No Doubt and Paramore – PNC Bank Arts Center, New Jersey – 06.26.09
Posted by Ari Berenstein on 06.29.2009
There is no doubt you’ll have a fun time if you see ND and Paramore on tour this summer, even if its raining hail while you wait on line…
The smart play was going back to the parking lot and grabbing our umbrellas as the grey overcast sky began to move quickly toward the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. The smarter play would have been just to stay in the car. Regrettably, my friends and I decided to go stand on line, awaiting the doors to open up for this, our first concert of the summer season.
Five minutes later, as the torrential storm threw down the water like high-velocity fastballs and lightning and thunder made their presence known in that grey sky, those umbrellas were about as useful as the little pink ones placed into cocktails and fruity drinks. One part of my mind was going back to Lethal Weapon, Riggs and Murtaugh, and “being too old for this s***.” Another part of my mind was channeling Ric Flair. All I could say over and over was “Wooooo!” All I could do was think about being in the middle of storms that were worse than this (amazingly there were a few that came to mind).
What else could you do when you are being soaked by rain, bowled over by hail, feet deep in muddy grass and inching ever so slowly to the entrance gate? Sometimes, you have to laugh at life. I know at that moment of ludicrous reality that I and a complete stranger right next to me (and with whose girlfriend I generously shared my umbrella) both did exactly at that moment.
Yet, the rain and the wait were worth it for a night of fun music. No Doubt’s reunion tour and the emergence of Paramore as this generation’s female fronted rock powerhouse proved to be a terrific combination for a concert experience. It may very well be “the best tour of the summer”, as stated by Paramore’s front woman Hayley Williams, if just for the sheer effort of musicianship and presentation delivered by both groups on this night. It was at times raucous and at others worthy of dancing the night away at a hot club.
I managed to listen to some samples of opener Janelle Monae on iTunes (The Sounds will appear on some of the tour dates as the opener, but disappointingly not in New Jersey). Her set confirmed my initial thoughts of her as the Bjork of R&B and Hip/Hop, bringing with her sort of a bizarre yet intriguingly appealing sound. Her herky-jerky body movements were certainly weird, belying the true vocal talent she possesses.
Paramore took the stage soon after to a massive roar of approval from the crowd, which was an interesting mix of age ranges. You could say in many ways that Paramore is the real “draw” to this show in that they are the hot group that the teenagers really love, especially the girls. Yet there were plenty of late-twenty somethings like myself that appreciated both groups. We were here to take in both Paramore and the reunion of No Doubt as a group for the first time in about six years. More surprising was the representation of the generation beyond mine, men and women in the later forties and fifties, who made their presence known significantly. This eclectic mix took in the aural and visual sight and sound of one of the harder working bands out there right now in Paramore.
Their eleven-song set was an effective mix of their popular hits, deeper cuts and a previewing of few new tracks that will appear on their next album “Brand New Eyes”, which will be released in late September. They sandwiched the set with their two most well-known songs, “Misery Business” and the Twilight soundtrack megaforce known as “Decode”. As expected, the crowd went wild when guitarist Josh Farro began playing the chords to each one.
A huge focus of the Paramore show is the interaction with the crowd, and many of their tracks have call and respond sing-a-long parts. These are most effective when those in attendance know what to do and when to say—and those in attendance at PNC were definitely in the know. Even though it’s more difficult to execute in an outdoor venue, you could get a good sense of crowd unity and connection with the songs such as commercial tracks “That’s What You Get” and “Crushcrushcrush” (which received the loudest ovation during the opening moments of any of their songs).
The highlight of the performance was a balls-out performance of “Let the Flames Begin” from the platinum album “Riot!”, which has been one of their keynotes on previous tours. Yet they were somehow able to expand on and better previous renditions with this one. The house was absolutely smashed down with a wrecking ball as the four young men and the young lady jumped up, down and all around the stage, strobed in white light as the song reached its dramatic ending.
