La Salle students rock Backstage 100 percent

By Liz Wagner
Collegian Staff
October 31, 2007

On Oct. 17, several of La Salle’s finest entertainers took the stage for a night of music and culture to provide support for Philanthropy Week. Throughout the night, spectators enjoyed vibrant dancing and well-played, exciting music.

The Step Team performed three short but intense routines outside Backstage to start the night off. The girls stepped, clapped and shouted with the utmost excitement and precision. In one routine they broke into lines and performed a sophisticated layered piece, during which their lines rotated separately and flowed like a wave across the line of moving girls.

The second act of the night was an acoustic duo of senior communication major Joe Scibetta and undeclared sophomore Justin Weiner. The boys performed several popular covers, like “The General” by Dispatch, “Lola” by The Kinks and “Taylor” by Jack Johnson. During their version of “Keep Fishin’” by Weezer, Scibetta sang convincingly like Rivers Cuomo. At one point in the set, he also traded in his guitar and played a djembe while Weiner carried the melodies confidently on guitar.

But the main act was The Percentages, a band that consists of La Salle students past and present, including Collegian’s very own senior communication major Nate Adams. The Percentages kicked off their dancey grunge-rock set with the upbeat “D-Jangled,” and proceeded through an invigorating cover of “Lazy Eye” by Silversun Pickups.

With education graduate Joe Gilson and Adams’ boisterous singing and riveting guitar, suave bassist senior english major James Keough and entrancing drummer University of the Arts student Joey DeLorenzo, The Percentages simmered in a vat of high-powered rock with the number “The Reagan Era,” and moved through an awesome, crowdpleasing cover of “Hey Jealousy” by the Gin Blossoms.

The crowd in Backstage, driven by both loyalties to the band members and the band’s fun, intrinsically energetic sound, applauded and cheered with the enthusiasm of teenage girls at a My Chemical Romance concert. The difference: The Percentages are power-pop geniuses.

Though DeLorenzo had a bit of trouble hearing the rest of the band because his drums were positioned on the higher platform of the stage, listeners couldn’t notice a lapse in The Percentage’s intense sound. And with Gilson’s shirt becoming more and more unbuttoned with each song and Adams’ champion rock-and-stomp as he sang and played, the vibe from the guys onstage was nothing short of a true rock frenzy.

The crowd was so pleased with The Percentages’ performance that it demanded an encore as the band was making a move to pack up. Calls from the audience made the decision for the band to play “Leaving Las Vegas,” which was an absolute hit in the café.

But if you didn’t make it out on the 17th, don’t fret. The Percentages will most assuredly be back to play La Salle soon enough. And in the meantime, check out the numerous Open Mic nights at Backstage for the Scibetta-Weiner duo and other Lasallian entertainers. As for the Step Team, come check out its new routines on Thursday night at Hoops Madness in the Hayman Center.

wagnere1@lasalle.edu