Walk The Moon plays for students at Buck-I-Frenzy Aug. 20 at OSU. Walk the Moon performed at the LC Pavilion Friday night. Credit: Shelby Lum / Photo editor

Walk The Moon plays for students at Buck-I-Frenzy Aug. 20 at OSU. Walk the Moon performed at the LC Pavilion Friday night. Credit: Shelby Lum / Photo editor

Face-painted pedestrians singing about tightropes and a girl named Anna erupted from the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion late Friday night, and that could only mean one thing: Walk the Moon was in town.

Never before have I seen a band so excited to put on a show for its audience. The members of Walk the Moon were giving it their all and having the times of their lives, and that attitude translated perfectly to the audience. Whether lead vocalist Nicholas Petricca was hitting hard with his tambourine in “Tête-À-Tête” or drummer SeanWaugaman was playing an epic, speaker-shattering drum finale in “Me and All My Friends,” everyone in the audience gobbled up the excitement of the band and spit it back at them tenfold.

The highlight of Walk the Moon’s performance, though, was easily “Iscariot,” an unbelievably emotional ballad that translated flawlessly to a live setting. With the stage illuminated by cold blue lights and all else bathed in darkness, I got goose bumps the moment the music began. The performance of this song was the kind that changes the way you look at live music, and it’s one I know I’ll never forget.

Though it’s easy for music that uses synthesized noises to sound fake when heard live, Walk the Moon didn’t encounter this problem at all. Every member was proficient with his instrument, and the vocals were just as polished as on recorded tracks. Every song ended up sounding exactly like the original, if not better.

The band that opened for the show, Magic Man, did not make quite as much of an impact. It was like the band released all of its energy into the venue at once, but it floated just out of reach of the audience. Though it was obvious all of the members were talented and knew what they were doing musically, they didn’t have the stage presence necessary to perform alongside such firecrackers as the members of Walk the Moon.

Despite the lackluster opener, Walk the Moon more than made up for it with their own bursts of energy that drove the crowd wild.

Petricca summed up the concert wonderfully: “This is the first night of our tour… and this is f—— awesome.”