No Doubt with Paramore - Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal Studios, Los Angeles, CA 07.27.09
Posted by Brittany Haskins on 08.13.2009
No Doubt rolls their reunion tour back to L.A. with a night of energy and big surprises...
When I found out I’d be reviewing a No Doubt show, I screamed and bounced around like I’d just won concert tickets on a local radio station. No Doubt has been my favorite band for more than half of my life, and every time I see them I nearly have a panic attack and can’t speak for a week after. Don’t think that this review is going to be biased because I am a huge fan, because I assure you, it will not be. I was in fact a bit weary of the show considering I got into a fight at the last one I went to in San Diego in May.
Receiving two tickets to the No Doubt show, I had to find someone to go with. I had a hard time figuring out who to take because I wanted to bring someone who would appreciate the show and only knew one person who would. Upon asking this person to go he declined because of a stupid reason. Who uses work as an excuse these days? I decided to take my best friend even though I knew she wouldn’t be singing along to every word the way I would and referred to No Doubt as “Gwen” (which is one of my biggest pet peeves). The show would be July 27th, 2009 at the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. My friend lives in L.A. so prior to the show, we had a few drinks, and by a few I mean a lot, and then headed to the venue.
We got to the Gibson at around eight o’ clock just to make sure we wouldn’t have to sit through Paramore. Unfortunately we did for a few songs but at least it wasn’t their whole set. (Sorry Paramore fans.) In between bands we stood in line for the restroom to open the floodgates and then went back to our seats. We waited for awhile until finally the lights shut off and the screams nearly made my ears bleed. A huge sheet hung from the ceiling and the silhouettes of a droog gang appeared on the white cloth like a scene from A Clockwork Orange.
Alas, the curtain drops and the opening drum beat of "Spiderwebs" engulfs the stadium as the crowd erupts in cheers. To fit the A Clockwork Orange theme, the guys are clad in white shirts and pants looking like droogs , Gwen is their Alex, and drummer Adrian Young is the tyranny who was never cast in the film. Of course, I’m creaming my pants and singing every word while my friend is laughing at me but keeping up with the lyrics.
After "Spiderwebs" they played "Hella Good", "Underneath It All" and a new version of "Excuse Me Mr". Okay, let me break this down for those of you who haven’t heard this new version. Imagine "Excuse Me Mr." if Sting produced it. The original EMM is one of my favorite No Doubt songs, so not being able to hear the song in all its glory was pretty disappointing. Check out this video of the new EMM and judge for yourself:
While dealing with mixed emotions about EMM, they played "Ex-girlfriend" and then they threw me for a loop and down a flight of stairs (well I ran down the stairs) so I can have a heart attack while they played "Tragic Kingdom". You read that right, they played "Tragic Kingdom". I’ve seen No Doubt about 10 times in my life and have never seen them play TK live so this was a big deal for me, and anyone else who got to experience this. I know they haven’t been playing it every show this tour because this was my third time seeing them this year. (I told you, I am a huge fan). This tour was also different because Gwen used to only wear one outfit the entire show, but I guess going on tour as a pop star for a couple years can influence the way you perform as a rock star. After "Simple Kind of Life" and "Bathwater", Gabriel Mcnair and Stephen Bradley make their presence known while they and the rest of the band skank around, play their trumpets and put on a show that you can dance to with a Skatalites cover of "Guns Of Navarone".
Gabe and Steve also take over Bounty Killer’s part in "Hey Baby" during live shows.
Playing a lot of their hits they mix it up again with another track off of the Tragic Kingdom album called "Different People" - which is another song that nearly brings me to climax. At the tender age of 8 I remember receiving "Live in the Tragic Kingdom” as a birthday gift. “Live in the Tragic Kingdom” is a video of a live show in Anaheim during the Tragic Kingdom tour. I’d watch it every day and follow all of Gwen’s moves, but one of the songs really stood out to me and that was "Different People" because she would get the entire crowd jumping up and down in unison. “I want to see you jumping at this next part. Can you do that here in Anaheim?...and different waaayyys, COME ON!” was the magic words and the entire place erupts into pogo. Of course being 8 years old, I would jump on my mother’s bed until Gwen and the crowd stopped jumping. Being able to experience the same exact moment but in reality is literally a dream come true for me, and you can bet your sweet ass I jumped up and down until the song was over.
"Don’t Speak", "It’s My Life" and "Just a Girl" were the last songs before the inevitable encore which would begin with "Rock Steady". After "Rock Steady", we were thrown for yet another loop! Gwen and the boys all holding drum sticks at the edge of the stage slam isolated drums for a dramatic entrance into Adam and the Ants “Stand and Deliver”..Me being a pervy girl, I can’t help but stare at Adrian with his too-too and black and white striped stockings. The band really performs this song with passion and apparently so does Shirley Manson of Garbage because she came out to sing the song with them! As M. Night Shyamalan would say; what a twist! Not only is Shirley Manson on stage but so is Maja Ivarsson of the Sounds and Hayley Williams of Paramore.
I of course freak out again and get flashbacks from the Rock Steady tour which included Garbage and The Distillers where Manson and Brody Dalle came out to sing "Call Me" from Blondie with No Doubt. The song is over and "Sunday Morning" begins. It’s the finale. I sing and dance my ass off for the last part of the show and absorb it as much as I can. The band return to the edge of the stage to bow and exit the stage. Another No Doubt show, another amazing night. We hung out at Saddle Ranch across the way to rehydrate and find out if we’d run into the band. We didn’t.
On the ride home my friend said that you she was extremely impressed with the show and that everyone should see No Doubt at least once in their life. She then corrected herself by trying to figure out if she felt that way only because she is friends with me. I told her that everyone should see them at least once, and then had one of the best sleeps of my life.
The 411: After seeing No Doubt perform live so many times over the years, it takes a lot to surprise me, but No Doubt did just that with this latest tour. The L.A. show was full of surprise songs and appearances and the energy was insane. The set list was enough to make the most hardcore fans smile, but still managed to convert people who had never caught the band live before. One of the best reunion tours in a long time.
