The Distillers, Garbage, No Doubt - TD Waterhouse Centre, Orlando, FL (10.30.02)
Posted by Yabba Dabba on 11.03.2002
Two of the top bands in one show!
I had been looking forward to this show for weeks; it's not often that you get an opportunity to see two of your favorite bands in one show. I saw No Doubt last March at the House of Blues and it was a great show. No Doubt is probably the most energetic band out there today and best of all they actually look like they're having fun performing. After getting into the arena I noticed that besides a stage there was a long walkway into the crowd, which was really cool for the bands to get close to the people.
The show was scheduled to start at 7:30 and in a nice surprise the Distillers actually came on about 5 minutes early. Unfortunately, they were pretty awful. They played for around 25 minutes and I could only tell about two of the songs apart from each other as they didn't pause between songs and every song seems to have the exact same drum beat and lyrics. I think I heard "youth rebellion" around a dozen times. I'm not sure when punk bands didn't have to have catchy songs, but just have mohawks, but that's what the Distillers were. The only positive I can say is that the lead woman's voice was really cool, sounding very similar to Courtney Love. In fact, she danced and talked extremely like Courtney too. Hmm. It was very amusing seeing the crowd of teen boppers hate the band, so I have to give them that at least. That was more entertaining than the usual drunk redneck screaming that most bad opening acts usually get. The only time I remember them ever communicating with the crowd was when the woman had the crowd call her a "big bitch" and when they thanked No Doubt and Garbage for having them play.
After their set there was a 15 minute break at the most, which also was a nice surprise, before Garbage came on out. The lights went out and the distortion intro of "I Think I'm Paranoid" began creeping from the stage before the full song kicked in along with the lights. The band went on to play all of it's most known singles including "Special," "Shut Your Mouth," "Push It," "Only Happy When It Rains," "Cherry Lips," and closing with "When I Grow Up." In between they also got to squeeze in "Vow," "#1 Crush," and "Milk." The band seemed to do a semi-jam in the middle of "Push It." Shirley Manson is the epitome of cuteness, especially with her Scottish accent, light red skirt, white top and long boots. She talked with the crowd many times throughout the show. She dedicated "Cherry Lips" to Adrian of No Doubt because he "liked to cross-dress". When a fan threw a stuffed animal on stage she said "Oh, presents!" which caused other fans to throw things up which Shirley loved shouting "more presents!" She went on to show the crowd her new diamond ring and asked if the crowd was jealous before telling us that Gwen Stefani gave it to her as a present. She then thanked the person who left a dead cockroach in their bathroom backstage. Overall, Garbage was great despite only being able to play for around 45 minutes. Hopefully they'll do their own headlining tour soon. Butch Vig was the last person to leave the stage, spending a good 30 seconds extra by himself throwing out drumsticks and picks.
Around 15 minutes after Garbage left the lights went out again and the Intro from "Rock Steady" played. The lights came on revealing Adrian with the drum kit all the way out in the middle of the crowd on the walkway as the band launched into "Hella Good". Between songs throughout the show the lights would go out for a few seconds and when they reappeared Adrian and his drums would be somewhere else on the stage, it was hilarious. The band went through "Sunday Morning," "Ex-girlfriend," "Underneath It All," "Platinum Blonde Life," "Bathwater," and "Hey You" next before the lights went out again. A video history of the band played on the big screen for a minute before the lights came back on revealing the group ready for an acoustic set. The whole group was on the very end of the walkway, right in the middle of the crowd. They went on to do beautiful renditions of "Magic's In the Makeup," "Running" and "In My Head." Adrian
played special drums sometimes, but otherwise just was in the back. The band went back to their normal instruments to go through "Excuse Me Mr.," "Different People," "Just A Girl," "Hey Baby," and "Don't Speak." Gwen constantly talked with the audience throughout the whole show, telling us how she loved Orlando. "Just A Girl" was extended as Gwen ran around the stage encouraging just the girls to cheer along and such. Oh and of course her usual pushups to the delight of the crowd. There was a small break before "Hey Baby" as the band switched to different instruments. Bounty Killer's part was done by the two keyboardists/horn players who are just amazing. Those two guys add a whole new level to No Doubt. "Don't Speak" was probably the most emotional song of the night with the crowd holding up 100's of lighters.
The show ended, but the band came back out a few minutes later for an encore. First was "Rock Steady" which Gwen announced was her current favorite song and I have to agree with her, it is a great song which really shows the depth of No Doubt recently. They then did everybody's favorite "Spiderwebs." After that, Gwen talked for a few minutes about it being a special day. She said it was Gavin's (Rossdale's) birthday as well as a couple friends of hers who we didn't know. She wished them a happy birthday and then said in celebration that they were going to play a song with the Distillers and Garbage. This led to the two bands coming out and all three doing a cover of "Call Me" by Blondie. It was a sight to see so many people play together. The three lead women shared vocals and sang the chorus together, there seemed to be about 6 guitars and both Adrian and Butch Vig of Garbage played on the same drum kit. At the end everybody got in a long line holding arms and bowed to the crowd. Gwen picked up Shirley (or maybe it was the other way around?) and they spun around and off the stage into the back while the rest of the band members walked off after throwing their picks and sticks into the crowd.
There were lots of girls dressed up like Gwen of course (no flashers though). No Doubt's stage setup is perfect with the ramp going out into the crowd. Their big screen had lots of live footage of the show with various backgrounds such as the beach and streets in California. There was a camera crew seemingly recording the whole show, so I wouldn't be surprised if "Call Me" ends up as a DVD bonus some time down the line. The crowd was very loud and excited at the two main bands, but was mostly filled with teen bopper girls. Overall it was a great show and the surprise ending was extremely cool. I’ve seen No Doubt twice now and they are the most energetic live show around.
The 411: Two of my favorite bands playing a very energetic show to a packed house!
