Although he has recently made the leap to solo artist, Rob Thomas live is anything but a one-man act. In fact, the concept was completely out of the question Sunday evening as crooner/rocker Thomas filled the Des Moines Civic Center with his signature wavering vocals, acoustic guitar and a boisterous eight-piece band.

Starting on a high note, Thomas entered the stage to a standing ovation and soon had the crowd dancing along to the upbeat sing-a-long and title track to his solo release, “Something to Be.” Keeping at a steady pace, Thomas rolled into the reggae-inspired “Fallin’ to Pieces,” in which midway through he greeted his close-to-capacity crowd – mainly females falling in the age bracket of 25 to 35. After finishing, Thomas admitted he was feeling rather sick earlier in the day, but his remedy to the illness was found in the crowd.

“When you walk into a room full of a bunch of beautiful people that want to hear you play, it just goes away,” he said.

Thomas took it down a notch on a trio of songs, including his current single, “Ever the Same” and the simple, generic pop ballad “When the Heartache Ends.” Whether slow or fast, many of the night’s songs were difficult to enthusiastically groove along to, but Thomas’s faithful crowd succeeded in doing so.

Thomas’s stage presence remained rather tame for the majority of the show, as he paced back and forth across the stage, which was lit by large panels of multi-colored digital light displays. His energetic band – which, along with a drummer, a keyboardist who tripled as guitarist and master of the lap steel, and three backup singers – was fueled mostly by guitarist Frank Romano and bassist Al Carty – a back-and-forth battle of electric riffs assaulting Carty’s kicked-up bass. Thomas even left the stage a couple of times as the two musicians stole the limelight with their frenzied solos.

The appeal of the band was even enough to rouse a female fan, who snuck her way up onto the stage and started grooving alongside drummer Abe Fogle. Making light of the situation, Thomas commented on his bandmate’s allure.

“They just can’t keep their hands off you, and I can’t blame them,” he said as the giddy fan was escorted off the stage.

It was evident the night wouldn’t end without a couple of Matchbox Twenty radio favorites. Thomas played the hits that catapulted him to stardom – “Push,” “3 AM” and “If You’re Gone” – but seemed to prefer to replace the old stylings with new, rearranging many of his songs.

The tempo on “3 AM” was taken drastically down and emphasis was placed on Matt Beck’s lap steel guitar. Halfway through, Thomas moved into Steve Miller Band classic “The Joker” before moving back to finish the original tune.

Another Matchbox Twenty favorite, “Push,” was quietly sung and strummed by Thomas during a solo encore performance.

Although the crowd reacted well to most of the songs, there were a couple of low points. After two solo acoustic songs on stage, Thomas rallied up his band in attempt to spark some flare on crowd favorite “Smooth.” Although the original Latin jazz song was upbeat and spicy, the new swanky version was a lethargic crawling mess that left fans wondering where Santana’s signature sound was. Unfortunately, it was hidden in the piano, which took on the lead role.

The majority of the show was comprised of this kind of substance – alternative pop-rock radio hits pulling together big anthemic choruses with mediocre vocals and lyrics. The crowd reacted best to these and seemed uninvolved on all other song attempts, however.

Warming up Sunday’s crowd was little spitfire Anna Nalick, who – thanks to “15 pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks” – was bouncing off the walls. Donning a Rob Thomas T-shirt, a black skirt and multi-colored knee-length striped socks, the bouncy “Breathe” vocalist did everything in her power to get the not-yet-responsive audience members up and out of their seats.

Nalick performed a set of pop-rock tunes, including radio hits “Breathe (2 AM)” and “In the Rough.” With strong vocals and the stage antics of Ashlee Simpson, Nalick tip-toed, leaped, kicked and danced across the stage, schmoozing it up alongside her three-piece band. Taunting guitarist Luis Maldonado on the closing song “Bleed,” Nalick and her sidekick showed off their skills with a call and response routine before Maldonado burst into an explosive solo.

Overall, the tone of the evening was surprisingly upbeat, but Thomas’ lengthy two-hour set became tiring midway through and made casual fans sit down and take a breather. Thomas rocked the Civic Center enough, however, to delight his most devoted fans and leave those in-between satisfied.