Paramore takes in the sight of the fans filling the lawn: "It's like something out of Braveheart." - Hayley Williams photo credit: woundsarebleeding@flicker.com from Paramorefans.com
Lead singer Williams is very good at bringing the crowd together and making them feel like the band is performing for the fans, and at times, with them. If Paramore is beginning to master stage presence (such as the flip-over-the-back spot and their synchronized head jukes) and crowd interaction, Gwen Stefani and No Doubt have perfected it, especially with their fanbase. You don’t have to look any further than this show to see how much Stefani values her fans. She signed autographs for front row fans mid-set (coyly asking "Do you want me to sign that for you?" as if the answer would ever in any way be "No!"), performed a clip of “Tragic Kingdom” (not on the set list for this tour) as a birthday request and even brought up one fan who had seen No Doubt thirty times and wanted to do the traditional band introductions during “Different People”. The best thing was HE NAILED IT spot on! This spur of the moment decision (Stefani, in awe, exclaimed that she didn’t know this guy beforehand) provided by far the most entertaining and positive moment of the night.
Given they had just reunited and have not created any new songs, No Doubt’s set was essentially a “greatest hits” package, but none of the ND devotees in attendance were complaining. From the opening riffs of “Spiderwebs” to the ending bebop of “Sunday Morning”, the crowd was in the palm of No Doubt’s hands.
Musically, the performance was a bit uneven, but mostly good to very-good renditions of material covering the last three (and most mainstream) album material. Stefani’s vocals were on-point and perhaps even better than I recalled, and bassist Tony Kanal and guitarist Tom Dumont are workmanlike in their effort. The biggest miscues came from drummer Adrian Young, who connected awkwardly on a few drum fills during certain songs, although he had one of the more shining spots with his heavy blasts for popular track “Bathwater” (off of the “Return of Saturn” album).
The best performances and not coincidentally the most well received were their most recent hits “Hellagood” and “Hey, Baby”—more dance oriented with heavy bass waves booming out into the amphitheater. “Ex-Girlfriend” and of course “Just a Girl” (with Stefani doing her push-ups and faux-coquette act) were also real highlights. Also personally enjoyable were “New” and their on-point cover of “It’s My Life”.
On the other hand, the slowed down version of “Excuse Me, Mr.” was a huge disappointment, because the punk riffs of the first half of the song is what makes that track work; without the riffs and an added out-of-place island-rhythm, the song seemed lost. Their cover of “Stand and Deliver” is pretty awful and it’s not much better live, although it is good to see that Stefani is gracious enough to bring the openers back to contribute to the show.
The three ladies on tour. photo credit: woundsarebleeding@flicker.com from Paramorefans.com
The chemistry between Stefani and bassist Kanal remains a strong suit of the live act, with their pantomimes being fun and entertaining. Stefani looks amazing for a woman nearing her forties and a mother of two (maybe body work done?), which certainly a plus for the men in the audience.
The end of the night came with whole slew of positive feelings after seeing two really well-done sets. While I had to spend money on a new (dry) shirt, had to deal with the super-strict, PNC Ticket Police (stopping you every few feet in the seating area to check your ticket) and poor customer service (actual quote from a merch booth vendor: “How much was that? I’m not very good at math.” Really, you’re working the merch booth and you can’t add two numbers together? GET A NEW JOB! ) and I had to deal with my feet feeling soggier than cereal sitting for hours in milk; it wasn’t all that bad. It was actually kind of fun.
The 411: No Doubt and Paramore are an old-school / new-school combination that is proving to work well together. They draw from distinct fan bases and yet have no problem crossing over and entertaining all ages and demographics. Paramore sets the tone and No Doubt surpasses it on these shows, even though I personally enjoyed Paramore, er, more. Meanwhile, No Doubt demonstrates why they have stayed relevant for all of these years and are worth checking out at least once.
