There was a lot of sweat on stage Wednesday night in Schine Underground, and most of it dripped down singer Sam Harris’ face. Harris and his band, X Ambassadors, gave their all during their performance at University Union’s first Bandersnatch concert of the semester.

Greeted by a huge cheer from an audience already pumped-up from opener Tribe Society’s set, X Ambassadors started off the show with their song “Loveless.” From the start, brothers Sam and Casey Harris held the show together with their radiant energy. Casey, the band’s keyboardist, was pretty much the life of the party. Hands down, he had the best dance moves, and every time he bopped, his bright blond hair bopped with him.

Casey possesses an amazing sense of control in his keyboard playing, and every time he played at a breakneck, precise speed, adding multi-dimensionality to the music. The keyboards in songs like “Whole Life” not only made the song, but showed how intensely Casey felt in tune with the music. Brother Sam Harris also knew how to move on stage and, like Casey, is a very talented instrumentalist.

 

Sam broke out both a guitar and a saxophone periodically throughout the night, providing a sexy vibe reminiscent of Maroon 5 in their “Songs About Jane” days, especially in the song “Naked.”

X Ambassador’s music is not particularly drum-heavy, and Adam Levin was pretty much the least enthused person on stage that night, but that very likely could have been because he was playing within the confines of their music and provided space for other instrumentals to stand out.

It was not until the band performed the hit “Renegades,” that the drums really kicked up in energy, and Sam began thrashing on the set alongside Levin. This took the crowd into a frenzy of as the band performed its most famous song. Levin maintained an increased level of energy into the last song of the night before the encore, “Jungle.” The performance allowed audience members to see why the song has been remixed by the likes of Jay Z.

Before their show, the band sat down with The Daily Orange.

“I’d date ‘Cuse, for sure,” Sam said, referencing Otto the Orange as his selection in a game of Marry, Date, or Dump: Central NY Mascots edition. Unfortunately for ‘Cuse, the Cornell mascot won him over in the long run, since he said he would “marry Big Red,” referencing the Cornell Big Red bear.

Though his decision may be disappointing for Syracuse, it should come as no surprise, considering Harris and the rest of the X Ambassadors hail from Ithaca, New York.

Despite this, X Ambassadors showed their self-professed love for Syracuse when they dedicated my favorite song of theirs, “Gorgeous,” to us. Songs like “Gorgeous,” which is decidedly more pop-y than most of the band’s other music, and “Big,” a new song they debuted that night, demonstrate the variety a talented alternative band like X Ambassadors can possess. Sam’s vocals at the beginning of “Big” infused a mix of blues and pop influences, and guitarist Noah Feldshuh provided surprisingly grungy guitar chords to the song.

Interestingly, though, one of the highlights of the night was when the band stripped down and left Sam alone on stage to perform an acoustic version of “American Oxygen,” which he co-wrote for Rihanna. The song showcased his talents as a lyricist, guitarist and vocalist, but was somewhat undermined by chatter from the audience in a small space.

X Ambassadors provided music that quite literally buzzed in your teeth because of how loud it was, but so did opener Tribe Society. Tribe Society is possibly one of the few bands since Jethro Tull to make flute cool again. The band’s flutist, Seth Hachen, somehow made playing the flute seem bad*ss, and not just an instrument played poorly by fourth graders in public schools across the United States.

His flute skills, combined with Bradford Alderman’s synthesizer and Gavin McDevitt’s strong, surprisingly pop-y vocals and guitarist Rory Given’s heavy playing, made their covers of unexpected songs work well. The band charged up the audience, most of whom presumably hadn’t really heard much of their music before, with covers of Major Lazer’s “Lean on” and Eminem’s “Cleaning Out My Closet,” as well as one of their most popular originals, “Kings.”

The sounds of both bands worked well together — the groups had performed together six times, and it’s no surprise why — both invoke the same vibes as Imagine Dragons, who happen to have very close ties with X Ambassadors. The band is about to embark on a brief tour in Europe and then kick-starts an American tour. The group gets more famous every day, and I have a feeling that by the time the year is over, most people at ‘Cuse will be regretting not getting tickets for “that band,” X Ambassadors.

Isha Damle is a junior television, radio and film major. She rarely knows the actual lyrics to songs, but is good at faking it until she makes it. Plus, her version is probably better. She can be reached at idamle@syr.edu or on Twitter @ishadamle.

 

Published on October 8, 2015 at 12:29 am