Los Angeles rocks amidst hot summer acts, venues

Monday, July 6, 1998

Los Angeles rocks amidst hot summer acts, venues

MUSIC: Newcomers, old favorites thrill audiences with innovative
concerts

KROQ’s Weenie Roast

Irvine Meadows

June 20

Welcome to a virtual alternative music smorgasbord. Turn your
head and you’ll find people swinging, moshing and slamming among
bonfires, frisbees and wieners. You’ve just entered a place in
which musical talent is as flavorful as the hot dogs.

Flames and fun led a night of hot variety at KROQ’s 6th annual
Weenie Roast and Fiesta at Irvine Meadows on June 20. This event
featured most of the biggest and brightest names KROQ has to offer
its Los Angeles audience.

Upon first entering Irvine Meadows, one could feel the
personality and overwhelming motif of Hispanic culture which
brought a little bit of creativity and life to the day’s events. By
making a fiesta the theme of this year’s celebration, KROQ left the
day wide open to strolling Mariachis, folklorico girls and blooming
flowers given to all the women attending.

But the real talent of the day remained on one of two stages
where 18 bands played for a sold-out, 15,000-plus capacity crowd.
Here, bigger bands such as Prodigy, Green Day and the Wallflowers
joined smaller ones such as Sprung Monkey, Fastball and Save
Ferris, creating a jam-packed day of music and mayhem.

The show-stealing bands of the night reside as testaments to the
classic diversity of the KROQ audience. Green Day, Madness and
Prodigy all gave energized sets that kept the stadium on its
feet.

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong kept up his usual naughty
antics during the band’s rockin’ performance of both old and new
classics. Ranging from the familiar, lovable hits of "Dookie" to
the more diverse punk creations of "Nimrod," Green Day left nothing
out.

Armstrong supplied his usual energy even though the set nearly
mirrored their comparable performance at KROQ’s Almost Acoustic
X-Mas. Despite this similarity, the excitement never faded. The
crowd screamed and cheered through solid performances of "Hitchin’
A Ride" and the classic "Basket Case."

Despite KROQ’s attempts to clear the stage of possible airborne
props, Green Day still managed to wreak havoc. Armstrong kept up
the fun by removing his pants for a majority of the set. They end
the act with a blaze as drummer Tre Cool set fire to his drum
set.

Prodigy’s performance thrilled the die-hard fans of electronic
dance music but did not give more than what can be derived from
their album. Providing little more than synthesized tunes and
strobe lights, the band’s talent remained evident, though their
excitement as a live act remains questionable.

Old-school British classic Madness also kept the house dancing
and singing along with hits such as "Our House," which grooved the
rock crowd in the ’80s. Often considered one of the forefathers of
ska, they added yet another element of versatility to the event’s
line-up.

Despite the success of the show’s later acts, opening
performances created a slower start. Opening on the main stage, the
Texan-trio Fastball gave a lackluster set that proved a lukewarm
beginning to the much anticipated day. Despite the band’s evident
promise, they suffered a case of garage band flu when glitches with
the stage’s sound gave them an amateur presence.

Fastball offered the audience minimal excitement during their
hit single, "The Way." Experimenting with a successful guitar hook,
the band managed to liven up the played-out song. Other songs that
also contain upbeat rhythms, however, were killed by the same
boring attempts at deviating from the strengths of their album
recordings.

The swing side of KROQ also remained well-represented with Big
Bad Voodoo Daddy and Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
currently graces airwaves with "You and Me and the Bottle Makes
Three Tonight (Baby)," riding the crest of "Swingers" recognition.
Probably one of the best bands on the side stage, the group had
people dancing and grooving to their big band sound.

As soon as Voodoo were finished, the crowd rushed back to the
main stage to catch Cherry Poppin’ Daddies perform with similar
vitality a smashing Spanish rendition of "Zoot Suit Riot," fitting
nicely with the day’s theme.

On the flip side of alt-rock, grunge band Creed turned out a
limpid set that seemed to desperately, yet unsuccessfully cling, to
the hard-edge style of Seattle-bands past. The Eddie Vedder-esque
vocals of "My Own Prison" proved the only highlight of the
excessively loud and electric set.

