Gaelic Storm shook the Egyptian Theatre on Tuesday night with a thunderous performance.

The group, featured in 1997's movie "Titanic" as the steerage band, put on a show that was half Irish music and half comedy.

"We try to break down the walls between audience and performer as soon as we hit the stage," vocalist and Irish drummer Steve Wehmeyer said.

Gaelic Storm members include Patrick Murphy, Steve Twigger, Bob Banerjee, Tom Brown, Wehmeyer and Ryan Lacey.

Wehmeyer said Murphy, Twigger and himself were the original members of the group, with new additions being Banerjee, Brown and Lacey.

The music ranged from old favorites like "Drink the Night Away" and a smoky rendition of "Black is the Color," to new songs like "Tear Upon the Rose" and "Rolling Down to Old Maui."

Wehmeyer said he prefers to perform faster songs.

"There is no feeling like the feeling we get when we're tearing along and the audience is just about ready to rock it out of their seats and there is this incredible tension running through the air," he said. "It's more fun than I can put into words."

Vocalist and harmonica player Murphy started off the comedy part of the performance by asking if there were any "Gaelic Storm virgins" in the audience. He later said the group ate dinner at the Hillside Restaurant and joked that they had a seven course meal, which consisted of a six-pack of beer and a potato.

Many references were made to alcohol, and the group members told the audience to meet them after the show at "Molly's Eatery and Drinkery."

Wehmeyer said the group's name was taken on a whim when they were scheduled to play at a coffee house and they realized they didn't have a name. They chose the name figuring that they would change it later, but then about 150 people showed up at the performance, he said.

Angie Moloney, audience member and DeKalb high school student, said she saw the group when they were at NIU in 2000, and she was eager to see them again.

"It's good music and they're really funny," she said.

Bob Conrad, audience member and a 56-year-old factory worker, said the band is excellent and he enjoys the energy.

Kevin Quaid, ticket manager with the NIU box office, said the 1,483 seats were close to selling out, and he thought the show went really well.

Vocalist and guitarist Steve Twigger agreed that the show went well.

"That was good," he said sitting back stage after the show. "I enjoyed that: good audience, good mix of people."

Wehmeyer said the audience is what brings the performers back to DeKalb.

"We've always had really wild and welcoming audiences here," he said. "That's always been really cool."

The season is over for all but five NIU wrestlers. Despite that, the majority of the team was at Huskie Stadium practicing as usual.

Monday's practice wasn't mandatory, but the rest of the team wanted to stay in shape and show their support for the players who qualified for the NCAA Championships Thursday through Saturday in Kansas City, Mo.

Senior Scott Owen is trying to repeat as an All-American -- he took fifth at last year's event. Junior Ben Heizer is making his second appearance and feels that the 184-pound weight class is an open class for anyone to take because there is no clear-cut favorite. Josh Wooton and Sam Hiatt are making their first showings later this week. Senior 125-pound Marlon Felton is an alternate for the NCAAs.

The Huskies had a "light day" according to coach Dave Grant.

The rest of the team worked on takedowns, hand-fighting and then lifted weights.

Of the wrestlers involved in the NCAA Championships, Owen wrestled with George Kirgan, Heizer went up against assistant coach Raphael Davis, Wooton took on redshirt sophomore Alex Nelson and Hiatt practiced with assistant coach Jason Hayes.

Where will I go?

Owen was recently named the No. 1 wrestler on the coaches' poll on www.wrestlingmall.com. Asked where he thinks he would be seeded for the NCAA Tournament, all that he could come up with was a good guess on where he would go.

"The pre-seeds had me at a No. 4 spot," Owen said. "They are usually pretty accurate. They were accurate last season."

The last two seasons the pre-seeds had Owen within one spot of his actual seedings.

Owen was ranked behind Ohio State's Keaton Anderson, Minnesota's Luke Becker and Oklahoma State's Shane Roller in this year's pre-seedings.

The pre-seeds were correct with where Owen would go, he did receive a No. 4 spot.

Heizer thought that he would be seeded anywhere from a No. 5 to No. 9 spot because he has been ranked in that window all season.

Heizer was correct where he thought he would go, but it was at the higher end. He received a No. 9 spot at the NCAAs.

First time may be a charm

Hiatt and Wooton are making their first trips to the NCAA Championships.

Grant thinks both Hiatt, a sophomore, and Wooton, a freshman, will do very well at the NCAAs.

"I think that the sky is definitely the limit with these two," Grant said.

Hiatt talked about the advantages of going to the NCAAs un-seeded because there isn't much pressure on him.

"I think that it is good being un-seeded because you might be able to sneak up on some people," Hiatt said. "I think that a lot of people overlook the MAC, so we will try to surprise them."

Owen getting razzed

After Owen got called for an illegal hold on Buffalo's Labe Black at the MAC Championships, Heizer and Hiatt poked fun at their teammates expense.

Black received one point for the illegal hold. That one point hurt Owen because he couldn't get a technical fall against Black in the championship. Owen won with a final of 22-8. If that point had not taken place, Owen would have won with a final of 22-7, which would be a technical fall because it would have been over a 15 point victory.

Heizer and Hiatt were asking for pointers with how to do illegal holds, which, for the record, was the first time Owen was called for using one this season.