Above: Jason Wade of Lifehouse puts a little fire into Red White and Boom. Photos by Timothy Finn/The Star
Of all the summer radio festivals, Mix 93's 13-year-old Red White & Boom typically delivers the most variety.
Some years the variety is better than others, but even on years when the talent pool isn't as deep or varied as others, neutral observers (parents, chaperones, working media) can find something in the lineup to enjoy.
This year's lineup was no different. The headliner was last year's "American Idol" winner, Jordin Sparks, who proved that you need more than a big, glossy voice to be a prime-time entertainer. The lineup that preceded her included the mainstream modern rock band Lifehouse, who whip and blend grunge into a mousse that is hard to resist; Gavin DeGraw, who finds a unique place on the pop/rock spectrum among Lenny Kravitz, Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel; the band Boys Like Girls, who manufacture another blend of pop, punk and emo; Metro Station, who write gummy synth-pop dance tunes; and Blake Lewis, last year's "Idol" runner-up who needs to find a band and give up the beat-box thing because it's really getting moldy.
Above: Swank, from Mix 93's morning show, gets some help from the fairer gender during his big diva throwdown: "It's Raining Men."
Saturday's show was the second in eight days at the renovated Sandstone Amphitheater. About 10,000 people showed up, most of them teenagers and most of them girls. Chalk that up to the lineup, which was all male until Sparks hit the stage. A rundown (not counting the local band Drew 6, who played for the early birds at 2:30 p.m.):
I got inside in time to hear a few songs from the Last Good Night, including its signature track, "Pictures of You" -- their own tune, not a cover of the Cure's. It's all hooky, nicely crafted dance-pop. I can't remember much else about it except that I didn't dislike it at all. And they all seemed like nice guys later when they did the meet/greet thing and got swarmed for autographs by teenage girls who didn't seem to know anything about them.
Above: Girls like boys, too, even the ones in the opening band. The men of Last Good Night stir up some good will at the back of the lawn.
Next up: Ferras (fa-RAHS), who does the one-man band thing from behind a keyboard he doesn't know how to man. He peered and poked at the thing, trying to make it "sound like a piano." Some roady showed up and tinkered with it, and the show went on. A good craftsman never blames his tool, especially when he can't figure out how to turn it on. Ferras is nearly famous for the song "Hollywood's Not America," which was heard on "American Idol" this season. His cover of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" got a bigger response. He made the best of a tough situation: Alone on stage, the third of nine acts, trying to whip up a buzz while staring into a hot mid-day sun. I'm sure he's better with a band.
Metro Station: They're from Hollywood. They are pretentious and they know it, and their sense of humor is part of their appeal. So is their music, which is mosty gummy dance-rock. They are like the Bravery for junior high girls. Or the Nickelodeon version of the Roman Numerals: none of the darkness, half the calories, twice the carbonation. During songs like "Shake It" they stirred up the first big buzz -- lots of dancing, jumping, fist pumping. They ended their set abruptly so one of the guys could run off stage and barf.
Above: A little bi-labial flatulence goes a long way. Blake Lewis gave the crowd more beat-box than it wanted.
Then came the buzz kill: "Idol" runner-up Blake Lewis, who pronounced he was gonna bestow upon us the sounds of the Seattle underground -- you know, bro, some drum 'n' bass, house/trance .... Right. Shut up and play. He does the gimmick that carried him into the "Idol" finals: his beat-box thing. Live, in this huge outdoor venue, it feels even lamer than it sounded on TV. He starts out solo, then brings out a guitarist to add some heft to his sound. He does his hit "1,000 Miles Away," a dance-pop number that is pleasant enough -- a little One Republic, a little Morrissey. The crowd isn't feeling him too much though. He gets mostly loud, polite applause. The charm of the sound effects is wearing off. Maybe there's a Geiko commercial in his future.
Boys Like Girls: Not one of the headliners technically but, based on all the BLG T-shirts bobbing around, a band a lot of gals came to see. It fits in well here: More punchy pop tunes, this time with a punk/emo edge. They do their big hit, "The Great Escape," a huge power-pop anthem that gets the attention of a lot of parents who have heard it 1,000 times at home or during the car pool. It's wicked catchy.They end their set by trashing a guitar and bass drum. (The live barfing seemed much more spontaneous.)
Above: Gavin DeGraw wades into a river of love. And camera phones.
Gavin DeGraw: The GA is looking pretty full by the time he begins his set. DeGraw's sound is tough to pin down. He can rock it pretty hard, which is when he can sound like Kravitz. But when he takes a seat at the piano he can croon soulfully to the ladies, too, which is when the Stevie Wonder or Billy Joel resemblances come in. He sang his monster hit, "I Don't Want to Be" plus "Next To Me," "Follow Through," "Jealous Guy," "Chemical Party" and "I Have You to Thank." He also tossed out a few measures of "Proud Mary" plus the requisite bit of "Kansas City," which didn't ignite too much from this young crowd.
Before Lifehouse played, they brought out a guy in an Iron Maiden T-shirt to entertain the crowd with his Guitar Hero skills -- expert level!. He muffed the first two attempts right away, then sailed into the song at 130 mph -- for like five minutes. And so it has come to this: 9,800 people watching a guy staring into a computer screen and pretending to play guitar.
Above: Lifehouse was still lighting up the joint when darkness settled in.
Lifehouse hit the stage as dusk was setting in. Their best songs are meat-and-potatoes modern-rock/post-grunge ballads that stick to a formula that has worked for lots of other bands, like Bush and the Goo Goo Dolls. They did their two big hits, "Hanging By a Moment" and later, with some vocal help from DeGraw, "You and Me." Other songs on their setlist: "Make Me Over," "Spin," "Disarray," "I Miss You," "Whatever It Takes." Nothing spectacular here: Just a steady band with some good songs and a sturdy sound they don't veer too far from. They are also seasoned, which is something you can't say about the young lady who followed them.
Jordin Sparks: She's only 18 and still in her rookie year, so she gets some slack. But she has some maturing to go through.The crowd treated her kindly and enthusiastically, with applause and lots of sing-alongs. She opened with "One Step At a Time," a bubbly pop/R&B tune that sounds like something a young Janet Jackson might have tried. She followed that with "Tattoo" and "Now You Tell Me." She'd sing about a half-dozen songs during her brief set, including "Freeze" and "Permanent Monday."
Sparks has a big voice; and it sounds more polished than it did a year ago, when she won the big contest. Her stage presence, though, hasn't changed much, and it could use some making over. "I'm a dork," she announced during one of a few girlie OMG/LOL moments. She ended with "No Air" and then, somewhat abruptly, said good night and the show was over.
They used to end this event with a fireworks show, but the skies over Sandstone stayed dark for the 10 minutes we waited around and the 15 it took us to get out of the parking lot. That was fitting, I guess. There were plenty of snaps and crackles and a few big pops, but nothing explosive happened inside either.
| Timothy Finn, The Star
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