No Doubt Summer Tour

Nissan Pavilion June 14, 2009

On Sunday No Doubt was in D.C. for their summer tour, playing at the 23,000 person arena know as the Nissan Pavilion.  I was lucky enough to attend due to the great people at www.everythingintime.com.  This is No Doubt’s first tour since 2004 and the audience was ready to make up for lost time.

The opening acts were great I’m sure but I was distracted, due to the fact that not only had EIT got me into the show, I was going to meet No Doubt.  What a dream come true, after being a fan for 13 years I would finally get to meet my favorite band. The wonderful people at State Farm www.sfmusictour.com are sponsoring the tour and set up EIT with the opportunity to make some lucky fans dream come true.

We were in line at a side entrance to the backstage area, that’s where I met the other lucky winners.  Each were very deserving and had their own unique reasons for loving No Doubt and told us what a huge part the music plays in our lives.  One fan had a copy of the “Doghouse” single — WOW so rare!!!.  So the time finally comes to go backstage, well it was more of the back parking lot.  We were led to a large wooden covered deck, about 20’x 20’.  There we met the wonderful bodyguard Curtis.  As many of you have heard Curtis is a great guy, very nice and approachable.  However, I will give a warning, Curtis is HUGE!!!  I am a big guy 6’4” 220lbs and this guy make me look tiny… so anyone out there thinking of trying something I would advise against it- otherwise he might sit on you!

Curtis gave us our instructions: No taking pictures until its time for the group shot, No hugs or the band might get sick, and to scream as loud as possible when they come in or he will SEND THE BAND AWAY.  It was easy to tell the “real” rules from the pretend ones and finally it happened.  Curtis says “Thank you for you patients and please welcome NO DOUBT”, I screamed and hollered as my favorite band walks up, wow what a moment!

The band split into two groups to sign for the nearly 30 people.  First to arrive in front of me was Adrian.  He was really nice and I spent our 7 seconds telling him how thankful I was for the meet and greet and it put a big smile on his face.  I remembered from the “Singles” DVD that he doesn’t like meet and greets and wanted to get him in the mood.

Next was Tom, I told him how I watched his new Hammer Guitars being made on his blog, and just like Adrian, he instantly had a huge smile and said he had more pictures to update it with.  He said how excited it was to be on tour and told us to expect a great show.  He asked where we were from, I told him Nashville he said yea Paramore is from there.  It was a really nice thing for him to ask us questions it shows his great character.  I can’t say enough about how down to earth they all are but in particular Tom is the most genuine person I have ever met!

Third was Tony… wow Tony…  I need to preface this by saying I have been playing bass for 8 years and sit around playing along to their music daily!  The first thing I did was tell Tony he is my Bass god and I play a Yahmaha just like he does.  He told me that Yahmaha are just great he has always loved playing them and to watch for his new basses during the show.  I told him I want the first bass he played I said “ BB1000” and he corrected me with BB1600 so if you own a Yahmaha BB1600 I am in the market.

As I am talking Tony is walking away next thing I know Gwen freaking Stefani is standing in front of me and I am so not prepared for this.  Gwen says to me “Dude you got a lot of stuff, what do you want me to sign?”  So I hand her the Remo drum head and Zildjian stick to sign.  I then look down and realize she is wearing 6” heels wow!  She is so super fit- a mother of two going on 40 and she looked amazing!  And so as fast as it began it was over.  The band went to a table to sign all the promo items, radio contest and event stuff.

Next it was time for our picture – but OH NO!  In my dream encounter I forgot to get Tony to sign the drum head!  What to do?  So I decide to take it and an open sharpe with me for the picture.  We stand in with the band and one of the crew shouts out “nice shirt” – my wife and I are wearing the Fan Forum shirts, which then made me realize what the band was staring at.  The pic was fast Gwen’s hand on my shoulder and a big smile from me—Flash—then a quick turn to Tony “ I’m so sorry I forgot can you please sign”, he did, and I told him thank you.  As we walked away, we gave them a wave and they all told US thank you and enjoy the show!  It was a great experience and I’ll never forget it.

We return to the concert area and just stood in shock with the other winners at what just happened exchanging stories and showing off our newly singed stuff.  Oh and the girl with the Doghouse single- well its now signed by all four members!  That’s a collectable!

The concert started with a bang as the house lights dimmed the roar of 23,000 fans literally shook the ground.  And a movie was played on a large screen covering the front of the stage of the band walking up and waving.  The first song was Spiderwebs and a great way to start the show.  The tour design was inspired by the 1971 movie “Clockwork Orange” and contained easy to spot motives.

This was the most visually inspiring show I have ever been too.  The background had different movies of the band that would play and loop throughout each song.  The best was a James bond esque movie for “Ex-Girlfriend”.   It was a “mod” laser gun fight and despite its amazing visuals, only added to the performance as with all the videos, except for “Running”.  “Running” had a video of home footage that I have never seen so I spent the entire song watching the amazing home movie.

Excuse me Mr. is the next note worthy performance.  It was a remixed version using elements of The Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” and wow it sounded amazing.  My thought is that this is the kind of musical inspiration for the album they are currently writing and by the amazing performance I can only hope.

There are a few carry over ideas from Gwen’s solo tours.  The videos made for each song is one the other are costume changes.  I counted two and to cover for the first, the guys played a instrumental called “Guns of Navarone” by the Skatalites.  It was a super upbeat ska song with tons of horn section and lots of running around by the band.  I loved it and again hope it is used in the new album.

The band played my personal favorite song “End it on this” I have seen No Doubt live 5 times and this was my first time to hear it.  It is such a powerful song, Tom rocked the intro and solo and Gwen’s vocals as always were crisp and carried the songs emotional lyrics perfectly.

There was a lovely break down where Gwen talked to the fans in the PIT.  She received a bum flag, backpack, and even a wedding invitation.  Her most charming moment was when she responded to a fan holding up an arrow that read, HUG.  She pointed at him and said, “ Come up and get it”.  It was so sweet she took their picture and gave him a second hug on his way back to the crowd.   It was so amazing to see how great they are to fans and are truly appreciative of the lives they have.

The encore came and then I had the realization of how close to over this amazing night was.  They played 3 songs Rock Steady, Stand and Deliver, and Sunday Morning.  For the encore Adrian wore a pink tutu and played with the crowd.  Rock Steady was great Tony went off on the bass doing some amazing runs I had never heard before and it was just such a chill performance.  Stand and Deliver was wonderful live, the opening acts came on stage to help with vocals and drum work.  Then came the finale Sunday Morning, it was amazing.  Sunday Morning is my favorite song to play on bass and has that great intro.  Everyone was bouncing around, all 23,000 of us feeling it for the last time.  And just like that it was time for a bow from the band, house lights go up and everyone heads for the gates.

Thank you for taking the time to read my review and again big thanks to the people at www.everythingintime.com and State Farm summer tour 2009 for giving me and my wife such a great night.