Tiny Moving Parts and supporting act Stars Hollow both brought something special to the M-Shop, but both left something to be desired Friday night. 

The two bands countered each other in strengths and weaknesses. 

Tiny Moving Parts came together as a band better than Stars Hollow and this could have been due to experience with performing and touring. They had more movement on stage and got more energy out of the crowd.

Crowd-surfers were seen as early as the second song. The band tried to tell their fans not to crowd surf but it was a half-hearted effort.

Frontman Dylan Mattheisen said the venue asked them to let the audience know crowd surfing was not allowed, but at the same time, seeing their fans get so in to the music was cool to see. It had a feeling of “Punk rock, no rules,” Mattheisen said.

Tiny Moving Parts played in the M-Shop back in April 2015. At the time the crowd was smaller, but still animated and the band was surprised that they even had fans in Ames.

When they came back on Friday night, they didn’t know what to expect. They remembered the last show at the M-Shop and wanted it to be as much of a success. Mattheisen said they usually try not to get their hopes up, but this time they did.

“We did and we’re so glad we did,” Mattheisen said. “It was twice as good even though last time was already nuts.”

The level of energy may have been what lead to the band playing an encore.

“They’ve never done an encore until right here and it might have been the best concert of all time,” said Tyler Gerdes, a sophomore from the University of Iowa. 

Ames’ own Stars Hollow was slightly more subdued in the execution of their set. While Mattheisen’s guitar was the highlight of Tiny Moving Parts’ talent and the band carried better vocals, Stars Hollow out shined them instrumentally.

Stars Hollow went for the screaming pop-punk sound, but fell short when sharing a stage with Tiny Moving Parts. Their bassist, however, far surpassed the bass lines carried by Tiny Moving Parts’ Matt Chevalier. 

Overall, Stars Hollow’s vocalist didn’t do justice to the instrumental talent and Tiny Moving Parts’ bass and drums didn’t do justice to the band’s unique sound.

Tiny Moving Parts did offer a pleasant surprise when performing live, as their music can be slightly hard to follow when you listen to it for the first time. However, the complex song structures translate better in a live setting than they ever could on a recording. This made the show a pleasant and unique experience. 

Both bands are would-see-again groups which is definitely a possibility. Both are small, friendly, approachable groups that care about the music and the people who take the time to listen to it.