Two stages and a desert of deserted pavement were among the first signs that this year’s Ohio Union Activities Board Big Free Concert had begun.

The concert, held on the Buckeye Lots on West Campus, began at 2 p.m. and appeared almost empty until around 7:45 p.m. when the first of this year’s major acts, which included Flogging Molly, Talib Kweli, The Roots and Keane, took stage.

However, for Manish Lamba, one of the event coordinators, the concert was still a success despite its appearance.

“We got the number of people that we were expecting,” he said in an e-mail message to The Lantern. “Somewhere between 10,000 and 11,000 people attended the concert.”

This year the event was moved from the South Oval – where it has been held in the past – to the Buckeye Lots, and featured the addition of a second stage.

“We don’t feel as if (moving the concert) affected attendance,” he said. “If anything, it allowed us to have more people attend.”

The South Oval can hold up to 6,000 people due to safety reasons, while the Buckeye Lots can hold up to 35,000 people, he said.

The concert setup of two distinctly different stages, each playing a separate style of music, set the stage for students to choose between alternative rock and hip-hop. However, Lamba said the concert could have been more diverse.

“We really wanted to have country out there but couldn’t find an act that the students would be excited about,” he said. “Also, we felt that punk was missing from the lineup, but with the Warped Tour coming, none of the acts were available that we were considering.”

Lamba also said that OUAB would have liked to see bands such as Dave Matthews Band, U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers play.

The first of the four major acts to perform were Flogging Molly and Talib Kweli, both of which seemed to steal the show from major headliners.

As was the theme for the night, Flogging Molly started roughly 15 to 20 minutes later then its slated 8 p.m. start time. However, the student crowd did not seem to mind. Irish and non-Irish students alike were dancing for the majority of the band’s high-energy set.

“You better be lively for a bunch of (expletive) students,” said Dave King, Flogging Molly’s frontman, as the band took the stage.

Highlights of Flogging Molly’s show included King introducing the crowd to George Schwindt, the bands drummer, a native of Columbus and an Ohio State graduate, a heartfelt version of the song “Rebels of the Sacred Heart,” and a two-song encore performance prompted by the crowd cheering and refusing to leave.

As Flogging Molly played on the opposite side of the Buckeye Lots, Talib Kweli rapped to a medium-sized crowd.

Kweli performed with turntablist DJ Chaps. He performed ryhmes about love for his friends, his mother and everyone that he has known. Much like the crowd for Flogging Molly, audience members were so enthused they began to spontaneously dance. Kweli, recognizing this, invited one of the dancers on stage to dance before the audience. Other high points of Kweli’s performance occurred when he called for audience members to raise their left hands and make an “L” with their thumb and index finger to signify love.

At one point during Kweli’s performance he turned the show over to DJ Chaps, who energized the crowded by juggling Jay-Z’s song “99 Problems” using body tricks, including scratching with his elbows.

At just past 10 p.m. The Roots took the stage to the tune of John William’s Star Wars hit “Imperial March,” launching them into a two hour set that consisted of almost no stops. Highlights of their show included appearances by Talib Kweli and Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, a brilliant cover of Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say,” and a melody toward the end of the show that combined everything from Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Salt N’ Peppa to Beyonce and Black Sabbath.

All of these events were only a buildup to guitarist “Capt.” Kirk Douglas’ astounding guitar solo toward the end of the act. When the show was over a good ten minutes beyond the scheduled time, members of the band chucked towels into the crowd and drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson tossed his drum sticks as the “Star Wars Main Theme” blared over the speakers.

As The Roots played, British band Keane quietly took the stage.

The Roots could be overheard during Keane’s set, prompting Keane frontman Tom Chaplin to introduce a new song by saying “hopefully this song is going to be louder than the Roots.”

Other highlights of Keane’s performance were several new songs and b-sides from singles not released in the United States.

Despite the spillover music from the Roots, Keane was still able to capture the ambiance of the night by using the near full-moon to set a romantic mood, making Chaplin’s heart-felt thank you’s to the crowd all the more sincere.

Despite a slow start, the concert picked up steam by the time Keane hit its final note and brought the show to a close.