free buzz available through the air.
By the end of their second song, enough time had elapsed for many other bands to conclude a show, a tribute to O.A.R.’s affinity for the jam.
Front man and guitarist Marc Roberge next led the band through a juiced-up cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The 59th Street Bridge Song” deftly disguising familiar chords just enough to leave most people in the dark regarding its origin. The song’s trademark verse “Feelin’ groovy!” however set the crowd at ease.
The Simon and Garfunkel cover was followed by rousing versions of “City on Down,” “Someone in the Road” and three other favorites before O.A.R. decided to take a well-deserved breath and let the crowd come down a bit. With a soothing rendition of “Black Rock” sparked up, so, too, did the crowd. Generous wafts of mother nature ascended the Tweeter Center just as quickly as you could say “pee break,” and suddenly I’m strolling down memory lane back to my first concert in 1989, a Grateful Dead show at the Nassau Coliseum. 
Though the tempo of the music had dissipated a bit, the hunger for it had not and the audience – those, of course, not trying to dig a bit of herb on the down low – remained voracious, dancing and flashing lighters and cell phones through the darkness. The mid-set lull continued with “So Moved On,” “Tonight” and “Mr. Moon” until “Whose Chariot?” kicked the party back into high gear. By the time O.A.R. had finished the set with one of their best jams, “Hey Girl,” the crowd had reached a fever pitch I had rarely ever experienced at a live show before.
Of course, that was before the encore.
After 90 exhaustive minutes playing and a brief intermission, Roberge and Co. were back for more. The encore would be but two songs – in no way brief – and opened with the haunting acoustic ditty “Dakota” before giving way and ultimately wrapping up with their marquee song, “That Was A Crazy Game of Poker.” Joined, in a bit of a surprise twist, by the opening act Little Brother, O.A.R. united into one two musical styles with extremely stark contrasts. Harkening back to the day when Run D.M.C. and Aerosmith joined forces to cover “Walk This Way,” the eclectic mix of O.A.R. and Little Brother hammering out in varying musical degrees the same song was surreal.
When a musical experience can both surprise and challenge the senses the way this one did, you know it’s got to be good one. Kudos to O.A.R. and Little Brother for putting on one of the best shows I’ve seen a long while.
