DeKALB | It could be said that Blue Man Group “blue” away the Convocation Center at Wednesday night’s show.

The brightly painted trio, backed by a phenomenal band consisting of three drummers, two guitarists, bass, keyboards and a powerful female vocalist, led the crowd through unique percussion displays (performed on perfectly-tuned PVC pipes, no less), hilarious skits and neon light visuals.

From the moment the opening curtain dropped, Blue Man Group relentlessly worked the receptive audience, who stomped, clapped and sang along whenever prompted by the large video screen that served as a backdrop for the entire band.

“I thought the show had absolutely great energy,” said Nadine Franklin, 50, director of theater at Kishwaukee Communmity College. “It also had a wonderful message and was fun. It was a good experience.”

When Blue Man Group wasn’t performing songs with their backing band, the video screen educated the crowd about the rules of rock from a manual which Blue Man Group “purchases” for $1,000 with the credit card of a female audience member.

The manual explains the importance of wearing codpieces in rock performance, the reason the best-looking band members in a group always want to go solo and how the “horns” sign given by metal fans was actually invented by an accident-prone clown playing a banjo. Though hilarious, the real message of the rock manual is that the personas of rock stars exist because performers are often too afraid to take a chance and be themselves.

The group also performed a medley of songs such as Van Halen’s “Jump,” Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” and Devo’s “Whip It,” evoking the melodies of each song by drumming on PVC pipe.

During “Jump,” the mindlessly-speedy drivel played by the group’s lead guitarist prompted the Blue Man Group to unplug him and put him inside a phone booth-sized chamber that muted his obnoxious playing. Gas was then pumped into the chamber, turning the guitarist into a tasty, melodically-genius player.

“For never seeing the show before, I thought it was pretty great,” said Nicole Rivera, 19, of Ingleside, Ill. “I had heard a lot of good stuff about it, but seeing it live was phenomenal. The singers were really good; it was just extraordinary.”

Her friend Megan Lewis, 19, of Algonquin, Ill., agreed wholeheartedly.

“The show was amazing,” she said. “It was so much fun. It was really high-energy and I totally got what they were saying. Their message had a point and it was really deep, actually.”

Blue Man Group’s encore was a touching ode to the victims of the 9/11 attacks that gave way to an explosive rendition of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” in which Blue Man Group recreated the song’s pulsing synthesizer melodies using only PVC pipe drumming.

The show’s success, to Kevin Selover, assistant director of marketing for the Convocation Center, marked another victory for the venue.

“We talk about having diverse events here, but I truly think this is one of the most diverse events that we’ve ever had,” Selover said. “Look at this crowd, we have eight-year-olds that are walking out with smiles on their faces and we have eighty-year-olds walking out with smiles on their faces. The crowd interaction was awesome. Honestly, it’s one of the best shows that we’ve had.”