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From the outside, The Gangelhoff Center at Concordia University in St.Paul, Minn., is an impressive facility: one of those magnificent buildings that no doubt inspires awe in tour groups of parents and prospective students. It seems the perfect environment in which to catch a game, but shortly after Don’t Look Down­the opening band on the Everybody Wants to Rule the World Tour­took the stage on Thursday, Oct.16, it became painfully evident that the Gagelhoff Center is no concert hall.

Sadly, even the best of bands would have sounded like they were playing in the bottom of a garbage can in the midst of this boomy arena. But the three bands on the bill did their best to overcome the impossible sound obstacles and still please the fans with high-energy rock and amplified emotion.

Don’t Look Down worked well with the crowd, which consisted almost entirely of teenage girls sporting Relient K T-shirts. The band’s pogo-beat rock and lead singer Ryan Ogren’s Joey Ramone-ish stage presence helped draw some of the audience into the band’s show. But the largely distracted crowd acted like that of a small-town football game­those near the action and on the bleachers really into what’s going on while a slew of aimless wanderers walked around the outskirts, unsure of what to do with themselves. A quick guest appearance by Matthew Thiessen of Relient K during one of Don’t Look Down’s last songs instantly turned heads and sparked an ear-piercing eruption.

The mushy sound might have easily been dismissed as the “opening band” syndrome. But there was no marked improvement when Anberlin plugged in for their set. In fact, the amplification problems only seemed to multiply. Still, leadman Stephen Christian’s strong stage presence (ala Roger Daltrey / Robert Plant), and the band’s undaunted spirit outshined the poor sound. With hair flipping, guitars swinging, and drum sticks spinning, Anberlin ripped through their brilliant pop rock anthems to enthusiastic cheers from the overly primed crowd. In a venue more suited to live music, Anberlin’s set would have buried most bands.

An extended change-over before Relient K only served to heighten the crowd’s giddiness. At any hint of a drum hit, guitar strum or lighting change, shrill screams reverberated off the sky-high ceiling. Then the moment came­Tears for Fears’ “Shout” poured from the speakers, and shadows glided across the stage. The beginning riff of “Forward Motion,” followed by an overwhelmingly loud “Whoa-oh” sent shockwaves through the violently undulating teenage sea. Small groups of girls stood in tight circles clapping like cheerleaders, practically running in place with mouths agape in screams as if The Beatles had just stepped on American soil. The added vocals of about 2,000 adoring fans made Relient K’s vocals slightly more pronounced, but the sound was still squelched by the immensity of the arena. (The Gangelhoff Center could bring any seasoned soundman to his knees.) In addition to several snappy versions of songs from their latest album (Dave Douglas is­bar none­the fastest drummer on the planet), the band unleashed a slick, tongue-in-cheek medley of tunes from the Top Gun soundtrack (including “Danger Zone” and “Take My Breath Away”). Near the end of the set, Thiessen invited the crowd to sing along on “Gibberish,” even though the song contains little in the way of intelligible lyrics. It was just as well­nearly everything pumped into the Gangelhoff Center that night came off as gibberish, anyway.

While the most disturbing aspect of the show was the horrid sound (not the bands’ fault­I feel for you guys!), next in line would have to be, well, the unshrinking line of fans backed up at the Relient K merch table. The queue bisected the arena all night. Even when the band was sweating and strumming on stage, only yards away, waiting fans twirled their hair and sang along with their backs to the stage, begging the question, “Is it cooler to watch or wear your favorite band?”