Head Automatica’s show in Syracuse New York has quickly been summarized by “The Daily Orange” an independent student newspaper of Syracuse. Read below to hear about how the show went.

Head Automatica didn’t have to ask twice to get the crowd at Schine Underground into the show, but the band’s charismatic lead man, Daryl Palumbo, wanted to make sure the audience members would participate.

“We want to see you guys dancing with us tonight. We can’t do all of the ass shaking by ourselves tonight,” Palumbo said at the beginning of the set to an enthusiastic reception from the audience.

Head Automatica played a rousing hour-long set of dance rock last night to a nearly sold out crowd. The last concert of University Union’s Bandersnatch Music Series for the year was co-sponsored by WERW to celebrate the radio station’s 20th anniversary.

The quintet’s high-energy performance had the crowd dancing throughout the concert. Head Automatica played songs from its entire catalogue including “Brooklyn is Burning,” “Graduation Day” and “Lying Through Your Teeth.”

Palumbo’s stage presence and interaction with the crowd kept the intensity up for the duration of the show, channeling Iggy Pop as he threw his shaking body around the stage and over the barrier in front of the crowd. The audience almost seemed to run out of energy before the band, who stayed after the concert and mingled with fans.

“I love the people in Syracuse,” said Palumbo after the show while autographing copies of Head Automatica’s albums. “It was a great show. I can’t believe how many people came out on a Wednesday. The kids went bananas tonight.”

Palumbo’s banter with the audience kept them laughing and dancing throughout. When one student requested the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird,” the singer responded jovially, “Yeah, this song is called ‘Freebird,’” before launching into one of his own band’s songs.

Head Automatica also premiered two songs from its new full-length album, due later this year, including the hard-rocking “Hard as Mud.”

“The new songs were great; it’s really making me look forward to the new album,” said Jenna Minahan, a student at St. Joseph’s School of Nursing in Syracuse.

The audience’s familiarity with the material contributed to the energy of the performance. A group of fans at the front and center of the stage sang along the entire time, while jumping and dancing. The highlight of the performance was “Beating Heart Baby,” Head Automatica’s first and biggest hit to date.

“If you know this, you’d better be singing it,” said Palumbo, who held the microphone out toward the audience during the song’s chorus.

While the performance was a mix of old and new material, most of the songs came from the group’s most recent effort, “Popaganda.”

“I wish they had played more songs from (debut album) ‘Decadence,’ but it was a really good show,” said Tara Jackson, sophomore communications design major.

Camp Camp, made up of two SU students, opened the show with a smooth 25-minute set. They used a drum machine and three keyboards, one of which band member K. Eric Peterson claimed to have “found in the garbage.” Their unique vocal approach saw both members singing, but with Pete Kaczmar’s voice going through a filter that lowered his voice.

The crowd was largely apathetic when Camp Camp took the stage, but warmed up as the group played through dance-ready songs like “Man of Steel.” Stage banter also helped their cause when they quizzed the audience on the meaning of the word aloof and remarked, “We usually like to have some technical difficulties during our set, but unfortunately we’re not going to have any for you tonight,” right before their drum machine stopped working momentarily.

Overall, both bands performed well and treated the audience to a great night of dancing, laughing and rocking out.

“I had an awesome night tonight,” said Ashley Whalen, junior biology major. “I’ve seen Head Automatica twice, and the second time was even better than the first.”

Source: “The Daily Orange“