Welcome back with fun, laughter, and music

Saturday Sept. 22 the Plain White T's headlined the Welcome back concert for the Warriors here at California State University, Stanislaus. The event was scheduled to be on the great lawn, but was moved to the gym due to the rainy day weather. Also performing for the night were Head Automatica and local band Jupiter is Useless.

The event was nearly packed. When the door's opened the line went from the gym doors down the sidewalk to the parking lot and twisted past the faculty development center to the bridge.

Inside, the event started shortly after 5:30 p.m. and as students and the general public filed in, the bleachers were packed and the floor was nearly at capacity. Despite the rainy day the event had a good turnout.

Jupiter is Useless opened up for both bands. They are a local pop band from Turlock and they described their location as, "We live about two blocks away," guitarist Charlie McCone said.



The band started in February 2006 with a group of friends in a garage. Since that date the band has played several venues including but not limited to the Van's Warped Tour this past August.

The band played an instrumental set and gave a shout out to their former singer who just left for college. Band members include McCone on guitar, Alex Arestegui on keys, Adrian Ruiz on lead guitar, Cody Wright on bass, and Andrew Stroheker on drums.

McCone commented for the band and said, "It was probably one of the biggest and funnest shows we have done." McCone said they are not sure whether they are going to keep the band instrumental or find a singer. He said they have got good reviews as an instrumental band but also said it would not hurt to have a singer.

They are just being careful whom they choose, as former singer Nickoli Ludlow was very good at what he did. McCone also said, "It was our first experience with media and publicity, it was great."

The second band to take the stage was Head Automatica. They are a backbeat pop band from New York. Members include Daryl Palumbo on vocals and guitar, Jarvis Morgan Holden on bass, Larry Gorman on drums and back-up vocals, Craig Bonich on guitar, and Jessie Nelson on organ, piano, and keys.

Palumbo told the crowd that they are on the west coast to record their new album. Popaganda is their current album that is in stores. On their official website Palumbo said he did not want to make a record about pain or crying, he just wanted to make it brilliant.

Their style of music is very upbeat and is about a variety of different things. As Palumbo said during the show, "We want to make you dance."

The headliner and biggest band of the night were Plain White T's; the rock/ indie/ pop band is from Chicago, Illinois. Members include Tom Higgenson on vocals, Dave Tirio on guitar, Mike Retondo on bass and vocals, Tim Lopez on guitar and vocals, and De'Mar Hamilton on drums.

The band has been together for almost ten years and they too, like most bands, started out in a basement. They started out in the fall of 1997 and went through some line-up changes before becoming the band they are now. Since then they have played thousands of venues including the Van's Warped Tour three times.

The band has their first major label album titled Every Second Counts in stores now. The band self-released their first album in 2002, which was then, re-released in 2005 with their album All That We Needed. This album contained "Hey There Delilah," which has since become their "biggest summer hit" as most radio stations are calling it.

The band is getting ready to go on tour with Fall Out Boy and Gym Class Heroes. They will also be heading overseas after the New Year to start another tour. On an interview with local radio station 95.1, Higgenson said, "this is what they (Plain White T's) always knew they wanted to do (entertain).