Concert lacked life in the house

If someone were to throw a high-school dance, a wedding reception and a viewing party of “Desperate Housewives” into a giant mixing bowl, the result would probably be the Lifehouse concert Thursday night at The Bluebird.\nAs far as the eye could see, excited groups of women abounded. Some were there with groups of their girlfriends, gawking at the oh-so-dreamy lead singer Jason Wade, screaming like teenage girls at a Beatles concert circa 1964 whenever the band would start a new song. Others were there with their obviously reluctant male companions, swooning in the arms of their lovers at the romanticism of the evening – an atmosphere that was crowded, hot, loud and smelled like a stale mix of alcohol and sweat.\nDon’t get me wrong. I’m sure if I had a boyfriend in tow, the whole thing would have been positively magical. A beer or three probably wouldn’t have hurt, either. But one word kept coming back to my mind the whole night: mediocre. \nThe band wasn’t horrible. They played every song with the same precision as their studio recordings. “You and Me” sounded like it was straight from a radio somewhere (even the unnecessary and unexciting extended chorus they tacked on to the end of the song). But that’s the biggest problem. If I wanted to hear something that sounded like a CD recording, I would just listen to the CD.\nThe biggest and most important part of a live show is the ability to get the crowd excited, and to be exciting and interactive with the audience. No matter how much a band may be completely horrible, being able to get everyone in the room pumped full of “live music adrenaline” will make up for it. \nIt wasn’t until almost the very end of the show that Wade started to acknowledge his audience, making comments about his love for smaller venues like the Bird and even jumping off the stage at one point to take a picture with a girl in the front row. However, being the jaded critic that I am, I remained unimpressed.\nI do have to give the man credit for still coming to play this show. The previous two performances the band had scheduled had been cancelled because of an emergency wisdom tooth removal Wade had to go through earlier in the week, which made him unable to sing. So maybe the Vicodin he said he was taking for his pain was the culprit behind this concert nearly lulling me to sleep by the third song. \nOthers who attended had mixed feelings about the performance. Senior Isaac Day was not impressed with the concert or the band in general.\n“My friend’s in from out of town and wanted to see them,” he said. “They sound like Creed, only watered down.”\nBloomington resident Abby Smith had already seen Lifehouse once before but wasn’t blown away by their performance.\n“It was good,” she said. “I’ve seen them play once before in an acoustic set, so seeing them live tonight was cool. I got to see both sides of them.”\nAfter about an hour of what seemed like the same songs on repeat, the band packed up and headed out, and a bum rush of estrogen exited the building. As much as I would like to say the night was phenomenal and a throwback to my past (because I will admit, I was in love with their first CD back in my middle-school days), I just can’t bring myself to call the night anything more than just OK.