Somehow, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll got really lame.

It happened after the delightfully sexy hip thrusts from Ozomatli’s trombonist and Robert Randolph’s call to let the ladies dance onstage. In fact, it happened right about when Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba got on stage at Saturday’s Juice Jam and started propositioning coeds.

‘If someone wants to take us out later, we’re game,’ Carrabba baited, before deciding Maggie’s would be the post-concert spot and later adding, ‘The last time we played in Syracuse, I slept in a dorm room that time.’

Isn’t that cute.

Carrabba and his Dashboard band mates did play music in addition to begging for sexual favors and making other pathetic attempts at witty banter with the ‘Juicy Jam’ crowd. And, oddly enough, they even drew the day’s biggest crowd.

Despite whiney tunes narrating a less-than-perfect love life (maybe he should lay off the freshman lovin’) culminating in nasally off-key high notes, Dashboard’s audience sang along, begged for more and got more into his performance than any of the Jam’s others.

‘I’m a big fan. They were absolutely awesome,’ said senior film major Matthew Unger, who proudly belted the lyrics to the encore songs from the audience, when Carrabba kindly let his fans take over the vocals.

The Dashboard men, in a completely selfless gesture, hung around after the concert, signing autographs and chatting with fans’ friends on cell phones.

Fortunately, Dashboard was preceded by Ozomatli and Robert Randolph and the Family Band, who, though they didn’t draw equally large crowds, outshined the headliner with real music that attendees could dance to.

Latin hip-hop fusion band Ozomatli opened with bongos, horns and enough energy to wake up a still-hungover crowd, which perked up throughout the one-hour set.

‘We never heard of them; we just like them,’ said Katie Truettner, a senior biology major, who, with friend Stephanie Lorence, a senior English major, were among the first to dance.

Unlike Carrabba, Ozomatli’s members actually energized the audience between songs, invited Otto the Orange onstage for a little samba action and dedicated songs to Chuck’s bar for turning away percussionist Justin Poree and to ‘the drunk girl who threw up at Acropolis last night.’

The group rounded out its set by hopping offstage and into the crowd, drums and all, for the theme from ‘Sesame Street,’ ‘The Hokey Pokey’ and a conga line, fulfilling University Union Concerts Chair Adam Gorode’s promise of notoriously awesome live concerts.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band added flavor to the lineup and provided a contrast to Ozo’s horns and turn tables and Dashboard’s pitiful off-key self-deprecation. Though the jam-band style songs wore on, the steel-guitar fueled soul-rock music got the crowd dancing, too.

‘Some of ya’ll might not be used to this, but we like to have fun, can I get a witness?’ Randolph crooned while strumming the steel guitar. An offer for the ladies to share his stage brought about 25 ‘witnesses’ up before they were herded off by security.

‘They’re a jam band, so I don’t think they were fully appreciated by the Dashboard fan base,’ said sophomore chemical engineering major Vinnie Ustach, who came for Robert Randolph.

It’s probably not the Dashboard fans’ faults if they’re not into Robert Randolph; they’re probably too deafened from hours of Carrabba’s bleating to hear them.

Can I get a witness?

Published on September 5, 2005 at 12:00 pm