The Crystal Method’s appearance at Rock Veishea at Hilton Coliseum Saturday night may have been the first of its kind in Iowa, but one could never tell by watching.

With its intense synthesizer effects and visual imagery, The Crystal Method created a rave heaven for ascending fans.

“Trip Like I Do” opened the show with so much excitement, it was hard to even notice a lack of Filter flavor in the song.

The Crystal Method thumped through other “Vegas” tunes with equal excitement, ending with an amazing 15-minute rendition of “Busy Child.”

Through non-stop musical madness, the electronica duo provided a “show” in an age of “performances.”

Los Angeles rockers Tonic warmed up the stage for The Crystal Method, pouring forth a raw emotion that seemed as though the band members were each an exploding ball of energy.

Tonic took the stage as singer Emerson Hart screamed out, “There sure are a lot of motherfuckers in here tonight.”

Tonic then rocked its way into the hit single “Open Up Your Eyes.” It was a total crowd pleaser as Hilton was rocking.

After ending the song, an excited Hart said, “Doing a show sober is a whole other concept.” And it truly was.

When the band broke into the next song, guitarist Jeff Russo had a chance to show off his stuff. Providing the beat was Kevin Shepard, who was pouring his all into every dance of a drumstick.

Behind Tonic was a giant screen where colorful images and shapes were projected. At times, red stars were bleeding from the screen as the band played.

Hart then broke out into a short, wailing celtic chant of “Bhi Machree. Ohin trasna na farraige,” which led them into the song “Celtic Aggression.” Once again, Russo shined on guitar.

Swimming transitions between the songs floated the band from one to the other and soon it was playing “Lemon Parade.”

Hart then stopped the show and asked for the house lights to be turned on to see how many people had shown up. That threw the crowd into a frenzy, and Tonic brought down the house as it blasted into “Casual Affair.”

Tonic then slowed things down for “Soldier’s Daughter.” Bassist Dan Lavery was taken over by the music, and his body swayed around the stage as he laid down the bass line.

Closing the song, all the band members came together to sing their way to the end.

Tonic then broke into a slight jam session, giving Hart a chance to show off his guitaring capabilities. Hart jumped all around by the drumkit as he and Shepard cued each other for every move and note that was played.

At the end of the free-for-all someone in front of the stage yelled out something, and Hart wanted all of Hilton to hear it.

He said it was time for audience participation and had the rest of the band lay down some “audience participation” music as he cha-cha’d his way to the man that had screamed out.

“Why don’t you tell everyone what you yelled at us?” Hart pleaded as he held out the mic.

“Who’s your daddy?” the concert-goer yelled. This drove the crowd nuts and amused the men of Tonic.

Next the band pounded into the song “Wicked Soldier.” Hart jumped around with great enthusiasm as Russo became immersed in his own playing.

Tonic shared a couple of new songs with the crowd including “Flowerman” — a song that will be featured in the next X-Files soundtrack.

Tonic closed its performance with the radio favorite “If You Could Only See.” The band pounded away with a newfound energy, and sheer raw power as the crowd provided the supporting vocals.

Like the images projected on the backdrop, Tonic was truly a star and rocked Veishea into a success.

The Ames hardcore quintet 35″ Mudder had the honor of opening Rock Veishea. The band trodded its way onto stage with heavy anticipation and delivered a kick-ass show.

Lead singers Dusty Feuerbach and Cory Brown took turns belting out the songs from the groups debut album “Definition of Purpose.”

Brown jumped and thrusted about the stage screaming out the words while Feuerbach stood fast with emotion at times, and then jumped to project his rage-filled messages.

Supporting the vocal duo was drummer Dave Egan setting up every song with strong hip-hop beats, while guitarist Brian Calek strummed out some heavy riffs. His brother, Chad Calek, lumbered toughly around stage thumping on his bass and building a foundation for the rest of the band.

The Flaming Lips Experiment followed Mudder and could have been judged an experiment gone bad by many of the people at Rock Veishea but was actually an amazing show to witness.

What most didn’t realize was that they were witnessing a purely dramatic show of their peers, along with members of the Flaming Lips gone maestros, creating a new style of music that is purely aesthetic.

The stage for the “boom-box orchestra” was set up in the same fashion of a real orchestra, only with boom-boxes.

The show began with two test runs. Those powering the boomboxes had to load certain tapes into the machines and play them on time.

The experiment was then carried out. “The Big Ol.’ Bug Is The New Baby Now” was the first piece performed. It was an amazing song that really tested the performers’ abilities.

“Realizing The Speed of Life,” was probably the most riveting performance. It was a song about the incessant crying of a baby in an apartment next door to a man who eventually commits suicide.

“Heralding A Better Ego” was another loud song at times, but it was entirely moving with its eery chords and screaming trumpets.

“Schizophrenic Sunrise” was an entirely ethereal piece including birds, bugs, and choirs and harps all meshing together to form a feeling not unlike schizophrenia.

Throughout the show, many people were getting up and leaving. Those who didn’t leave but should have were yelling from the balconies.

Phrases like “You suck” and “Go home” echoed through the air during dramatic pauses in the songs. This ruined the vividness, and emotion of the show.

The Flaming Lips ended their experiment with “Altruism,” an awesome piece to hear. It uses Meg Ryan’s fake orgasm scene from “When Harry Met Sally,” accompanied by a melody that built up to the final climax.

The Flaming Lips Experiment was an innovative show that provided a positive balance between 35″ Mudder and Tonic.