So a Guster novice (Jimmy Zha) and a Guster fan (Seth Perlman) both end up at the concert. Here are their versions of the event, retold...

the setting

Jimmy: "The scene played out like an aspiring young adult's nightmare. I was going to my first real taste of the band, and the concert seemed to be attended entirely by teeny-boppers of the Britney variety. And it was Halloween, so a majority of the teens were dressed in costumes, adding a surreal flavor to an already strange night.What were probably hired actors stood outside the venue with sandwich boards proclaiming "America Will Burn" and handing out humorous pamphlets declaring that God does not play the bongos. The theme of the concert I was to discover later was the end of the millennium. I knew that my friend and I, two newcomers to Guster, might as well settle in for the duration."

Seth: "The Orpheum contained all of the usual signs of the apocalypse: a costumed, junk-tossing and young crowd stranger than one would find at the Rocky Horror Picture Show; a countdown to the end of the millennium-cum-doomsday-inspired Y2K electrical blackout; and the three members of Guster--bedecked in black tie---descending to the stage in special chairs while Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" whipped the crowd into a frenzy."

the crowd

Jimmy: "If you have ever caught a teensploitation at your local neighborhood cineplex, you can probably reproduce the scene in your mind: droves of well-dressed teenage girls scampering around with the excitement of an Energizer bunny, bands of raucous guys in their prep uniforms, worn A&F hat and all, and the occasional older hard-core fan, waiting for their hometown Tufts band to play."

dress sense

Seth: "The tuxedos, while sharp and stylish, seemed to cramp the style of the three happiest men ever to form a band from Somerville."

the audience

Jimmy: "What impressed me the most about the entire night was not necessarily the music, but rather the dynamic between the audience and the band. I gained a certain familiarity with their two mainstays, Barrel of the "Gun and Airport Song," but throughout the set, the audience sang along and echoed with remarkable clarity all the words to the Seth: "The normal amount of bouncing, jumping and frolicking was nowhere to be found; likewise, the audience was not treated to a repeat of Ryan's crowd surfing (to a boisterous rendition of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline") from this summer's Hatch Shell concert. The Guster experience was incomplete in other ways as well; Ryan's classic Gusterspeak was sporadic and completely inaudible from this reporter's balcony seat.