APPLETON, WIS. — Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers bring their unique blend of classic folk-rock tradition and fun-loving showmanship to Lawrence University Tuesday, May 22 for a performance in Stansbury Theatre. The Minneapolis-based quartet Dropping Daylight will open the concert at 7 p.m.
Tickets, at $3 for Lawrence students, $7 for general admission, are available through the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749.
Kellogg, who began as a solo performer before adding his three-member band that, beyond the standard guitars, bass, and drums incorporate kazoos, accordions and even the keytar into their sound, has sold out East Coast venues with a juxtaposition of heartfelt songs delivered with unabashed flair.
The band’s live show features a heavy doze of what Kellogg calls “shenanigans,” acts of goofy band humor that provide a more festive flavor to the performance than is typically found in the more staid environs of the singer/songwriter world. They’ve been known to add full replications of Napoleon Dynamite’s infamous dance or Patrick Swayze’s quasi-risque lift of Jennifer Grey from “Dirty Dancing” into their performances, which usually include a fair number of covers as well.
Frontman Kellogg released the first of his three solo albums in 2002 and has since released three more with the Sixers, including the breakthrough disk “Bulletproof Heart” in 2004 and their 2005 self-titled CD, which has been described as “a rock album that replaces attitude with sincerity.”
Founded originally as Sue Generis in 2001, Dropping Daylight, with its piano tinged sound, has been compared to alternative rock favorites like Ben Folds Five, the Eels and the New Radicals.
Dropping Daylight was part of the 2006 Vans Warped Tour and also has toured with Breaking Benjamin, Monty Are I, and Jason Mraz. Their first full-length disk, “Brace Yourself,” which featured the track “Tell Me,” was released in the spring of 2006.
The concert is sponsored by Lawrence’s Student Organization for University Programming (S.O.U.P.).