Among flickering flames of lighters during Green Day’s "Time Of
Your Life," moshing bonfires on the lawn and drum sets ablaze, the
night remained sizzling evidence that Los Angeles loves their music
loud, fun and diverse.

Michelle Zubiate

Esthero

The Roxy

June 9, 1998

Esthero’s lead vocalist (who also goes by the name Esthero) was
just about to go into one of her last songs when someone from the
tight crowd at the Roxy suddenly hollered out, "Love is a
battlefield!"

It was an odd little declaration, to say the least: Esthero,
with her impish red-headed bounce and seductive intensity, looks
and acts nothing like Pat Benatar. And there’s no way the eclectic,
manifold sounds of her Toronto-based group (lead by a funky-dreaded
producer named Doc) could have invited a comparison on any artistic
level.

But come to think of it, perhaps that bizarre cry in the dark
was just making an assessment of the evening: almost all of
Esthero’s songs deal with the hostile oppositions found in love.
"Breath From Another," the title track from Esthero’s debut album,
is especially provocative along this "battlefield."

The theme is almost as provocative as the song’s texture:
disarming in its loose weaving of radio R&B, adult-contemporary
murmurs, hard-core rap and scratched-up turn tables, all within a
tattered trip-hop border.

The song’s raw energy was the highlight of the otherwise mellow
show – there’s a kind of hypnotic, lava-lamp lounginess to their
style – but it also proved somewhat that Esthero spins most of its
spells from studio magic.

That’s not to say there wasn’t any enchantment on stage. The
group truly has an infectious grooviness that spills out in
rhythms. Esthero’s voice – oscillating between Bjork’s catchy
vibes, Alanis Morisette’s rock ranting, Basia’s pop mirth and
Sade’s smooth operator – is the kind of sensitive soul-searching
that puts our own wandering at ease.

Tommy Nguyen

Bonnie Raitt

Pantages Theater

June 12,1998

Some critics claim that blues is a dead genre, and contemporary
artists cannot capture the grit and soul of the old masters. In her
June 12 concert, Bonnie Raitt proved them wrong.

With a commanding stage presence and heartfelt vocals, Raitt lit
up the Pantages Theater for nearly two hours of hard-driving
blues-rock.

With the lights turned low, her band took the stage, not
hesitating before kicking off into the funk-esque "The Fundamental
Things." When the opening guitar licks first pierced the already
hungry atmosphere, spotlights came on, illuminating Raitt,
resplendent in a red shirt and tight black pants. She worked the
tune back and forth with the sharp backing band, improving it
greatly over the album version and transforming it into a killer
song.

Though many artists of her stature would use concerts like this
one as vehicles to promote new albums, Raitt did not neglect the
songs that built her career. The new material off of "Fundamental"
included "Spit of Love," "Lover’s Will," and "I’m On Your Side,"
which she introduced as a "Cajun-African-Reggae-Scottish-square
dance kinda thing." Most were entertaining to listen to, but it was
the older material that made the crowd cheer the loudest.

She sampled most liberally from her two early 90’s albums, "Nick
of Time" and "Luck of the Draw," pulling out such hits as
"Something to Talk About," "Good Man, Good Woman" and a duet with
guitarist Rick Vito, the powerful "I Can’t Make You Love Me."

Grabbing ahold of the microphone, she called out, "I wish we
were all dancin’ in a club, but ’til then, this will have to do,"
before closing the lengthy set with a free-wheeling send-up of her
early hit "The Thing Called Love."

Never disappointing, the show slipped easily between soulful
introspection and carefree jamming.

The reigning queen of slide guitar kept the crowd on its toes
with her amiable demeanor.

If Bonnie Raitt can continue to give shows with this much power,
she will be givin’ ’em something to talk about for years to
come.

Brent HopkinsMICHAEL ROSS WACHT/Daily Bruin

Dirk Shumaker of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy gets into the swing at
this year’s Weenie Roast.

MICHAEL ROSS WACHT/Daily Bruin

Jakob Dylan and his band, the Wallflowers, was just one of many
to perform at the Weenie Roast, which took place at Irvine
Meadows.

MICHAEL ROSS WACHT/Daily Bruin

Craig Montoya (left) and Art Alexakis (right) of the band
Everclear played at the Roast.