Barenaked Blast

What a party! On the night of November 28, 2006; five Canadian blokes entertained us SoCaler's with a rockin' boppin' slammin' good time of rock, roll and general silliness. Replete with improvisations, showmanship and unmatched pop rock chops - the Barenaked Ladies were in full effect to a 3/4 full crowd at the Universal Gibson Ampitheater at Universal City Walk.

My brother and I did our white boy dancin' throughout the show, in the seventh row no less. Steve and Ed were hopping and kicking up and down throughout, the rest of the group provided a rock solid rythm section (Tyler on drums, Jim on bass) and musical hues (Kevin on keyboards.)

The set list was the perfect mixture of old and new, as an uber fan I especially appreciated the first half of the program, where after a couple of new tracks and a hit they settled into a list of one random song per album - in order! This meant I got to hear rareities like "Just a Toy" and spazz out in a geeky way.

My brother was familiar with most of the other songs, and appreciated the groups musicianship and boundless energy. Highlights included a two song acoustic set that was TRULY acoustic, with a single mic picking up all vocals and entirely cordless instruments. They effortlessly punched through the barber shop harmonies of "Hello City" and then turned an old electric guitar rocker "Alternative Girlfriend" on it's ear by delivering it in an entirely authentic bluegrass package - complete with a mandolin no less!

I also for some reason, got the biggest adrenaline high of the night in the very next song "Too Little, Too Late" which is just a standard upbeat rocker. A song I have always been fond of, but live it simply transcended with the perfect mixture of lights, jumps and sounds.

The standards "One Week" and "Million Dollars" were crowd pleasers of course - and the show closed after the second encore with "Call and Answer" perhaps Steven's best power ballad. All in all I'd give the show an A, for outstanding energy and a rockin' good time. I did see them only once before, and as great as last weeks show was, the show in 2002 was even better. A sold out 25,000 seat ampitheater (as opposed to Universal's mere 8,000 or so) coupled with witnessing a band that was at the near peak of their popularity, produced a show that was probably the single most energetic concert I have ever witnessed. That last weeks show was a close second, didn't dampen the magic for me at all. It was a great time.