The lead vocalist of Ra Ra Riot Wesley Miles wrapped his arms around bassist Mathieu Santos in the middle of a song Tuesday night – he hugged his chest then began to clap around the bassist’s body. Near them on the stage, the guitarist flailed around on the ground, still playing his part, as the two female string players – on cello and violin – gave each other little shoves.

The six members of Syracuse’s own Ra Ra Riot were not afraid to get close Tuesday during its hour-long show as the group jumped around the Funk ‘n Waffles stage, at times forming one cohesive unit of moshing heads, instruments swinging in every direction.

‘Their stage presence is amazing,’ said Stephanie Aviles, a sophomore public relations major. ‘It’s what separates them from the mediocre and OK bands. It’s just a feeling of their music. It’s alive.’

The performance – Riot’s first official campus show since the death of drummer John Pike – was opened by Sam Buck Rosen, a band big on extended, beat heavy jams and Magic Hour, lead by strong bass and a synthy sound. It was clear from the beginning of the evening the night was about community. Audience members packed in the small underground space of Funk ‘n Waffles early to get coffee, and as Riot’s performance drew near, crammed in as tight as possible to the stage.

The band tried to get as close to each other as it could on stage, often head-butting each other while playing. Riot wanted to connect with the audience too: at one point the bassist fell into the packed-in crowd. And during the second song, Miles actually broke the microphone stand because he swiveled it too far out into the audience. (It was replaced by Funk n’ Waffles owner and SU alumnus Adam Gold, but Miles soon abandoned the stand to jump up and down to his own music.)

‘They are musical lust,’ said Jose Rodriguez, a senior television, radio and film major. ‘It’s a fusion of the girl players and classical instruments and the guys on the drums and guitars.’

The band – comprised of a bass, guitar, keyboard, violin, cello, drums and vocals – played a total of 11 songs, after Miles told the audience that the group would play ‘wink wink’ one more after the ‘finale.’ Its sound was varied between energetic, dance music – the band spent most of its songs moshing on stage – and slower tunes, including one that was a tribute to the late Pike.

The show ended with the entire audience jumping up and down – or at least bobbing their heads – in rhythm with Riot’s jams. The last song was near chaos, as only two members were left standing at the end, the others lying on top of each other on stage, hugging and still playing the last notes on their instruments.

‘I love the energy of them all together,’ said Dina Lopez, a fifth year architecture student, who has seen Riot numerous times at SU and once in London. ‘They work off of each other’s energy and that’s something you don’t get with other bands.’

akalliso@syr.edu

Published on March 4, 2008 at 12:00 pm