Until Rust is arguably a little known band outside the acoustic lover’s circle that is made up of lead guitarist, Rob Garrett, and lead vocalists Shane deMoss. Their main act involves acoustic renditions of popular songs with a few country-like original songs of their own so their genre is fluid depending on the crowd. On this particular instance in the town square at The Greene, Until Rust was performing from 6pm to 10pm in front of a majorly local crowd charged for the coming summer. Whether they disappointed is still out for debate but this paper reviews their performance during the Live Outdoor Music event on Thursday 14th June at The Greene in Dayton, Ohio.
The ambience was not as charged as one would expect of a music concert. Although the venue was well packed, the audience was composed of a mainly mature age bracket seeking to enjoy the music and outdoor ambience on a warm summer night. This is in contrast to the charged up and raucous rock events that are attended by a less mature age bracket at the same venue. Even before the band stepped up on stage, the atmosphere was calmer than charged with a hint of excitement and typical shouts from the crowd. When the band stepped on stage at around 7 pm, they did not disappoint. The crowd was treated to a series covers of hit song after hit song with the band playing a few of their original works including the highly acclaimed “Hero”. Apart from the normal breaks expected in a 4-hour long performance, there was no disruptive or crowd-related incidences.
Personally, I liked the band’s interaction with the crowd especially as they played a few songs at the request of some crowd members. Shane also kept involving the crowd which was more than happy to sing along t the well known tunes. Another positive point for me was the band’s professionalism. Typically, most music events are marred with shenanigans and out-of-performance activities that reduce performance time and often lead to crowd agitation. However, Until Rust went straight to business when they arrived and played flawlessly for the duration of their performance. However, like any other concert, there are always disgruntled crowd members and in this case although there was no booing, some people kept shouting out requests which owing to time and the band’s playing list could not be taken. Nevertheless, the band acted very professionally about it and successfully downplayed the crude requests from some of the inebriated fans.
Although the event was a success by most standards, for me it was rather disappointing especially considering the kind of genre involved. Both band members were always seated and besides the singing along, there was no active participation like in most country concerts. Further, their performance was more of a routine task and there was hardly any enthusiasm from the band, which explained the uncharged crowd and a very calm ambience. Nevertheless, for most of the revelers, the band met and exceeded expectations in its performance. Overall, the event was enjoyable if you are the kind of person who goes to such events purely for the purpose of listening to the songs and enjoying quality music without the charged up and party-like kind of atmosphere. However, for me it is not something that will be on the top of my summer events list in the near future.