Harvard Band Plays Loker Gigs

Tommy and the Tigers’ rock music and risqué message hit a precollegiate audience Wednesday night, when the band serenaded a small crowd of high-school-aged Harvard Secondary School Program students in Loker Commons.

Wednesday’s night’s concert, attended by about 100 high-school students, was the second in a two-night stand for the band. The previous night, it played to an exclusively college-aged Summer School crowd.

The earlier concert drew approximately 50 people, “which was a great turnout for 7 o’clock on a school night,” said T. Josiah Pertz ’05, the band’s publicist.

said. “They were very enthusiastic, and some approached us about hearing some more of our music.”

The rock concert series, scheduled by Summer School Dean of Students Christopher S. Queen, was an unusual offering for Summer School students.

“We have quite a visiting-artists series every summer,” Queen said, mentioning theater, dance, and symphony performances arranged for the summer school students. “We usually don’t book rock bands because there’s so much going on in Boston.”

Queen also cited cost as an obstacle to booking rock acts.

“These types of acts are usually a lot more expensive,” he said.

Tommy and Tigers initiated contact with the College, according to Pertz.

“We had approached the summer school about performing in Loker because we were looking for a place to show off our music,” said Pertz, who is also guitarist for the four-member band.

The band requested to do one free concert, but Queen countered by asking for two concerts and offering to pay the band for the shows, which he described as an “early study break.”

The concerts come as College administrators attempt to make Loker a more student-friendly place. The College hosted a series of pub nights in the space this past academic year.

“I think last night was a lot of fun and I think the summer school students really enjoyed themselves,” said College Campus Life Fellow, or “fun czar,” Justin H. Haan ‘05. “I think it’s also a testament to making pub nights what they are and how ill-equipped the space down there is to serving that need.”

The fallout of the quickly planned concert was a paucity of publicity and attendance.

“I heard about it 10 minutes ago,” said rising high-school senior Billy A. Organek, 17.

Drawn from their Annenberg Italian-style “festive meal” by loud music coming from the usually tranquil home of math review sessions, others flocked spontaneously to Loker during the hour-long set on Wednesday.

Frontman Tom P. Lowe ‘05 sang at first to an almost empty floor on Wednesday. But the band played with an energy and charisma disproportionate to the crowd, unleashing catchy, beat-driven rock and jazz to an initially timid group of high schoolers.

The crowd eventually responded favorably—ultimately, devotedly—to the 27-year old frontman.

“They’re so enthusiastic,” said rising high-school senior Chelsea A. Molly, 17. “The singer was totally into it the whole time.”

The crowd was transfixed by Lowe’s command, rising when asked, dancing when demanded, and shouting for an encore when prompted.

“We don’t bite,” one of the Tigers said while asking the crowd to close in on the stage.

“Unless asked,” Lowe rejoined.

Gradually, the crowd moved from the back of the room and began dancing front-and-center as the band played its Boston anthem, “City on a Hill.”

Tommy and the Tigers started with show tunes and moved between up-tempo, bass-heavy rock and slower, more “grooving” tunes.

“We call it dance rock. We’ve sort of been described as George Michael-meets-Jamiroquai,” Pertz said. “It’s meant to get you up and dancing in the aisles.”

He said the band also met a warm reception Tuesday night.

While the set remained the same on the second night, reactions to the less-than-full audience were mixed.

Some appreciated getting within spitting distance of the former West End actor and boy-band star.

“I felt like a VIP,” said rising high-school senior Alejandro Rojas.

Others found their peers’ lethargy disconcerting.

“How would you feel about being in the band, playing, with no one up there [near the stage] and no one dancing,” Molly said. “I would have been like, ‘Screw you.’”

Lowe said the band did the gig for exposure—and considered their two-night stint a success.

“We had a nice number to come along,” Lowe said. “I thought it was really great...A few of them were shouting that they’re our most faithful groupies now.”

The two concerts were divided into high-school and college-only nights because of social considerations, according to Queen.

“We don’t feel it’s appropriate for the two groups to mix socially. This is a long-standing policy,” Queen said. “They take the same classes, eat together, and go on the same trips together, but in terms of real social events where people would be meeting and perhaps going off on their own, we don’t think that’s appropriate.”

—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.