3OH!3 concert review

Kelby Wingert/Iowa State Daily

Nathaniel Motte and Sean Foreman of 3OH!3 performed at Wooly’s in Des Moines on Friday, Nov. 1. The duo performed songs from their 2007 self-titled album in addition to music from their newer albums of “Want,” “Streets of Gold” and “Omens.”

Celeste Welshhons

3OH!3 accompanied by The Summer Set, Wallpaper and New Beat Fund created a sold out dance party central at Wooly’s on Friday night, Nov. 1.

The show started off at least 15 minutes before the listed start time with a punk band hailing from Los Angeles, New Beat Fund. After a few brief words, the band made the announcement that their first song would be about Miley Cyrus’ butt cheeks. Thus, the show had started.

This opener did its job warming up the audience, because when Wallpaper took the stage, fans went wild. Their poppy hip-hop dance style had everybody dancing within the first song, and then throughout the rest of their performance. The song “Hesher” was one of the most well received songs of the entire night.

The interlude between Wallpaper and The Summer Set seemed exceptionally long. To help kill time, fans sang along to many of the latest hits such as Katy Perry’s “Roar” and Ylvis’ “What Does the Fox Say?”

When The Summer Set finally took to the stage, the audience went even crazier than they had for Wallpaper, as for a few brief seconds I thought I was going to suffer permanent damage to my hearing. One of the biggest highlights of their performance was the song “Boomerang” which was the lead single of their latest album which was released in April.

After an even lengthier interlude between The Summer Set and 3OH!3, the audience finally got at least slightly impatient. However, after some light chanting for 3OH!3 to take the stage, they were there and ready to make everybody remember why they loved the duo.

The overall performance was very energetic, fun, and laid back; exactly what their fans wanted. The show was filled with many of the band’s big hits such as “Starstrukk,” “Touchin on My,” crowd-requested “Streets of Gold,” “My First Kiss,” and last but certainly not least, the grand finale piece, “Don’t Trust Me.”

Nat Motte, the taller and leaner of the two, stayed in the background for most of their set either playing the keyboard or doing the backing vocals, but he did also take over for some of the leading parts.

As the show progressed, fans would shuffle out from the front of the stage to finally get something to drink or just simply get some air because they had been at the forefront for at least three hours out of the over three and half hour concert. And even as they were emerging, they were still smiling and laughing with their friends about how great the band was.

For anyone trying to get pictures of the band, unless you were over 7 feet tall, it was nearly impossible. Anytime the band would take any sort of a pause, their infamous hand gesture was shown by nearly everyone in the crowd.

A highlight of 3OH!3’s entire performance was their cover of Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” Although the band did not perform the song (actually written by Diane Warren) in its entirety, it was a surprising change in type of music.

True to their word, at the end of the night, the members of the other three bands joined 3OH!3 on stage to perform their collaborative work “Turn the Night On.” As the bands were filing back onstage, one member complimented Motte on his shirt. In response, Motte unbuttoned the front revealing his chest, resulting in one of the loudest screams I have heard in a long time.

During this song, since not many people in the audience knew the lyrics, or in general what was happening, they stood in an awe. But once it ended, there was uproarious applause which led to the band’s ending remarks and transition into their first big hit, and finale “Don’t Trust Me.”

Once the show had ended, everybody made their way over to the merchandise booth only to find the members of New Beat Fund and Wallpaper taking picture with fans, and in New Beat Fund’s case, handing out EPs.

The show was a sold out booming success, and I, for one, will not be forgetting it anytime soon.