taken from: USA Today

By Andrea Mandell, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Twenty-four hours before the launch of her revamped L.A.M.B. fashion line, Gwen Stefani, 39, surveys two long racks bearing the fruits of her summer’s efforts.
“I never thought it would turn out this good,” she says, smiling as she traces the lines of an intricately tailored white jacket and opens it to reveal tie-dye silk lining.

The lead singer of the recently reunited No Doubt reveals the self-described “rebirth” of her L.A.M.B. line today after working in recent months alongside new partner Manhattan International Trade Inc. Most items will range from $48 to $345, and the line mixes draped separates, sturdy jackets, skinny jeans and leopard accents in neutral colors with pops of electric purple, red and yellow.

The line is a departure for Stefani, who wanted to inject more style and serious craftsmanship into L.A.M.B collections. “I’m really spoiled,” says the red-carpet maven, who is often photographed running errands with her children in sky-high stilettos and her signature bright-red lips. Now, “these jeans are as good as anything I have,” she says, showing off a pair of dark-wash tie-dye skinny jeans on her slender frame.

Pregnancy, or the absence of it, is the hidden theme in Stefani’s fashion rebirth. Sons Kingston, 3, and Zuma, 1, put Stefani on a yo-yo of weight gain and loss, and until recently, her closet was jammed with maternity clothes. (Her current super-trim figure is “no miracle,” she says, noting it took eight months to lose the weight after Zuma’s birth.)

When Stefani launched L.A.M.B seven years ago, she envisioned staying home and planning a family. Today, she’s still going 100 mph with husband Gavin Rossdale and sons cheering her on.

“I don’t get any sleep,” she admits.

Multiplatinum solo albums, a reunion tour and a hot new line aside, Stefani’s priorities are her children. She carries flip-flops in her purse for a quick stiletto change so she can manage carrying 25-pound Kingston. And time goes all too fast with baby Zuma, who quit breast-feeding this summer.

“I didn’t want him to (quit), it felt like a total rejection,” she says. “It was really hormonal, and trying to stop in the middle of the tour was insane.”

With her three guys attending the L.A.M.B. show Thursday (if naptime permits), her next task is writing for the upcoming No Doubt album. Then, there’s her 40th birthday on Oct. 3. “I want a really big cake!”

Thanks Gloriane! Taken from: OC Weekly

(TRAGIC) KINGDOM COME AGAIN, LEAVING NO DOUBT WHO RULES OC
BY ALBERT CHING
Published on August 12, 2009 at 10:18am

Kingdom Come Again
. . . And again and again and again, leaving No Doubt who rules Orange County

“WELCOME TO NO DOUBT’S ORANGE COUNTY”
Those words, on a sign just inside the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater grounds, greeted eager attendees to each of No Doubt’s four Irvine shows on July 31, Aug. 1, 2 and 4, essentially the band’s victory lap for a successful return tour that started in May. Other than a brief re-formation during the encores of a couple of Gwen Stefani solo gigs at the same venue in June 2007, it’s the first time No Doubt—frequently referred to by some variation of “the biggest Orange County band of all time”—have played here since 2004.

So, yeah. It was a Big Deal, the kind that merits that many shows (each one sold out the 16,085-capacity venue) and plenty of “I remember them way back when!” reflection. It seems that everyone here has a story about how they saw No Doubt play some tiny, obscure venue in the early 1990s, or has a far-flung familial tie to one of the members. Andrew Youssef, one of our freelance photographers, relayed a story about how he saw them play a warehouse in Orange in 1994, and after the Aug. 4 show, he introduced me to a co-worker at his day job—who happened to be No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal’s cousin. The next day, I stopped in at Denim Blue Vintage Victim in Huntington Beach and was told that one of the employees there is guitarist Tom Dumont’s goddaughter. For all I know, the dude in front of me in line at Chipotle later that day probably took a judo class with drummer Adrian Young when they were in middle school.

That sign was just a bit of hyperbole placed there by promoters, but it’s actually kinda true. Even if they hadn’t been around in a while, even if they’re internationally famous superstars, even if some of them don’t live in the area anymore, No Doubt are permanently woven into the fabric of our culture—and unlike consumerism, conservatism or reality shows, they are something to be proud of.

“WE FUCKING LOVE YOU, GWEN!”
From the moment supporting act Katy Perry wrapped up set-closer “I Kissed a Girl” on the Aug. 4 date, fans occupied the next 30 minutes of their lives by screaming out such impassioned declarations. I was lucky enough to land in the pit, packed in with the rest of the band’s most hardcore devotees. One guy had a sign proclaiming he was attending his 16th concert on the tour. Another had come from Canada. Some chattered about how many of the previous Irvine shows they had attended in the past few days.

