OK Go Rocks The Fourth of July

It’s refreshing to see a band that isn’t afraid of it’s own fans. lead singer Damian Kulash terrified security and delighted fans by surging into the crowd early and often. It’s easy to see why he was so comfortable with the audience at the Fourth of July

A mother perched her preschool aged son on the guard rail between the crowd and the stage so he could get a good view. More people were drinking lemonade than beer.  It was an unexpectedly wholesome audience and the band deserves praise for not only rolling with it, but revelling in it.

The quartet took the stage in their signature primary colored suits and immediately launched into A Million Ways followed by Don’t Ask Me. At that point, Kulash playfully promised that despite our country being founded by sailors and people who talked like them, he would keep his language in check, darnit.

Fans seemed stunned that OK Go was playing a free concert in Missouri. “I live ten blocks from the Arch,” said Mike Roberts, “I normally go to Fair St. Louis for the Fourth of July, but I drove all the way to O’Fallon for OK Go. I can’t believe they’re coming here. They were in Europe on Saturday. I won’t believe it till I see them on stage.”

The simplicity of this show reminded me of concerts I attended in high school. There were no gimmicks like the 3D glasses they gave out in Nashville for a special viewing of the White Knuckles video. In fact, the only visuals were a muted white screen with projections of falling rain, mannequins, and star scenes to provide some visual texture. For the dedicated fans who crammed their way into the thirty feet of muddy grass directly in front of the stage, this was the kind of intimate show I normally associate more with They Might Be Giants.

Over the course of the concert I developed a little crush on the lighting designer. The simple use of the band’s primary colored suits and complimentary colored flood lights was incredibly well executed and just enough to keep things visually interesting.  Matching bursts from the confetti cannon gave the whole thing a festive atmosphere that took me back to the 1990’s. My only real complaint was the rather overenthusiastic use of the smoke machine which left drummer Dan Konopka nearly invisible through most of the concert.

Between songs, Kulash kept up a steady banter with the crowd. “O’Fallon, you and I know the war for Independence really happened here. It’s nice of you to keep it on the down low so people don’t invade your town and try to put Harvard in it.”

The security guards looked panicked when he jumped over the cattle guards separating the crowd from the stage and waded into the crowd to sing an acoustic version of Last Leaf. Later in the set, he asked if anyone in front knew how to play bass. When a hand went up, he pulled lucky fan Chris onto stage and handed over his instrument. Meanwhile, to the delight of the crowd, Kulash picked up the preschooler from the first row and brought him on stage to dance as Chris and the band played Here It Goes Again. You can see excerpts from both in our video. During their third and final encore, Kulash once more stepped out onto the cattle guard, reaching down to hold a fan’s hand for balance while others reached up to help him steady his legs as he panned the microphone over the audience and encouraged everyone to sing.

With that much audience interaction, a concert doesn’t need gimmicks. They carefully wove songs from their new album 180/365  in between fan favorites like Get Over It and White Knuckles. Although I’ve seen seen it before, it’s impossible not to be charmed by their ethereally lovely live rendition of “Return” on the hand bells.

One of the most surprising things about the concert was the complete lack of swag for sale. There were no booths selling T-shirts, CD’s or other OK Go branded products. The free concert was about simplicity and a celebration of music.

If you’d like something a little more complex, click on the links to their clever music videos and read Patch’s

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