Four men took the stage in brightly colored vinyl jumpsuits and the first few rows of the audience started chanting "Manplanet, Manplanet, Manplanet." The lead singer grabbed the microphone and yelled, "Are you ready for a rock show?" The crowd went wild.
And so began the futuristic Manplanet performance Friday night at Mohawk Place. Fans crammed around the stage jumped up and down to the beats and sang along with the lyrics.
Manplanet takes everyday happenings and strange thoughts and morphs them into lyrics. Their music is upbeat, high energy and a blast to watch.
Each band member has dyed hair and wears vinyl suits with sneakers - even their drinks on stage matched in color.
Vocalist and guitarist Jeff Ham wears the color white. Tim Holly is the red man in charge of the bass. And in blue, Atom Prince plays guitar and synthesizer. Drummer and occasional vocalist Pete Greene wears the color of his name.
"It was just an idea we had, that went way too far," said Ham, referring to the band's color coordinated outfits.
They performed music off their two CDs, Skylab and An Introductory to Musicianship. Songs included "Black Box," "Silver Car," "Back to Earth" and "I, Robot" in which they moved about the stage in stiff, robotic steps.
For their shows, Manplanet likes to use pyrotechnics to get the crowd pumped and involved in the performance - sometimes with dangerous results. In Rochester, Ham's guitar caught on fire, which then spread to the wall. They tried to douse it with beer but had no luck.
Fortunately, no one caught aflame at Mohawk Place, but the show was interrupted by a fight in the crowd. The violent fans were promptly escorted out.
Before Manplanet took the stage, the crowd got a taste of The Casiophonic Marching Band and Lonely Planet Boy. The audience was eager for Manplanet to take the stage.
"Techno atmosphere music" is how one audience member described Casiophonic. The band consists of two female keyboardists who performed a techno set.
Lonely Planet Boy hails from Pennsylvania and consists of four members. Their set was mellow but well performed. They incorporated an electric banjo into their music, which made for a very unique sound.
Manplanet is almost halfway through their five-week tour. They do not yet have a Buffalo return date, but Ham's work can be heard in the theme song to Comedy Central's "Let's Bowl."
