By Liz Coffin-KarlinThe Daily Northwestern
Lolita: 40. The Foster-Walker Complex: zero.
On Friday evening, the Northwestern student band Lolita opened for alumni band The Foster-Walker Complex, the 2004 winner of Mayfest’s Battle of the Bands.
Although about 40 students came for Lolita’s performance, after the band change only two students remained. By The Foster-Walker Complex’s third song, the band was playing to an empty house.
“It sucks to play to nobody,” said singer and guitar player Marcus Ricci, Weinberg ’06.
The concert at Norris University Center’s Louis Room was hosted by nStage, a Center for Student Involvement program that brings entertainment to campus.
“We were happier with Lolita because more younger students on campus knew them,” said Sarah Michael, a CSI supervisor. “A lot of (Foster-Walker Complex’s) fanbase had graduated.”
Most attendees said they were friends with Lolita members or were there to see guest singer Elena Pinsky, a Weinberg freshman. But The Foster-Walker Complex, which has performed at Chicago’s House of Blues in 2006 and at Dillo Day in 2004, did not attract an audience this time.
“I don’t know why nobody’s here,” said Weinberg freshman Melissa De Leo, one of the two students who stayed after the first song. “I expected it to be bigger. But they’re good. They’re really good.”
De Leo and a friend left during the third song.
Ricci said that, with one or two exceptions, The Foster-Walker Complex’s shows at Norris have been historically unsuccessful, although usually not to such an extent.
“I think this was the most poorly attended show we’ve ever played,” he said.
The band’s next performance will be Sunday at Elbo Room in Chicago, where they said they expect an “actual audience.”
Michael said that The Foster-Walker Complex stood out to them because they played at this year’s New Student Week.
The Foster-Walker Complex began in 2004 with four NU students, one of whom lived in the band’s namesake dorm. The band includes Dave Moyer on drums, Ricci on vocals and guitar, Jon Echt on bass guitar and Danny Leavitt on vocals and guitar. All of the band members graduated from Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences in 2006, except Echt, who graduated from McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science in 2005.
The band said that although they don’t usually play in Evanston anymore, they jumped when Norris called offering more money than they usually get for a performance.
“I’d play to this empty room every week,” Moyer said.
The band was giving out free CDs, and their new songs are available for download on iTunes.
“We figure if we’re going to come to Norris and play for zero people, we might as well give away free stuff,” Ricci said.
Michael said that although the event was not a success, it was a learning experience.
“We’d never done it before, so we wanted to try something new. Now we know what works and what doesn’t,” she said.
Reach Liz Coffin-Karlin at [email protected].
