The lights went dim and The Beatles' "Revolution" began blasting through Breslin Center as OAR hit the stage around 9 p.m. Friday.
OAR — which stands for Of A Revolution — performed for a rowdy bunch, consisting predominantly of boys in collared shirts and scantily clad girls. All of the songs blended together in a whirling mess of poor musicianship and indecipherable lyrical grunts. The finely dressed college-aged crowd filled three-fourths of MSU's basketball arena. They wiggled and jiggled, and generally resembled Jell-O for OAR's two-hour set.
Before OAR hit the stage with the sound a cross between jam band and Dave Matthews Band, international relations junior Brian Shekell said this was his second time seeing the band and was hoping to hear a good mix of older and newer songs.
"Seeing them live is better than listening to their CDs," he said.
The band did deliver a hodgepodge of older and newer catalogue, even playing "Sunday Bloody Sunday" — a U2 cover.
The most mystifying aspect of the concert was: What revolution was OAR referencing? The French Revolution? The Revolutionary War? A new revolution?
The disregard of a logical stance of a revolution didn't bother fans.
Apparel and textile design freshman Julie Dragon said she had a good time even though she believed the police were cracking down on fans — dragging people out for either being too drunk or smoking cigarettes inside the non-smoking venue.
"It was a pretty good show in general. If they came around again I would pay to go," Dragon said.