No Doubt and Paramore rock the E Center

Hello,

As promised here's my review of the fantastic concert my oldest son and I went to. For my boys 13th birthday we saw No Doubt in concert on Memorial Day. This was his first concert and he enjoyed it. This was probably one of the best concerts he could have seen who is currently touring. There are few things as good as a great rock concert. This was even better because there were two great bands playing all their great songs.

The first band that played was the Sounds. They are a 5 piece band from Sweden led by singer Maja Ivarsson. They have a new CD coming out tomorrow, it's called "Crossing The Rubicon". This is a band I know very little about, but I enjoyed their short energetic set. I would have even enjoyed it more if I actually knew their songs! They do have a myspace.com page of course and you can listen to their entire new CD there. It's good enough to be worthy of your time.

I don't know the name of any of their songs so what I put in quotes is a guessed at title based on the lyrics that I could understand. The concert was suppose to start right at 7:30 and they took the stage a couple of minutes later and played a 6 song set. (I'm currently listening to their music on their myspace music page. They rawk!) I would describe their sound as 80's New Wave/ synth pop influenced music that has a rock edge. They're sort of a much more rocking version of Human League or Berlin. (I don't even know if they are old enough to be influenced by 80's music.)

They started off their 30 minute set with a song that might be titled "Tomorrow". Like all of their songs from this concert, this song rocked. Next they sang the song "Dorchester Hotel" which contains the refrain "Hearts Stranger Stranger". That led into "Matter of Trust For Us" which led to "Beatbox". That song features the refrain "turn it up, break it down". They then sang "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake". I know this is the actual title thanking to listening to songs on their myspace music page. FYI: I had written down the title as "Standing In The Shadows". This is also the first song off their new CD, a very good rocking song. They closed out their six song set with a really rocking song that I couldn't even guess at the title.

The Sounds Setlist:
1) "Tomorrow" (possible title)
2) "Dorchester Hotel" includes the refrain "hearts stranger stranger"
3) "Matter of Trust For Us" (possible title)
4) "Beatbox" features the refrain "turn it up, break it down"
5) "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" which features the refrain "standing in the shadows"
6) A really rocking song that I couldn't pick out enough words to even guess at a title.

Taking the stage only 15 minutes later was Paramore who put on a kick butt 11 song set. They have a new CD coming out this fall tentatively, they played a couple of their new songs in their set. I love Paramore but I couldn't tell you the name of all their songs. So setlist.fm helped me with the titles. That is a pretty cool website, check it out some time.

Hailey Williams led the band through their 11 song set. She was dancing around and rocking along with the excellent musicians in the band. I was worried that Williams might not have a strong enough voice in a concert setting. No need for me to worry, her voice sounded clear and strong throughout their whole set. Although to pep up the crowd she said "Salt Lake" too many times. That would be my biggest complaint. She said she grew up on "Salt Lake Punk".

Paramore didn't mess around, their first song was "Misery Business" which is one of their best and most rocking songs. They followed that up with "For A Pessimist I'm Pretty Optimistic". Their fourth song was one of their new songs from their upcoming CD, the song is titled "Ignorance". Their new music rocks as hard as anything on "Riot".

They kept up the momentum with "CrushCrushCrush" which includes the refrain "Rock and Roll" which takes an already great song to another level. Their next few songs were "Decoy", "When It Rains" and another new song "Where The Lines Overlap". That led into another highlight of the night in "That's What You Get". They closed out their set with "Let The Flames Begin". Then they sang one of their songs from "Twilight". the mellow rocker "Decode". The excellent Paramore left the stage with the audience buzzing and satisfied. Williams said they would see us in the fall, maybe they'll be headlining their own tour then.

Paramore's set list:

1) "Misery Business" ("I'll wear the biggest smile")
2) "For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic" ("can't run away")
3) "Pressure" ("feel the ....")
4) "Ignorance" ("best be on my way") This is a new song.
5) "CrushCrushCrush" ("I've got a lot to say to you")
6) "Decoy" ("my little teacher")
7) "When It Rains" ("how could you do this?")
8) "Where The Lines Overlap" This is a new song.
9) "That's What You Get"
10) "Let The Flames Begin"
11) "Decode" ("how did we get here?")

