The citizens and tourists of Boston must have felt that they were besieged by a youth brigade Friday night, given the fact that the Park Street area was awash in the excited faces of campuses around town.  Fast food chains and convenience stores became the hallway corners and secondhand couches for the slew of students that came to see the very popular (though seemingly unfamiliar) State Radio at the Orpheum.  As I waded through the cell phone turnstiles of the feverishly thumbing and pecking, I was able to squish into the aged seats and listen to the opening bands for awhile.

The first band, Zili Misik, were an excellent all-woman funk 'n groove band that easily got the sparse crowd going.  The Beautiful Girls from Australia arrived shortly after the ladies and they pleasantly turned out to be the Police from down under... most of the time.  Aside from some misdirected thrash about songs before their departure, they set up the next band quite well with their reggae infused rock.  Of course the next band, indicated by the sudden influx of hoodies and Plymouth State sweatshirts flooding into the remaining seats, was State Radio.

The trio of State Radio walked onto the stage amidst an absolute roar of enthusiasm from a very full Orpheum crowd.  The man who took up the guitar, Chad Urmston, resembled a superfuzzed John McEnroe from the seventies while wearing a "Support GI Resistance" t-shirt.  After a quick hello the band slipped into a light, funky sounds of "Right Me Up" which segued well from their openers.  Then they got to rocking with "Wicker Plane."  I was quite amazed at the utter adulation from the surrounding crowd, for unlike the usual open-spaced venues that command large crowds, the enclosed Orpheum made all the cheering sound as if there were triple the capacity in the place.  Never mind the fact that State Radio played it full tilt from the beginning to the end of the second encore. 

Every song seemed to be a crowd favorite, and though the band hails from the New England area, the audience were quite content to hear Urmston's Caribbean lilt that affected his vocals throughout the band's repertoire.  It's likely they also drew increased energy from the short mohawked bassist (Chuck Fay) and the rapid drumming of Mike Najarian.  However, it was clearly the well-balanced set list that pitted 'feel good' tunes ("People to People", "Gunship Politico") against the rougher ones ("Good Graces", "Man in the Hall") that stirred up the masses but refrained from wearing them out.  It was very noticeable, however, that State Radio has based much of their rock'n'roll pickup on a formula of slow build up and chorus blast out, but it was exactly that which kept the show as enjoyable as it was for everyone there.  Though they didn't get a chance to fit in "The Diner Song," State Radio played some very fun music for nearly two hours and three thousand partiers.  It looks like the Dave Matthews Band and Guster will need to step aside to hand over their crowns to the new college faves.