The Walkmen overrun Mohawk Place

Dim lighting, urinals that are ridiculously low to the floor, and the sticky scent of stale beer were all too familiar, but that's Mohawk Place. The formidable crowd that anxiously awaited The Walkmen Sunday night let loose primal cheers when the group finally climbed onto the cramped stage.

Straight from their Toronto show the night before, The Walkmen, who are releasing their own novel entitled "John's Journey," performed mostly brand new music from their much anticipated record to the heated Buffalo crowd.

Concertgoers were not let down by the new material.

A mess of musical gear was placed wherever possible on the small stage. A plain black backdrop had been positioned behind the group. The uncharacteristic colored lights flickering above and the two towering speakers loomed on either side of the stage.

The crowd was mixed in age, with a higher number in their early thirties. Of course, everyone was decked out in "scene" ensembles, which became redundant to the eye after more and more people spilled into the club.

Onstage, Hamilton Leithauser, lead singer of The Walkmen, worked the microphone and preached hypnotic vocals as the opening song, "The Cheetah," burst through the house. He strummed rhythm guitar on select numbers. Hamilton's vocals resembled Bono, Bob Dylan and Lou Reed after a pack of Marlboro Reds.

"He sounds a little hoarse," an anonymous concertgoer remarked, "like a little too much...you know."

The Mohawk was the last date of their mini-tour and Hamilton's voice sounded it.

Lead guitarist Paul Maroon played trippy riffs that melted into the strong bass. The keyboardist Walter Martin added a spacey approach to the music. He played additional percussion items on a few of the tracks. Drummer Matt Barrick tightened the music and created most of the drive with inventive, tribal grooves and The Killers-style beats. The drums were definitely a highlight of the show.

The Walkmen pumped out a dry sound that was sonically capable live, but lacked the dynamics needed to break up the monotony of the ever-present guitar loop. It would have been nice to hear some major hooks in the numbers, as most segues in song structure were left to the drummer.

Surprisingly, The Walkmen had little to no interaction with the crowd. Hamilton rarely spoke in between songs and when he did, it was so low and unenthusiastic that it was incomprehensible.

The Walkmen's stage presence also suffered as a whole. The energy was there, but the stage presence was a bit weak. Hamilton was an explosive time bomb of a front man, but it sometimes came across as strained and forced.

That doesn't mean that there is no passion in his work.

"The key element in this band is energy. The front man puts everything he has into his performance," said Brandon Wiseman of Cheektowaga. "The most important quality a good band can have is passion, an area that The Walkmen are not lacking in by any means."

The drummer's arms flailed about wildly in between tom and snare hits, acting as the central visual element of the show. The lead guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist played well but hardly budged from their positions. A simple Pete Townshend "windmill" from the guitarist would have been a nice treat to let the crowd know he was alive.

The opening group of the night was The Audience from Jamestown, N.Y., who sounded like they had a few friends in the crowd offering the obligatory cheers between songs. The second group, Mazarin, who traveled from Philadelphia to perform some very accessible music at Mohawk, was well received by the audience.

Final cuts of Sunday night's set included The Walkmen's biggest hit "The Rat" and a two-song encore demanded by the feral audience.

"Seeing and hearing The Walkmen for the first time was incredible," said Silver Creek native Jim Castiglia. "They seem to feed off each other's energy and then that just spills into the crowd. I hope I get the pleasure of seeing them again sometime soon."

The Walkmen are an amalgam of great vintage rock and trippy new rock. If given the chance to see them in concert, it should be on top of any rock lover's to-do list.