Galo Pesantes
Sports Editor

On Mar. 2 I arrived at the Glasshouse in Pomona in anticipation of a concert featuring a couple of bands of the rock and alternative genre that I knew little or nothing about.

I had heard of the headliners of the night, Ima Robot, because they are from a major label (Virgin) and had a video in circulation. But, I knew almost nothing of the opening acts: the Hairbrain Scheme and Low vs. Diamond.

The concert began an hour and half after the scheduled time but it soon became apparent to the half empty auditorium that it would not matter. The patient crowd waited until finally the members of the first opening act, the Hairbrain Scheme, emerged onto the small stage.

Formed in 2004 the indie group is headed by front man Grant Parsons, along with three other band mates. They started out their set in a fury, with a punk rock sound like any other. Their songs started to fade into more of a hardcore rock sound and then back to a more alternative feel.

The Scheme’s songs were a bit unbalanced and unexpected in terms of what to hear as they mixed up different rhyme cal sounds on the drums and keyboards. Finally, after emphatically playing two of their songs, Parsons introduced them as a band.

He was wearing a pair of black sunglasses, which reminded me of how Tom Cruise looked in the movie T.A.P.S.

After the Scheme’s 27 minute set, the next opening band was Low vs. Diamond. The five-man group which is based out of Los Angeles is signed to the Killers’ original label and managed by the current Killers' manager as well. By far, this band was my favorite of the night because of the poetic sound and meaningful messages in their music.

Following the band setting up after Scheme, lead vocalist Lucas Paul Field started their 40 minute show with a simple introduction, “Alright here we go.” The group's performance and personas seemed to be well received by the crowd as many flashes from cameras were going off throughout their set.

One song in particular, “Stay Awake”, was emotionally and strongly displayed, featuring a catchy hook and smart drum patterns. The band continued to show their humble and grateful demeanor by interacting with the crowd in between songs. Then in their final song of the night, Field again thanked the crowd for the support throughout the night and began to speak about their track, “Heart Attack”.

“Pretend like you’re in a gigantic stadium and this is the biggest song right now,” said Field while prepping before with his guitar.

The song proved to be very powerful with thumping drums, a creative harmony, and great vocals throughout the song. At the conclusion of the song, the audience reception broke into applause and noise for the end of their performance.

 The last act was the band many fans had come to see.  And it certainly showed when they welcomed Alex Ebert and the rest of Ima Robot to the stage to resounding applause. Ebert emerged onto the stage with an interesting ensemble, including a leather jacket, a beige scarf, and shirt and pants that looked like he had just checked out of the hospital.

Ebert’s vocals were prominent through all of the songs, in which they resembled a rock, alternative pop categorization. “Creeps me Out” was quite a mix of verses from Ebert and a chorus lead by the lead guitar and drums which was inspired by a true life, over obsessive, stalker female.

Several fans seem to be touched by Ebert as well. One went all the way in giving him an arrangement of roses while performing on stage. Overall, Ima Robot finished the night with quite a strong show that quite a few in the audience had been waiting all night to see.

Galo Pesantes can be reached at gpesantes@ulv.edu.