Lauren RabainoOneRepublic likely will not have to make any apologies when they perform for Cal Poly this evening at Dusk ’til Dawn. The up-and-coming band is taking the stage tonight to perform “Apologize,” the hit single that garnered them public attention and has pushed them to the top of the Billboards.
Lead singer Ryan Tedder’s soaring vocals – along with guitarist and vocalist Zach Filkins, drummer Eddie Fisher, guitarist and keyboardist Drew Brown and bassist Brent Kutzle – should give Cal Poly an understanding of what’s made OneRepublic an almost instantaneous hit. The group’s melodramatic, poppy sound makes for a unique live performance, especially with the addition of Kutzle’s classical cello onstage.
“We made a really good decision when we decided to bring OneRepublic to campus,” said Michael Annuzzi, ASI Events musical entertainment supervisor. “It’s exciting to think they’re going to be playing here at Cal Poly. It’s going to be an awesome performance.”
OneRepublic’s genre-transcending style has been
influenced by musicians ranging from U2 to the Beatles. “Nothing’s new under the sun; we’re a sum of a bunch of parts,” Tedder remarked on the band’s Web site, noting that he aspires to deliver the kind of legendary performance that U2 frontman Bono does.
“You go to a U2 concert and it’s like church … I’d love to make people feel like that,” he said. “I want [a] person to walk away and feel like he or she has had a religious experience. We want them to feel moved.”
“I first noticed OneRepublic on MySpace, where they were the biggest band. Since then, they’ve gotten huge,” Annuzzi explained.
” ‘Apologize’ is getting played on all the big radio stations, and when I go on OneRepublic’s site I see that they’re getting listened to 100,000 times a day,” he said.
OneRepublic has consistently ranked as one of the top bands on MySpace, and their single “Apologize” received even wider public attention when its remix was featured on Timbaland’s album “Shock Value.”
In August, OneRepublic performed the debut hit in a live performance on Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” and since then they’ve made it all the way up to the No. 3 slot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“For a free live show, this is definitely one of the biggest-name bands we’ve had on campus,” said ASI program coordinator Michelle Curro. “We realized from last year’s [Dusk ’til Dawn] that students’ favorite part of the event is the live musical entertainment.”
She said that Annuzzi does extensive research to find up-and-coming bands to perform on campus. “He finds them when we can still afford to bring them to Cal Poly,” she said. ‘Who knows where [OneRepublic] will be six months from now, or if we would be able to afford them then.”
“We don’t make these sorts of decisions in a bubble, this is what we found out from Cal Poly students is what they wanted,” Curro explained.
“Students are really excited about this,” Annuzzi agreed. “I’ve been getting e-mails from people saying how much they’re looking forward to OneRepublic performing.”
Tedder started the band with Filkins when they were both high school students in Colorado Springs, Colo. OneRepublic has since moved to Los Angeles, where they picked up the other three bands members.
They’re currently rounding out an international and nationwide tour, and are just now returning to California.
The band’s manager, José Duarte from Firm Management, said OneRepublic is very excited to perform for Cal Poly tonight. “The guys know this is going to be big,” he said. “They can’t wait to take the stage and perform.”
Dusk ’til Dawn will be held from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Recreation Center and is free with a valid student ID. Local bands Siko and Still Time (formerly The New Longview) will also be performing.
OneRepublic will headline with “Apologize” in the second half of Dusk ’til Dawn and will play for more than an hour. Afterward, they will host a meet-and-greet with students.