Guster rocked out to a capacity crowd at Newport Music Hall Friday night in support of BuckeyeThon and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Playing the first of 13 shows on their “Campus Consciousness” tour, Guster entertained the audience of Ohio State students with the sweet sounds of their folk-rock melodies.

The Buckeyethon benefit concert was sponsored by the Ohio Union Activities Board in collaboration with Buckeyethon to help support Nationwide Children’s Hospital. All proceeds from the show went directly to support the hospital and its efforts with the Children’s Miracle Network.

Opening act Pete and J took the stage at 8 p.m. and got the crowd rocking with their catchy progressions, a flashback wardrobe and energetic front man Pete Harper. Their music, a cross between Ben Folds and The Strokes, energized the audience in preparation for the night’s headliner.

When Guster finally took the stage just after 9 p.m., both the balcony and the floor were filled with approximately 1,700 enthusiastic students ready to sing along to their favorite songs.

Guster got things started with “Center of Attention,” a song from their third album, “Lost and Gone Forever.”

Lead singer Ryan Miller interacted with the audience between songs with his quirky antics, at one point taking a poll about which footwear fellow vocalists Adam Gardner should wear while rocking out, and later improvising a song about Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers.

The band first formed in 1991 while attending Tufts University in Medford, Mass. They have recorded five studio albums and have several live albums, most famously “Guster on Ice,” which also contains a DVD compiled from two shows they did in Portland, Maine.

As the show continued, Gardner got the crowd singing in unison with the smooth sounds of “Demons,” a fan favorite from their “Goldfly” album.

A unique feature of Guster is drummer Brian Rosenworcel, who is well known for playing the many percussion instruments used in the repertoire of Guster songs with his hands.

“It’s really impressive to see him in person,” said Jolie Hanson, a senior human development and family sciences major. “I couldn’t believe how fast his hands were moving.”

The Newport show marks the band’s first concert since returning from “Mayercraft Carrier 2,” a four night cruise in which Guster performed with artists such as John Mayer and O.A.R.

“It’s great to play on solid ground again,” Miller said.

For much of the evening, students could be seen snapping pictures and recording video with their cell phones in an attempt to capture a lasting record of the night.

By the time the band reached “Satellite” – a song popular on the Columbus alternative radio station CD101 – audience members took to the sky to participate in one of the oldest concert traditions: crowd surfing.

Over the years, Guster has developed a cult-like following with their upbeat rhythms and playful lyrics. One of the band’s most popular tracks, “Airport Song,” showcases drummer Rosenworcel’s rhythmic movements while demonstrating the admiration their fans have for the group as they toss ping pong balls onto the stage – something only a hardcore Guster fan would know to do.

The band played for almost two hours and left the stage to cheers of “one more song,” and, like any good band would, the group returned to play their final song, “Keep It Together.”

Overall, the night was a success. OUAB and BuckeyeThon raised money in support of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Guster’s performance left OSU students with a memory they will never forget.

Ian McCollum can be reacched at [email protected].