O.A.R. woos crowd

The drinks were overpriced, the opening act played too long and the crowd bore an odd demographic resemblance to usual frat party fare, but when O.A.R. took the stage Sunday night at the Murat Theatre in Indianapolis, all was forgotten.\nBodies began moving among the soft orange glow of cigarettes as voices raised in response to lead singer Marc Roberge's request to sing along to the opening number "Hey Girl."\nIt's a strange breed of indie pop and reggae funk, a combination of vocals, beats and riffs enjoyed on college campuses throughout the country. While not entirely original in its conception, O.A.R's lyrics prove more complicated than the average student act's. \nFreely flowing and strangely introspective, the band's compositions can sometimes ramble on for a quarter of an hour, yet fans can't seem to get enough. \nUp-and-coming Ordinary Peoples opened for the band, playing an hour-and-a-half set that bordered on intolerable. Though OP's fusion of hip-hop, funk and live vocals captured the interest of audience members at the outset, restlessness soon took over as concertgoers migrated to the bathroom, to the concession line -- anywhere but inside the Egyptian Room, where a mere handful of dedicated fans danced and sang along to OP's oblique lyrics.\nO.A.R. lead singer Marc Roberge joined OP onstage for the final number in its set. As the song wound down, the other members of O.A.R. -- drummer Chris Culos, bassist Benj Gershman, lead guitarist Richard On and saxophone player Jerry DePizzo -- strolled unassumingly onstage, tuning instruments and exchanging high fives and handshakes with its opening act. \nFor the next two hours, O.A.R. played all the standards definitive of its tenure on the college rock scene, from "Night Shift" to "Black Rock" and "If Only She Knew." They also performed several numbers from their latest album Risen, released in February. \nCurrently students at Ohio State, band members plan touring and recording around their class schedules. And after nearly four years touring the college circuit, O.A.R. has retained the lack of pretension that characterizes their road shows. \n"We're not going to pretend to walk offstage and then come back," announced lead guitarist Richard On as the band wrapped up a seven-minute rendition of "Wanderer," a song inspired by several band members' experiences in a three-month exchange program in Israel. \nA single guitar riff was all the crowd needed to recognize O.A.R's signature "Crazy Game of Poker," the most recognizable piece in their repertoire and the evening's closing number.\nO.A.R. caters to a diverse group of students, a strange mixture of leftover hippies, greek T-shirt-wearing college students, and uber-trendy high school sophomores. Yet the concert Sunday night displayed the band's tremendous versatility and adaptability, especially in a smaller venue in a territory largely unfamiliar to the East Coast natives. \nO.A.R. will perform this week at Butler University and Purdue University. They will play Oct. 25 at the Bluebird.