OK Go Rock and Vote for Barack Obama

Monday night was a night of rock ‘n’ roll and surprisingly little politics for what was billed as a Barack Obama rally. In an effort to remind college students to vote the next day, a diverse group of indie rockers gathered at the Bowery Ballroom, joined by Stella Comedy. The performances included Alberta Cross (a group from London), Joan As Police Woman, The Doilies (led by Stella’s Michael Showalter), Shudder to Think (led by Craig Wedren, the same guy who put the show together) and finally OK Go.
The concert itself was laid-back, and even the lesser-known acts were crowdpleasers. Strangely, the most off-putting aspect of the concert was Wedren. As the man responsible for the concert, you’d think that he would demonstrate some self-control—and not let his band play for twice the set-length of OK Go. He even had the gall to let another band not on the bill (Birds) debut in the middle of the concert. Their music was reminiscent of bad Christmas caroling.

But aside from this hour-long lapse of judgment, the concert was a huge success. With Michael Ian Black and the others from Stella hosting, the crowd was kept in good spirits. And when Knocked Up’s Paul Rudd (introduced as Caroline Kennedy) joined Stella on stage and showed the crowd a picture of Obama on his iPhone, everyone was incredibly excited.

But what was really special about this event, though it was advertised as “Barack Rock,” was the relative lack of politics. While all performing groups did at some point mention their support of Obama, there was no sermon. “Do what you want,” the members of OK Go told the crowd, “tonight we get to play with our idols, and tomorrow all of us get to vote for Obama.” Many of the acts praised “actually getting to vote for someone we believe in,” while even Wedren added: “I want you to vote for Barack, but honestly it’s just important to get out there and do your part.”

As Damian Kulash, the lead singer of OK Go said, “It’s kind of like preaching to the converted”—a surprising number of audience members were wearing their Barack Obama T-shirts and the crowd erupted even at the mention of his name. That wasn’t the point of the event, though. In the words of Kulash, “don’t be a stupid fucker—vote!”