BU students’ band Thousands of Bicycles steals the show.
In an era of bling and snakeskin leotards, ridiculous pyrotechnics and even more ridiculous lyrics backed by the same recycled bass lines, what do you do when the lead singer runs on stage with a big smile wearing a Transformers t-shirt? What about when the horn section starts jumping around and busting out some absurd harmonies in a parody of the Sound of Music classic ‘My Favorite Things’, or the sweet ‘You are My Sunshine’? Well, you skank, and even if you’re Julie Andrews, you skank hard!
The traditional Friday night closing concert in the Quad did not disappoint, as ‘Thousands of Bicycles’ (T.O.B.) provided their audience with a groovin’ set list that pulled no punches and drove the audience at high speed from beginning to end. Energetic, sweaty and smiling faces in the audience answered every animated song that came from the stage with no-holds-barred dancing and singing.
“The freshmen and our friends were there in front of the stage just rocking out – we had a blast up there,” said lead vocalist Jeffrey Basiliere.
The demographic differences in the crowd didn’t seem to affect the atmosphere and soon friends and strangers, new and old students alike were bonded in kicking up their feet and singing along to the goofy, syncopated music coming out of the speakers.
The successful atmosphere was definitely noted and appreciated by the band.
“It was the best gig we ever played, in terms of crowd participation and enthusiasm,” said Adam Johnson, the pianist for T.O.B. There was also a lot of friendly moshing in the crowd. “Everyone was in such a great mood, and people were helping each other up and really working together to keep the energy and the dancing going,” said Daniel Bordeleau, a second-year Liberal Arts student in the crowd.
Band members Kyle DeCoste and Alyssa MacEachern even came into the audience at one point to join in the dancing frenzy, and DeCoste was briefly crowd-surfed before the bearded musician ran back on stage.
The satisfied glow of a night well spent emanated from the crowd as well as the band members after the show. Speaking to T.O.B. afterward, they said they found the audience to be the most amazing part of the evening.
“The energy we got from the crowd was really great. We were really pleased and there was a lot of positive feedback after the show. The SRC treated us really well,” said Basiliere.
Technically, other than a few problems with microphones in the horn section, the show went off without a hitch, and no one was left standing in the dark, rather, it seemed as though a lot of people left the show feeling a lot lighter in both mind and body.
Thousands of Bicycles is comprised of Jeffrey Basiliere doing lead vocals, Joe Diaco on guitar, Julian Chobot on Bass, Kyle DeCoste on Trumpet, Alyssa-Marie MacEachern on Alto Sax, Chelsea Lee on Drums and Adam Johnson on Keyboards. After T.O.B. left the stage, Down with Webster wrapped up the night playing a great set to the exhilarated frosh crowd. Bishop’s Frosh week does it again!
T.O.B. will be playing at The Golden Lion on Friday, September 25th at 10pm as part of a fundraiser for the BU Rock Climbing Club.
