Vertical Horizon started in 1991 at a Georgetown undergrad party. Since that auspicious beginning, the band has become a college favorite everywhere. Ziggy’s in Winston-Salem, the small ramshackle bar with a tent roof and a leak front-row center, is one of the best places in North Carolina to see a concert. When great bands play at great venues, legendary shows usually occur, and that has been the case with Vertical and Ziggy’s in the past. So when Vertical Horizon took the stage at Ziggy’s on Oct. 28, everyone in the building expected a show of epic proportions, and no one left disappointed.

Will Hoge, a five-piece rock outfit from Nashville, Tenn., opened the show. The band’s Web site says their goal is to "capture lightning in a bottle" and they were almost, but not quite, successful. Every song had excellent, deep lyrics, the musicians were good and the performance was very energetic. All this made for a good band, but it seemed that Hoge, the lead singer, was trying too hard to be Bruce Springsteen and falling short. Nevertheless, Will Hoge put on an excellent set and by 11 p.m. , the crowd was more than ready for Vertical to show up.

The band took the stage to a tumultuous roar from the crowd and opened with the haunting ballad "Best I Ever Had" from their 1999 release "Everything You Want." They also played "Everything You Want," "You’re a God," "Shackled," "Send it Up" and "We Are" from their most popular album yet "Everything You Want," along with some pieces from their first two albums.

But mostly, the focus was on their most recent attempt, "Go." "Underwater," a song which was started as an experiment to see if Matt Scanell (the lead guitarist and singer) could write a song on the bottom three strings, and one of Vertical’s first songs, "On the Sea," seemed especially to move the crowd. Other songs off the new album included "Forever," "I’m Still Here" and "When You Cry."

One of the most striking aspects of the show was that Vertical Horizon started as and has remained a jam band despite all their hours of studio work. Almost every song was extended so the band could mess around. One song seemed to end early as Vertical went into a 10 minute jam. They broke out of the jam by playing The Beatles’ "Eleanor Rigby" and then finishing the original song.