A thrashing pit of bobbing heads surrounded Titus Andronicus as they took the stage Thursday night. Lead singer and guitarist Patrick Stickles’ howling vocals echoed off the walls of Schine Underground as the crowd chanted back.

‘We came a long way, crossed three states to get here, but it’s worth it because this is a great place to hear some rock,’ Stickles said.

The New Jersey punk rockers headlined the concert with Caveman, an indie group from Brooklyn, N.Y. The band laughed and joked between songs as if jamming for a group of friends in their garage. Local group The Vanderbuilts opened the concert, presented by student-run radio station WERW and the Syracuse University chapter of Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association.

‘It was exciting to be asked to play this show because it’s really an amazing lineup,’ said Sam Kogon, lead singer and guitarist of The Vanderbuilts and a junior environmental policy major at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

The Vanderbuilts’ playful energy got the audience moving right away. Kogon’s smooth vocals carried the set as he ran back and forth between songs, trading keyboard and guitar with Dave Riddell, a junior environmental science major at ESF.

The band’s upbeat melodies surged with frenetic guitar riffs and keyboards, but the unique sound of Aya Yamamoto’s fiddle resonated the most. In ‘She Takes the Cake,’ Yamamoto, an ESF junior environmental biology major, played sharp strokes that had the crowd swaying and dancing.

Caveman went on next, and their harmonies put the crowd in a trance. No one sound overpowered the mix of surreal drumbeats and interwoven vocals.

‘We all like singing,’ said vocalist Sam Hopkins. ‘Every element of the band reminds me of all of us in the sense that there are different things we all like, and it all comes together really well.’

During songs like ‘Old Friend,’ vocalist Matthew Iwanusa hunched over a lone snare drum, methodically beating on it.

‘Our music is a lot of different things,’ Iwanusa said. ‘It’s definitely a different sound. The fact that the vocals are so upfront and present makes the sound stand out a lot.’

When Titus Andronicus began playing, the atmosphere instantly turned from mellow to chaotic.

Stickles sang in a raspy voice, bouncing around with a beaming grin. He was never quiet. He teased the crowd and insisted students should be more impressed that Lou Reed was an alumnus at SU. He even stopped to wish drummer Alex Tretiak a happy birthday, joking, ‘There are no songs left. You may now leave,’ before diving into the next track.

The frenzied, four-guitar harmonies and rolling drums in songs like ‘A More Perfect Union’ and ‘Richard II’ had everyone raging by the stage, jumping and screaming in a mosh pit.

‘I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a high-energy show like that sponsored by a student organization,’ said Kyle Kuchta, WERW assistant general manager and a junior film major. ‘I’m just happy we were a part of bringing a real rock show to campus, and people loved it.’

[email protected]

Published on April 1, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Rob: [email protected]