The Elbow Room is surprisingly not smoky at 10 p.m. Tuesday night. This isn't what the average rock club is supposed to smell like, but no one complains, because after all, they can see better and their drinks taste like drinks and not like the liquid nicotine they're used to.
Most of the Princeton crowd arrives by an old yellow school bus, chartered by the band, giving the hilarious impression that the students are on a bizarre field trip and have lost their teacher.
They enter the club to join a modest crowd and mill about the long, narrow, half-full Elbow Room, ordering drinks and waiting.
The students have traveled all the way to the city on a school night, giving up all too valuable study time, to see and support Pipe Dream, a popular student band that they know from the 'Street.'
During the opening band's show, the crowd grows dense as more college students arrive along with Princeton alums and other 20-somethings. The long, mirrored bar seems to stretch from a rickety spiral staircase all the way to the stage, but it is already full when the opening act concludes and Pipe Dream begins to set up. The bus bunch has moved to the front of the crowd of silhouettes, waiting impatiently for the student band to begin.
Finally, the four members of Pipe Dream, illuminated by red and blue stage lights, begin to play their original song, "'Til I Snap" and the Princeton crowd goes wild, yelling, jumping around and whistling for their classmates.
This is not the first time Pipe Dream has played in New York. Its first show was at the Acme Underground, another club, and was a huge success, said lead singer Jon Barnes '03. "We got enough people to come that the place was blown away; they're having us back next week," he said. "It was really special the first night."
Pipe Dream started modestly when Barnes and lead guitarist Mac Muirhead '03, decided to start a band their sophomore year. "We put up flyers around campus, got Jeff [Lange '04], our bassist that way, and then Courtenay [Green '02], our drummer," said Barnes.
After Green graduated and moved to New York to try to make it as a musician on her own, Pipe Dream decided to continue as a band. "We found this dude here," Barnes said as he pointed to a grinning Nick Lyon '06.
Lyon had been in a different band with Lange, but when that fell apart, Lange recruited him to Pipe Dream. "This was more of my style," Lyon said. The band played mainly 'Street' gigs for a while.
"We played covers on the 'Street' because that's what people really want to hear. Everybody wants to know all the words to the songs and just like shout them out and try to hook up basically," Barnes explained.
"If there's one person in the room I'm playing to that doesn't know all the words, then we should not play it."
But the band really wanted to play their own songs, and this sentiment motivated Muirhead to start aggressively calling clubs in the city.
"Basically, you keep calling until you get an answer," he said, noting that it is part luck and part persistence that gets the band its gigs.
From the first few Tom Petty-influenced chords, it's evident that this band is classic rock with a little bit of alternative pop rock mixed in. Lyon's strong, upbeat drums inspire some audience members to dance, and everyone taps their feet along.
Most of the songs are upbeat with simple, romantic themes and subtle harmonies, but the original songs are interrupted a few times for the band's original repertory – covers.
The concert peaks with Tom Petty's "Mary Jane." Pipe Dream's version is trippy with a jam band feel and is by far the most creative cover of the set.
Each of the band members has a unique persona on stage. Lyon is the enthusiastic rhythm-keeper, into the beat with his whole body and soul, while Barnes is the charismatic lead singer, convincing the audience that he means every single word he sings.
Muirhead seems to be the most serious musician of the bunch, energetic and intense, grinding his teeth during guitar solos and jumping around with his music the way a lead guitarist should.
But Lange is the real pleasure to watch. He is in his own cool, happy groove that everyone who watches him enviously wishes they could visit. As he plucks and slaps the strings of his bass, he emanates an aura of utter contentment. They are everything a college band should be.
The audience, meanwhile, has gone absurdly wild thanks to a few cocktails and the musically charged energy. One enthusiastic Scottish student feels it so important that the audience understands the greatness of this band that he takes people aside to explain why he is a fan.
When the band's set ends, the audience raucously demands an encore, refusing to calm down until the band obliges.
Though the fans adore them, there is an astonishing lack of arrogance about the band members. Whereas many bands' egos grow with their popularity, Pipe Dream is a humble, good group of guys.
Though they'd all like to continue their music separately after graduation, they aren't in pursuit of fame and glory.
These four guys simply love music and the rush of performing.
When asked whether or not the tired misery of the following full day of classes was worth it, the answer was a unanimous "Yes!"
Pipe Dreams is playing tomorrow night at the Acme Underground. For more info, check out www.acmeunderground.com.
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