Yesterday was a crappy day and, if you were forced to walk anywhere remotely distant on campus, you'll know what I'm talking about. With a constant drizzle and temperatures 30 degrees below those experienced earlier in the week, Mother Nature released her damp and chilly anger upon campus, as well as the hearts and minds of its hard-working students.

How appropriate was it then that peppy pop-rock artist Ben Kweller made his return to Madison to headline the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board's fifth annual All-Campus Party. It seemed this Texas native and his superbly jubilant brand of piano and guitar-driven pop rock was just what the campus needed to boost the cold and waterlogged spirits of University of Wisconsin students.

Even though Kweller's appearance was sure to release the students from the dismal mood caused by the awful weather, Mother Nature wasn't willing to let them kick back just yet, causing more awful weather in Chicago and delaying Kweller's incoming flight. As the line for entrance into the Orpheum wound around the corner, members of WASB notified the crowd that, instead of being let in at 7 o'clock, they must wait 20 additional minutes to be seated.

Nearly an hour after the concert was scheduled to begin, the 10 contestants in WASB's All-Campus Idol finally took the stage to discover which one would go home with a 30 GB iPod, a year's worth of Chipotle, and, best of all, the glory of winning.

Freshman Brian Reinke was crowned All-Campus Idol and performed his winning song. As he played a slow-tempo version of Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis," Reinke was finally able to bathe in the yellow light and adoration of his appreciative fans after the stressful competition.

Immediately following the new All-Campus Idol, local artist Nate Rusch mounted the stage to entertain and soothe the Kweller-hungry crowd. With a voice and musical style resembling that of former pop rock stars Something Corporate, Rusch delivered line after line of shimmering piano riffs complemented by a gentle, throbbing percussion line. This formula seemed to be the only style Rusch was capable of, providing one sodden, seven-minute track after another for a crowd that had already had its fill of moisture for the day.

Not long after, Mike Droho, former member of local Madison band the Profits, unexpectedly took the stage in another attempt to fill the gap caused by the weather's unfortunate intervention in Kweller's travels. Opting for a sole acoustic guitar, Drohoe succeeded in doing what Rusch was unable to accomplish, entertaining the audience with his crisp vocals and blues-infused Jack Johnson guitar work. On "Underdog," Drohoe made the girls swoon and the men cheer as he recounted the love story between a male and a girl "way out of his league." Still, the hopeful audience was impatient for Kweller to arrive.

Despite the fact that concertgoers waited nearly two hours for the show to begin, all eyes were faithfully glued to the shaggy haired Kweller as he mounted the stage to deliver an unforgettable set to his adoring audience.

"All I wanted to do was play a concert," Kweller immediately proclaimed, after experiencing technical difficulties with his guitar. The young performer, though, quickly recovered by turning to his keyboard to open this explosive show with "How It Should Be (Sha Sha)."

Kweller, however, excels not only in his improvisation skills, the artists' true talent lies in his stage presence and ability to interact with the audience. Performing the guitar-swinging hit "Ann Disaster," Kweller delighted the audience with his antics by recklessly twirling and dancing across the bluelit stage. The young artist also solicited the help of two separate audience members after snapping one of his guitar strings. Unfortunately, both men clearly had no knowledge of string replacement, and the singer was eventually forced to replace the string himself before returning to his raucous stage antics with the crowd-pleasing "I Need You Back." The crowd, grateful for Kweller's playful stage demeanor, faithfully chanted the lyrics along with the baby-faced performer.

Ending his set, Kweller returned to his Southern roots with the new hit "Red Eye," delivering buzzing blues guitar and vocals with a down-home twang. Although it wasn't the hit "Wasted and Ready" the college crowd was hoping for, Kweller's alternate take on this new tune satisfied audience members, whose heads bobbed along with the pulsing bass line and Kweller's heaving guitar riffs.

Despite Mother Nature's many attempts to soak the spirits of UW's students, Kweller proved to be a combative force, strong enough to battle the elements with his explosive stage presence and entertaining music.