Indie rock band MisterWives surprised everyone with a performance at THON 2018. Though the weekend is only a few hours old, MisterWives became the first live act during the proper 46.

Right before the lights dimmed, the crowd on the floor rushed to the front where the stage was, as if every DRCM whispered in their dancer’s ear “a big name act is about to perform and you’re going to want to be as close as you can get.” Once the lights went down, all members of the band took the stage except for lead singer Mandy Lee.

Lee took the stage without any announcement to kick things off with “Machine,” the first song on MisterWives’ most recent album “Connect The Dots.” It looked like much of the crowd was a little confused about who was on stage or didn’t know what song the band was playing.

“Penn State how ya doing out there,” Lee exclaimed. “It seems like a silly question, but are we having fun so far?”

MisterWives then moved into “Drummer Boy” and “Never Give Up On Me,” both of which the crowd didn’t really know all that well. To get the crowd into it, Lee said they’re going to play “one that everyone knows.” The band then did a cover of “Dreams” by the Cranberries, for which Lee has a perfect and incredibly unique voice to be able to cover impeccably.

Things only got more lively from there as the band moved into arguably its biggest hit, “Reflections.” Then crowd loved it and the flashing Four Diamonds-branded light sticks that THON Entertainment handed out only added to the effect. It wasn’t the end of the set, however.

“Thank you once again for having us again,” Lee said. “This is such an honor and a beautiful cause and we’re so excited to get to help kick things off.” MisterWives’ performance started only about 90 minutes after the dancers stood up.

MisterWives played heavy on the tenor saxophone for its next song, “Imagination Infatuation.” The band laid on the stage as Lee sang “a little bit softer now” and then brought the volume back up again.

The group closed things out with its other biggest hit, “Our Own House” and brought tom drums out to help drive the beat. The Nittany Lion joined the band on stage and closed things out in true THON/Penn State fashion.

So maybe it wasn’t Taylor Swift, but MisterWives was exactly what the BJC needed a hour and a half into THON 2018 to get the energy pumping.