Audience not blind to smash hit

Tuesday, February 3, 1998

Audience not blind to smash hit

MUSIC Two bands prove rock is not all pop at

atypical gig in Riverside

By Mike Prevatt

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Seven years after rock was pegged as a negatively sentimented,
Gen-X outlet, Third Eye Blind and Smashmouth reflect the yearning
for good times and optimism, especially among the younger radio
listeners and record buyers. This notion was hugely apparent at
Sunday’s show at UC Riverside.

The Student Rec Center at UCR was not your typical concert
venue, although in several states across the country, it would have
been the norm. Kids of all ages covered the floor, crushed against
the stage. Behind them and the mixing desk, their parents and
mellowed-out students blanketed the bleachers, which went several
rows up, filling out a scene reminiscent of Nirvana’s "Smells Like
Teen Spirit" video.

Most of the concertgoers were adorned in either
Lollapalooza-reject duds or Wal-Mart-ish, middle American
conservative attire. Just the looks on these excited kids’ faces
hinted that most of them were attending their first show. In other
words, it was not your typical L.A. gig.

Enter Smashmouth, the soft-core punk/ska band that scored a huge
alternative hit with "Walking on the Sun," now doing well on adult
mainstream radio.

Not only has rock gone pop, even when it’s harder-edged, but
it’s also happier and more suited to party-like vibes. In the case
of the Riverside setting and its respective crowd, a good time was
to be the end result, without a particular emphasis on serious
performance quality or musical excellence. Such mid-’90s bands like
311, Reel Big Fish and Chumbawamba reaffirm this, with their
sophomoric songs but exuberant live presence. Forget what was
behind the music … Smashmouth and its fans wanted their music
bouncy and mindless. Or so it seemed.

As the house lights went out and a few spotlights shone on the
stage, the extremely youthful and near-capacity crowd roared like
few L.A. crowds would, this all for the opening act. Wow.

The band members emerged onto an "Alice in Wonderland"-like set,
ready to rumble with the swirling masses below. Within a few
seconds of their leadoff song, "Why Don’t You Call?" the mosh pit
(remember those?) was in full effect, shirts and objects were
flying and the rest of the floor began moving to the tunes.

This sight would continue until the end of the set. The
outwardly conservative crowd screamed with glee when the first
familiar song burst through the rather flat P.A. system, that being
the new radio hit, "Padrino," which actually stirred more
excitement with its mariachi-ska than at the KROQ "Almost Acoustic"
Christmas show this past December.

But the exact opposite followed with the song, "Flo." The song
was introduced as "a song about a girl who’s questioning her
sexuality" and went on about how people should be free to love who
they want. Whether this offended the small-town crowd or not was
uncertain, but had a pin dropped during the speech, it would have
echoed loudly in the rafters of the gym.

Smashmouth smartly followed "Flo" with "Walking on the Sun,"
which kicked in to deafening shrieks and resounding sing-alongs.
The party anthem was followed by their popular cover of War’s "Why
Can’t We Be Friends?" Redemption was Smashmouth’s.

Then there were the headliners, Third Eye Blind. What a year 3EB
has had. Their singles, "Semi-Charmed Life" and "How’s It Gonna
Be?" have conquered many different radio formats and alternative
album record sales. They’ve toured the country more than once, even
landing the mother of all gigs – an opening slot on U2’s huge
PopMart tour.

While Third Eye Blind represents the catchy pop-dominated radio
of today, one oversight of their highly enjoyable sound is that
they can rock. Their self-titled debut album is pleasantly charged
unlike most of the crap you hear on KROQ today. With hard-edged
rock’s diminishing presence everywhere, 3EB has found fans in
people who are tired of the quirky changes rock ‘n’ roll has made
and prefer their music straight-up and guitar-charged. That’s
something Smashmouth and other ska-pop contemporaries can’t claim,
even if a band like Smashmouth has a festive and enjoyable live
presence.

Third Eye Blind came on stage to an ear-splitting collective
scream that indicated that they were the rock kings of San
Bernardino County. They kicked off their too-short 80-minute set
with new KROQ fave, "Losing A Whole Year," which had the crowd
leaping in the air not too much unlike a Blur or other Britpop band
crowd. Right off the bat, you knew this band was going to thrill
onlookers and come across as a band who knew how to play a crowd
without insulting it.

Lead singer Stephen Jenkins ran circles around the stage,
looking a lot like U2’s Bono with his black leather pants and
jacket and closely cropped hair. Climbing speakers, copping your
typical rock poses and strutting about a la Jim Morrison, the
charismatic Jenkins had the crowd, especially its female
contingency, in his hands.

This would continue throughout the show. With album faves such
as "Narcolepsy" and "Thanks a Lot," Jenkins commanded attention
with his energetic prancing and invigorating vocal performance.
Despite not hitting all the right notes, there was no
disappointment to be found anywhere, as the audience jumped and
yelled at any of the more prominent parts of each song.

Third Eye Blind was also able to tap into the emotion of their
songs while still driving the sometimes screeching music at full
volume. With such tender tunes as the suicide-themed "Jumper" and
current radio darling "How’s It Going To Be," there was a sense of
power and feeling to a style of sound that could energize and
entertain just based on its pleasantly blasting sound.

Never to disappoint, 3EB closed their first set with their
biggest hits, the mosh-happy "Graduate" and "Semi-Charmed Life,"
which included the night’s longest sing-along and most
ground-shaking bouncing. They even threw a curveball at the
audience with an oddly punky cover of the Smiths’ usually somber
"Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want." It, like most of
3EB’s repertoire, had a rockin’ Replacements-like feel that almost
could have come from that part of the ’80s that didn’t suck, that
post-punk scene which rocked and stood apart from all pop-dominated
radio.

Even as the band closed with the extremely moving "God of Wine,"
they turned up the guitars a bit more than on the album and drove
their point home with an exclamation mark.

Rock is not dead, and with bands like Third Eye Blind, you don’t
have to go pop-happy in order to kick ass on stage.

MICHAEL ROSS WACHT

Smashmouth lead singer Steve Harwell appeared in concert at UC
Riverside Sunday. The group opened for Third Eye Blind.