The Hilltop Was Alive with the Sound of Music on May 1. Rock Bands
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The Hilltop was ali ve with the sound of music on May 1. Rock bands Phantom Pl anet and Motion City Soundtrack headlined the second annual CODERED concert. The Program Council sponsors the CODERED Concert, and Hillto p concert chair Cyndee Ri vera says the event gives students a chance to celebrate the end of the year. "Last year we had a singer, song-writer [Jason Mraz], before that we had a rap per, so this year we thought we 'd bring a band that would put on a rock concert," Ri vera said. The doors of McFarlin Auditorium opened about 7 p.m. A s mall group of fans began to tri ckle in , and only 200 tickets were pre-sold. The event was advertised with full-page ads in The Daily Campus, but most students learned of the event via word of mouth. The show started late at 8: 15 p.m. and the pit was closed to the a udience. Although the a udience filled the front section of seats, the five-foot di stance be tween audience and artist was just too much. So opening act Phantom Planet decided to do something about it. After the first three songs, Phantom Planet lead sin ger Alexander Greenwald invited the a udience to sit on the front portion of the stage and to fill the pit. De spite security's displeasure, fans were happy to obl ige. Instantl y, the audience and the band were recharged with new excitement and energy. Greenwald pl ayed in between the fans; he invited a student to strum his guitar, and drummer Jeff Conrad tossed hi s sti cks in to the crowd. During the band 's biggest hi t, "California," the microphone was placed in between the fans, making the song just as much the audience's as the band's. With few people familiar with the band 's music and the a uditorium more empty than full, Phantom Planet's perfo rm ance could easily have been ordinary. Instead, the 45-minute set was "a lot of fun," according to Greenwald a nd to the audience's consistent applause. The intermission between acts was more than an hour because of Motion City Soundtrack's technical difficulties. During the wait, lead singer Justin Pierre mingled with the a udience. Impati ence got the best of some as they left the auditorium , but for those who could wait until 10 p. m., Motion City Soundtrack performed an energetic and exciting show. The group started the set with the single of their sophomore album , "Every thing is Alright," which proved to be the theme of the evening. Despite the low turnout and technical difficulties, the music saved the evening and everything was all right. -Sommer Saadi .