The Daily Campus

Issue date: 10/1/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Erik Kong Phil Vassar brought fans to their feet with his singing at the Jorgensen Center for Performing Arts this weekend.

As Phil Vassar ended his set, he sang out the chorus, "Do you like it? How about this? Wanna try it? Oh, oh, oh." And as the audience cheered louder, he smiled and finished, "I'll take that as a yes."

"I'll Take That as a Yes (The Hot Tub Song)" was only one of the country hits Vassar excited his fans with in his performance Friday at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. Vassar and the opening band, Lady Antebellum, performed both Friday and Saturday nights in a candlelit cabaret setting.

Lady Antebellum - a Nashville-based group of one female vocalist, a male vocalist and a guitar player - played an acoustic set with both original songs and covers to get the crowd going.

The band is still new with their first single hitting airwaves today.

The members tried to play up their own songs, including one called "All We Ever Need" about breaking up and believing that their love was all they ever needed. There was another song about a cheating man that the band introduced as an angry song. Even though these songs were about downbeat subjects, Lady Antebellum managed to make them sound a little more upbeat with the acoustic and country feel.

Lady Antebellum got the most audience interaction in their country rendition of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" and asked the audience to sing along.

After the opener left the stage, there was a short break for the crew to set the stage for Vassar.

As soon as the curtain opened, it was obvious that this was the main act. Spotlights flashed all around the theater as clips from Vassar's greatest hits played. After a loud "boom," the clips stopped, the sheer curtain fell down, and Vassar walked down the stairs of platform that lined the back of the stage.

He started with "Carlene," and fans stood up to clap and sing along. He included a break down to get the crowd to sing along, "Oo la la la … I love you, good Carlene."

After applause, Vassar kept the crowd going with another single - his No. 1 country hit, "In a Real Love." This also spurred the crowd to sing along.

Lights flashed on square screens that formed the backdrop in a grid-like pattern. Vassar played on a large black grand piano that had a jeweled "P" on the side that sparkled under the stage lights.

Continued...

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