taken from: Post Gazette
Of course I gotta post the review from my concert :o)
It’s hard to watch No Doubt for 90 minutes and not end up at least mildly in awe of Gwen Stefani.
The singer who gave us “Just a Girl” not only has big pipes but she seems like the kind of girl who could hold her own in a ska-punk circle pit.
She’s also a 39-year-old mom with a toddler and a baby, and she somehow managed to show up for this reunion run with a perfectly flat belly and a full reserve of energy.
On Saturday night, Stefani saw to it that the thousands who endured the traffic to the Post-Gazette Pavilion got a party for their trouble. No Doubt hit the stage after spirited opening sets by the Sounds and Paramore looking like an Orange County mod squad in their gleaming whites. For the next hour and a half No Doubt bounced around the stage seeming truly excited to be finished with that five-year break.
With no new album and no new agenda, fans got the best of No Doubt, starting with the ska-pop breakout “Spiderwebs” and then “Hella Good,” a club banger that had the excitable crowd bouncing as one.
Surely, the Penguins’ Stanley Cup victory the night before upped the party vibe, and Stefani made early mention of it, to a roar of cheers. Spontaneous and fully in charge of the stage, she pulled a fan up for a hug, chatted with people about items they were holding up (like a picture of her husband Gavin Rossdale) and had everyone turn around while she got the fans on the lawn to jump on “Different People.”
In her skin-tight clothes and pin-up platinum hair, Stefani has her own retro-futuristic style, with electric movements and facial expressions that can quickly go from smile to sneer.
The set was fast-paced with upbeat songs such as “Underneath It All,” “Don’t Let Go Away” and “Ex-Girlfriend,” featuring the band members — Tom Dumont, Adrian Young and Tony Kanal — in a cool James Bond-style video. The dance hit “Hey Baby” broke into rap with vocal assists from horn player/keyboardists Stephen Bradley and Gabrial McNair.
Stefani was on top of the vocals throughout but got her chance to really shine on the ballad “Don’t Speak,” which also came with an intricate acoustic solo from Dumont. No Doubt pumped the energy up again with its cover of “It’s My Life,” a gender-bending sing-along on “Just a Girl” and the slow reggae groove of “Rock Steady.”
Stefani kept commenting on the big, fun-loving crowd that greeted them. If No Doubt has any doubts about the viability of this reunion, they had to be put to rest by the response from the 17,000 in Burgettstown.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09165/977446-388.stm#ixzz0IVLC2rHf&D