Atticus Avenue had the odds against them Saturday night at Bourbon Street, opening at about 11 p.m. to a scarce crowd.

The band is from Pelham, Ala., a four-piece of brothers Drew (rhythm guitar) and Brad Kuehner (drums), Billy Rigdon (bass) and Brian “Huck” Huckstein (lead guitar.)

The band was unaffected by the thin crowd, starting the night off with spot-on covers of “Counting Blue Cars” by Dishwalla and Matchbox 20’s “3 A.M.”

The funk/rock band played mostly ‘90s rock covers, throwing in a few outliers like “Crawl” by Kings of Leon and “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand to keep it fresh.

The band's song choice kept it interesting, with unexpected and well-done performances of songs like The Rolling Stones’ “Jumping Jack Flash," including their original songs “Waiting” and “Down and Out,” successful rock songs that felt right in place among the rest of the band’s setlist and let Huckstein show off his talent on the electric.

Rigdon’s skills on bass were evident, comfortably giving the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “All Around The World” the thick, sharp bass line it deserves, and they continued to set themselves apart from the run-of-the-mill cover band with a version of Sublime’s “What I’ve Got” that wandered into an impromptu “Lively Up Yourself” and back.

It's hard to distinguish a lead vocalist, with most lyrics sung by a combination of the Kuehner brothers and Rigdon, but the apparent lead is Drew. This mix of voice parts kept the balance among the array of covers and helped encourage the frequent crowd sing-a-long.

Atticus Avenue left Bourbon Street with a few new fans with this solid performance that slipped under the radar, keeping up the energy despite the phantom audience and performing songs that I rarely hear by cover bands around Auburn.

Audience Reaction:

“Gold. It’s great to hear these guys, it’s great to see my friend Billy Rigdon play.” Kevin Spain

“They play fresh ‘90s music, man.” Dylan Maehrlein

“They’re freakin’ awesome!” Asa Peed