Jason Reeves stood on the stage alone with his acoustic guitar. He looked toward the door in the Schine Underground and called for his friend – and opening act -Tyrone Wells.

‘He’s a lot taller than me,’ Reeves said as Wells bent down to hug him. ‘It’s actually quite comical. I don’t mind. I’m short, he’s tall.’

Wells returned to the stage almost an hour after his own set to perform a duet with his friend, Reeves. The two wrote the song, ‘Give Me One Reason,’ in Wells’ California home.

The two stood awkwardly for a moment, with only one microphone on stage. Reeves reached down and unplugged his guitar, then headed for the edge of the stage. The two sat, without microphones, and sang ‘Give Me One Reason.’ With excellent harmonies, Reeves and Wells stole the crowd.

‘They sat down right in front of us on the stage,’ said Terri-Ann Malgieri, sophomore communication and rhetorical studies major. ‘They did it acoustic, no microphones, nothing. It was completely natural and raw. It was like they were singing to us.’

University Union’s Bandersnatch Music Series sponsored the performance, which drew more than 150 students Wednesday night, said Kevin Manley, co-president of Bandersnatch. The seating and small crowd added to the intimate feeling of the show.

It was both artists’ first visit to Syracuse.

Mel Speaker, an undecided freshman in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, came to the show with three of her floormates. Rather than studying, Speaker attended the show.

‘I don’t know how they can top that,’ she said after Wells’ set. ‘The opening was already good. I’m just really excited. It’s really relaxing on a Wednesday night.’

Although the show began nearly 10 minutes late, Wells made up for it with an interesting mix of cover songs, stories and his own music. During his hour-long set, the self-described ‘tall, bald guy with a guitar’ and his three-piece band seemed too rock-oriented for a sit-down show. But, at times, the bass and drums overwhelmed Wells’ voice.

‘Sink or Swim,’ the fourth song Wells performed, which he said will be released on his upcoming album, got the audience involved as they began bopping their heads to the more upbeat tempo. It has the chorus of any popular pop song, but when paired with strong music and lyrics, the song itself is destined to be a hit.

Undoubtedly, the most popular song was a display of Wells’ not-so-hidden talent: yodeling. He told the audience, at age 13 his father taught him how to yodel. The song, which was about two buffalo, incorporated the audience as percussion instruments, snapping to the beat.

‘I can feel the jealousy,’ Wells said about his yodeling part of the way through the song.

‘No Good Without You’ came next. The drummer sat upon what looked like a wooden box, and he began to play it like a bongo or African drum with his hands. Wells broke out into an ‘old-school’ beat box section before jumping right back into the song.

‘So far, I’d have to say I’m blown away,’ said Sam Hake, freshman broadcast journalism major. ‘I thought it was absolutely amazing. I’m a singer, so I have so much respect for other people with a talent.’

Reeves took the stage at 9:30 p.m. He kept his comments between songs to a minimum and let his lyrics tell their own stories. As each song ended, Reeves approached the microphone to say a polite ‘thank you.’

Despite the limited audience interaction, Reeves exuded musical talent as he plucked his guitar strings between songs. He is a talented musician who has the potential to make it big like friend and singer Colbie Caillat.

Before the finger-picking intro to ‘Photographs and Memories,’ Reeves made a brief comment about the song.

‘The song is about photos taking the place of people and sometimes eating them alive,’ he said.

Most of the music in Reeves’ hour-and-a-half long set strayed from the folk singer-songwriter label that has been placed on him. On ‘New Hampshire,’ a song he dedicated to a girl in the second row, Reeves picked up an electric guitar midway through and broke into a guitar solo. He closed his eyes and looked as if he were concentrating only on the music, and eventually ended the song with the electric.

But that was the only time Reeves utilized his electric guitar.

Toward the middle of the set, Reeves’ bassist and drummer put down their instruments and proceeded to the front of the stage. For a moment, the audience was unaware of what was going on. Then the three men faced forward and began to sing ‘Reaching’ a cappella.

When they left after the first four lines, they left nothing more than Reeves, his acoustic guitar and the audience singing along. He periodically stepped away from the microphone and kept singing. Everyone was silent.

‘This is a great preview of the entire year,’ Malgieri said. ‘This show was awesome to kick off the Bandersnatch series.’

kmimamur@syr.edu

Published on October 15, 2008 at 12:00 pm