Audience dull despite quality performance

There's not much of a fan base for electronic music in Bloomington. Despite a stellar (and free) performance by The Crystal Method, one of the top names in American electronic music, Alumni Hall never reached even half capacity for Fusion 2.0.\nDJ Connor Larkin and DJ Pat Foosheen opened the show to a less-than-enthusiastic crowd. Though a few brave souls ventured near the stage to dance, most stood around and mingled. There were far more spectators interested in their glowsticks than the opening DJs. Attendees at the free show threw the sticks, twirled them or put them in their mouths. Though the two DJs took turns spinning an entertaining, two-hour set, few seemed receptive to the music. \nAlumni Hall provided surprisingly good acoustics and was plenty big enough for the crowd that grew much more animated when The Crystal Method hit the stage. Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan, the duo behind such albums as Community Service and Tweekend, say Friday night was their first show on a college campus.\n"The non-major market cities, for us, that's our thing," Jordan says.\nThough the group is huge stateside, and rightfully so, Jordan and Kirkland still enjoy playing smaller venues like Alumni Hall.\n"A lot of times it's just a much better environment for us, it sounds a lot more tighter, the room's a lot more combustible," Kirkland says.\nThe room didn't combust, but more people gathered up the nerve to bust out a few dance moves. The line of spectators standing at the barricade were rather obnoxious. It seems the real fun of an electronic show was lost on the crowd, most of which treated the event more as a rock concert. \n"You can stand against the wall or you can go out and dance, or you can go sit in the chill-out room and just listen to the music and talk to your friends," Kirkland says.\nWhile Jordan and Kirkland occasionally ventured to the microphone to speak to the crowd and thank everyone for coming out, the animated spinning was responsible for motivating those brave enough to show off their dancing skills.\n"More times than not we manage to pull a few of those people off the walls," Kirkland says.\nThe Crystal Method's set was high-energy, with great beats and creative takes on some of the duo's more well-known tracks. A variety of genres and sounds was incorporated into the event, creating something purely original and danceable. The tracks have guitar-rock, hip hop, R&B, but both Jordan and Kirkland say they don't necessarily have a favorite form of music. \n"We sort of have a luxury, we have a sound, but within that sound it's so varied," Jordan says.\nFar from being a planned-out, two-hour set, Jordan and Kirkland say they create much of their set on the whim. This gave the show a real fresh feel, as the music flowed to an increasingly active crowd. By the show's end there was a good number of spectators that allowed the music to encompass them and took to the dance floor, but there were still far too many who were either too nervous, or would rather play hackey-sack outside the doors. \nUnion Board deserves kudos for managing to bring a great act to IU, one that wasn't part of the mainstream or folk rock genre. The Crystal Method was a welcome break from the Counting Crows/Indigo Girls/Ani Difranco monotony. Though the show could have benefited from more publicity, and a bigger crowd certainly would have helped the atmosphere, The Crystal Method almost made up for the lack of any Little 500 show this year.