Givin' it up for the high school set

Think trucker hats, crowd surfing and an average attendee age of 15. \nYep, it's an All-American Rejects concert. AAR, along with special guests Hoobastank, Ozomatli and Diffuser, performed Saturday at the Murat Egyptian Room as part of the Nokia Unwired Tour 2003. \nHeadliner AAR was clearly the crowd favorite -- these kids came out to see AAR and no one else. But their performance felt bored, as if they were a little too jaded to put out some good music for some devoted fans. Until the end, that is. AAR performed a very short set and left the stage, clearly waiting for a call for encore. \nThe fans obliged, but by the time the band returned, the stagehands had cleared much of their equipment from the stage, so the band improvised, using acoustic guitars and two microphones to perform "The Cigarette Song." The result was magical. AAR should definitely perform acoustically more often. By the time the unplugged experiment was over, the stage had been re-wired, and AAR played one more number for their fans. \nThe Murat definitely let the fans down by not being ready with audio troubleshooting when problems arose, and boy, did they ever arise. All of the bands handled it well, but it was an annoyance to have to wait. \nHoobastank put on the night's best performance. The band's energy, driving style and mix of old and new material made for a great set. Much of the music they performed was from their upcoming Dec. 9 album The Reason, but they managed to put in their two hit singles, "Running Away" and "Crawling in the Dark." And this group clearly loves their fans. Lead singer Doug Robb is an energetic front man, and lead guitar man Dan Estrin provided some ripping guitar solos. \nFirst in the lineup was Diffuser, a Long Island, New York-based band. They showed promise and were very much in the shtick of AAR. It was nothing spectacular, and they dealt well with the audio problems that would pop up all night. \nSecond off was Ozomatli, a kind of Mexican-flavored hip hop 12-piece band. They rocked, although the audience showed no subtlety in their clear hatred for the band's originality and energy.\nThis tour provided a nice variety of music, although for the most part the diversity was lost on the crowd. Ozamatli and Hoobastank offered up fantastic performances, but for Indy's high-school set, Saturday night was all about the All-American Rejects.