After waiting 35 minutes No Doubt took the stage for their 90 minute, 19 song set. No Doubt had a cool idea when you bought their tickets, you receive a link to their complete music catalog. That included all their old stuff up to their new song, "Stand And Deliver". That is a very cool idea. When No Doubt was starting out, let's put it nicely they were raw. It sounded like they didn't know what their identity was or even what kind of music they wanted to make etc. Their early songs are a lot of generic ska.

However by the time they got to "Tragic Kingdom" they had lifted their game to a new level. That's when they had figured out who they were and their music became a lot more mature. That's when they took off with such classic songs as "Just A Girl" and "Don't Speak" etc. Their next CD continued their upward trend. They then made their best CD "Rock Steady". The Jamaican influenced CD featured such great songs as "Hey Baby" and "Hello Good". They took a 5 year break as Stefani tried to get solo glory with some success. No Doubt decided to reform and they are touring to try and gain some inspiration for their next CD. I'm eagerly waiting for it, it's due in 2010.

Anyway on to their kick butt set list. They started off their portion of the concert with the excellent "Spiderwebs" and went right into "Hella Good". They then slowed it down for "Underneath It All" (a song that Jon and Kate might want to listen to to get some good feeling going for each other) and then sang "Excuse Me Mister". Stefani strolls the stage as a lioness crossing the African plain. As they were playing these songs they had a big screen behind them on their futuristic stage. For their fifth song, they sang "Ex-Girlfriend" with a X video playing in the background. (You'd have to see it to understand.) For their next two songs they slowed it down a bit with "End It On This" and "Simple Kind of Life". Next they rocked out with "Bathwater". After which Stefani left the stage for a costume change and the five men in the band played the instrumental "Guns of Navarone".

Stefani took the stage again as No Doubt broke into "New" and "Hey Baby" and then "Running". No Doubt sang "Running" another good song for Jon and Kate to help them through their rough time. Sample lyrics: "Running, running as fast as we can. Do you think we'll make it? We're running, keep on holding on my hand so we won't get separated." It really is a beautiful song. The video screen also showed some vintage No Doubt videos, presumably when they were in their generic ska phase. They have come a long ways since then and its been a great journey.

They set up their encore with "Different People", the gut wrenching "Don't Speak" and their new song "It's My Life". That's their cover of the Talk, Talk classic which is on their greatest hits CD. No Doubt has improved on Talk, Talk's version by quite a bit. We then serenaded Stefani's 3 year old son Kingston with "Happy Birthday". No Doubt next rocked out with "Just A Girl", the song that put them into the spotlight. Stefani chose to do push ups during that song, something she did on "AI" and when I saw them in concert a few years ago. "Just A Girl" included sing alongs with the audience. She was so disappointed with the guys portion she had us sing it again. Stefani and the boys then left the stage.

After a few minutes of the audience cheering No Doubt returned to the stage to finish their concert. They sang one of their Jamaican influenced songs "Rock Steady" and then sang their newest song "Stand and Deliver". They headed into the night after completely rocking the E Center with "Sunday Morning". What a great set!

After seeing Stefani sing poorly on "AI" I was worried she might have lost her voice. However she sounded great in concert and the band is fantastic as well. It's still early in their 55 city tour, if they come to your town go check them out. Those three bands are definitely worth your hard earned money.

No Doubt's 19 song setlist:

1) "Spiderwebs"
2) "Hella Good"
3) "Underneath It All"
4) "Excuse Me Mister"
5) "Ex-Girlfriend"
6) "End It On This"
7) "Simple Kind of Life"
8) "Bathwater"
9) "Guns of Navarone" played by the band as Stefani does a costume change
10) "New"
11) "Hey Baby"
12) "Running"
13) "Different People"
14) "Don't Speak"
15) "It's My Life"
16) "Just A Girl" Stefani does push ups, sing along with audience

Encore break, another Stefani costume change
17) "Rock Steady"
18) "Stand and Deliver"
19) an extremely rocking version of "Sunday Morning"

themusicaddict