Sugarcult and William Tell may have been an attraction for rock fans attending the Virgin College Mega Tour last night in Cole Field House, but by the time Talib Kweli hit the stage, it was clear the hip hop fans were the dominating force.

The crowd last night was positively lethargic as Sugarcult crashed through its set, prompting front-man Tim Pagnotta to admonish the crowd in frustration.

“You’re the sorriest group of sallies I’ve ever seen!” Pognotta yelled. “You’re at a rock concert – get up!”

Tell, facing the added pressure of being relatively unknown, looked to the help of amps and a full band to turn his solo album into a loud rock experience. But the 27-year-old former Something Corporate guitarist made an impression on many of the fans, especially those drawn in by the prospect of seeing Sugarcult.

“I knew Something Corporate though,” said freshman business major Kelly Quinn. “But I’m going to like it as long as it’s upbeat and I can dance to it.”

Still, the crowd was clearly split before Kweli’s set began, because many had arrived to see the first two acts, and many others trickled in later in anticipation of Kweli’s show. Junior government and politics major John Mathias, in heckling Sugarcult’s earlier admonishment, yelled, “It’s a terrible bill!”

“If you’re going to open to hip hop, you should get something that appeals to hip hop’s fans,” Mathias said in an interview. “I actually like a couple of [Sugarcult’s] songs, I just don’t want to hear them before Talib Kweli. I was extremely disappointed when I heard these were the openers.”

Sugarcult’s Marco DeSantis saw things differently.

“I think it’s great because on a college tour, people are more open, and different kinds of crowds can come to see and experience different things. That’s part of what college is about.

Most fans agreed with DeSantis’ take.

After a while, the members of Sugarcult stopped trying to make an impact on the number of people sitting, and proceeded to tear through their set. Sugarcult garnered good reaction for playing old hits such as singles “Memory” and “Pretty Girl,” as did new singles “Riot” and “Los Angeles” off their most recent album Lights Out.

By the time Sugarcult played “Stuck in America” two-thirds of the way through its set, the crowd had begun to warm up to the melodic pop-punk sound. A small crowd had gathered at the front of the stage in front of the seats, which grew with the band’s insistence.

Kweli’s performance clearly turned things around, however. Armed with backup dancers and a scratch mixer behind him, Kweli got the whole crowd on their feet and with their hands in the air.

Kweli gave a powerful, even inspired performance, though he did occasionally use some cheap cheer tactics such as, “if you were born in the ’80s, make some noise.”

Dedicated to getting the crowd as pumped as possible, Kweli completely stopped the music a quarter of the way through performing the song “Listen” to ask if the music was loud enough. He then proceeded to demand that the sound crew turn things up and before you knew it, Kweli restarted the song with blazing bass and far louder vocals.

Kweli got especially creative, performing and sampling everything from “Sweet Dreams” to the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” to an entire cover of MIMS’ “This is Why I’m Hot,” featuring his own set of critical lyrics about the “real” black New York City culture.

By the end of the show, Kweli had the entire crowd, almost 2,000 of them, singing and dancing along. Those who did arrive were treated with a great performance. What began as a worrisome turnout turned into a triumphant finish.