Local musician draws diverse crowd.

Five-hundred people were packed into the Granite State Room for Reid Genauer and his band who were performing Saturday. Reid's band consists of local Seacoast musicians.

John Leccese plays the bass and Nate Wilson, a current student at UNH, plays the keyboards. Both John and Nate are former members of Percy Hill. Adam Terell, formerly of Groovechild, plays lead guitar and last, but not least, is Andy Herrick, formerly of Moon Boot Lover, on the drums.

The concert was put on by SCOPE, the University's student run concert organization not to mention one of the only student run concert organizations in the country. Before the doors opened, a crowd started forming in the lobby just outside of the Granite State Room. As time progressed, the crowd grew larger and when the clock hit 7:30, the doors were opened. One of the many great things about this show was the diverse audience. The fans ranged from the young to the old, hippies to frat boys, sorority girls to just your "average Joe." That doesn't happen at many concerts. Everyone that attended the concert knew that they were in for a great performance even before the show started. A final count of the audience inside the Granite State Room was somewhere around 500 people.

Reid began playing at 8:45 p.m. He came onto the stage and played his first set solo with his Gibson electric-acoustic guitar in hand. The set contained about six or seven "ditties" that he had written. Toward the end of his set, Reid casually joked, "Don't worry guys, I'm not going to be up here all night by myself. After this song I am going to take a short break and come back with the band to play some rock and roll."

The crowd cheered. The music in the first set was a cross among folk, funk, rock, and reggae. According to his web site: reidgenauer.com, one can hear the influences of Bob Marley, Jerry Garcia, Paul Simon, John Lennon, and Willie Nelson in Reid's songs. During the last song of Reid's solo set, Tom Young, a Wakefield resident, jumped onto the stage and sang along with Reid. He was taken off-stage by what looked like the guitar tech. After the show I asked Tom why he jumped on the stage and he replied, "I love Strangefolk and Reid's music is awesome!"

No harm was done. Reid took a short intermission, and the crowd walked around a bit. As soon as Reid and the band returned for the second set, everyone prepared to listen.

Christina Iannucci, SCOPE's publicity director commented, "The show was very successful, better than we had projected. There was a good vibe through the whole crowd."

There was a definite vibe throughout the whole room and that is the sole reason why the concert was so amazing. Everyone in the entire room was dancing or grooving to the music. The energy from every song was positive. Every fan seemed to be in their own world listening to Reid's songs about the mountains. Each song had it's own catchy hook. They would all start off very mellow, like an old folk or reggae song and then build up to an explosion of melodic guitar solos and rock out to the fullest. Then the song would mellow out again and build back up to an explosion. It really kept everyone listening and into the music that was being played. The soundman did a great job. The music was at a perfect volume and every instrument could be heard clearly along with the vocals.

There was no massive light show or any scenery on stage, but the concert rocked even without all of the nifty special effects. Robert Landry, a Strangefolk fan said, " It was a greatshow. He played all of the songs Strangefolk has been missing since Reid left."

Becky Groves also commented, "The best part was the energy. Everybody was so happy."

SCOPE did an excellent job choosing Reid to play, not to mention Reid was supposed to be playing at the Stone Coast Brewery in Portland, Maine that night. SCOPE also did a superb job putting on such a great show and keeping everything organized so well. Thanks to the guys and gals at SCOPE for keeping the good shows coming and if ever possible, check out Reid Genauer and his band. You will not be let down