This was my first time seeing No Doubt in Orange County; I saw them in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2002 and 2004. As much as I’d like to say the Irvine crowd was special, that there was a noticeable difference in energy between the hometown crowd (about 90 percent female, Youssef estimated) and the ones I previously witnessed, I really can’t. Clearly, folks love No Doubt here—but they loved them in Phoenix, too. And I’m sure they loved them in Albuquerque, Cleveland, Kansas City and every other stop on their “Summer Tour 2009.” (Not a “reunion” tour, mind you. They never broke up, just took time off.) Even Perry (from Santa Barbara) seemed starstruck. “I met Gwen Stefani backstage,” she said during her set. “I can safely say that I want to be like her when I grow up.”

No Doubt are a lovable band, bursting with fun, upbeat songs. Get a band that big to play in front of that many people, playing that many huge hits, and you’re going to generate excitement.

And man, people were excited. One of the loudest crowds I’ve been around in a while. And knowing they were playing their hometown—in front of people who probably all had some Byzantine connection to them—did make it seem like an even Bigger Deal.

Stefani worked “Orange County” into lyrics (“Orange County is so rock steady”), called us “Orange County girls” and “Orange County boys,” and generally yelled “Orange County!” a lot, so there was no mistaking where the band were from or where this concert was happening. While introducing her associates during an extended “Different People” instrumental break, Stefani delineated the local ties of each member—she and Kanal from Anaheim, Dumont from Irvine, and Young from Cypress. She pointed out Kanal’s time at Anaheim High School and Dumont’s stint “flipping burgers” at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (then known as the less blatantly corporate Irvine Meadows). They’re not hiding from their pasts—not that they could if they wanted to.

“THIS IS A WHOLE ’NOTHER LEVEL OF WEIRDNESS AND TRIPPINESS!”
Making that statement after “Underneath It All” on Aug. 4, in reference to selling out four Irvine shows, Stefani seemed totally sincere, even if it might be difficult to accept an “aww, shucks” moment from her, more so than from anyone else in the band. Sure, her already high profile has been raised to absurd levels in the past five years, after the massive pop success of her two solo records, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and The Sweet Escape. She has sold millions of records, is on the cover of approximately a billion magazines each month, popped up in a Scorsese movie, married a super-handsome British dude, and spends her time between London and LA, but there still has to be something cool about being able to come back to your hometown (ish) and pack four consecutive shows, playing the role of “quintessential local boy(s and girl) done good.”

Critics have called her solo work shallow and insincere, essentially an aural infomercial for her LAMB clothing line. (It’s a good bet that these critics are far outside her target demographic.) One song on 2006’s The Sweet Escape was particularly frustrating to detractors: “Orange County Girl.” On that chorus, Stefani repeats, “I’m just an Orange County girl, living in an extraordinary world.” A review in NME declared it “horribly similar to J-Lo’s putrid ‘Jenny From the Block.’”

The origins of No Doubt go back to Anaheim in 1986, with Stefani starting a band called Apple Core with her brother Eric. Fellow founding member John Spence committed suicide the following year. Much has been made of 1995’s Tragic Kingdom and “Just a Girl” (and “Don’t Speak” and “Spiderwebs” and “Sunday Morning” and “Excuse Me Mr.,” etc.) being the band’s breakthrough, and it was, capitalizing on MTV and modern-rock radio’s brief fascination with ska. But in 1992, No Doubt were already on Interscope Records, who’ve released all of their albums other than 1995’s The Beacon Street Collection.

In their 1992 self-titled debut, they were struggling with staying true to their ska origins vs. their new-wave tendencies—much as they received flak for the more somber moments of 2000’s Return of Saturn (“Simple Kind of Life” and “Six Feet Under,” both legitimate downers) and their liaisons with dancehall on Rock Steady (from which a straight line can be drawn to Stefani’s solo stuff). Sure, No Doubt have changed—but that’s nothing new for them.

Which makes their appearance at the Irvine shows all the more uncanny—eerie, even. Both musically and physically, it was very much the same band I saw at those 2002 and 2004 shows. No Doubt’s ability to hold up is either somehow supernatural or a testament to living right. Stefani’s meticulously maintained midsection has garnered much attention over the years, and her abs absolutely retain washboard status, despite mothering two children with husband Gavin Rossdale. The rest of the band look no worse for wear, from touring horn section/multi-instrumentalists Stephen Bradley and Gabrial McNair to Young, still making the wacky-skimpy-outfits thing work for him.

Much like that 2002 tour with openers Garbage and the Distillers, No Doubt were paired with two fellow female-fronted acts: The Sounds on all four dates, Paramore on the first three, Perry on the last. And just as in that 2002 tour, No Doubt brought out their supporting acts during the encore for an ’80s cover; then, it was Blondie’s “Call Me,” and now, it’s “Stand and Deliver” by Adam and the Ants.

Without a new album to tour behind (that’s tentatively scheduled for 2010), the set lists—which only varied slightly between the four nights—were a lot like the ones on their 2004 tour supporting greatest-hits album The Singles 1992–2003: Other than a couple of more obscure Tragic Kingdom tracks, it was hit after hit after hit. The parting shot was “Sunday Morning,” another Tragic Kingdom song. That could be viewed by skeptics as a tacit admission that the band peaked creatively more than a decade ago. But it’s also proof that out of all of No Doubt’s talents, their best might be knowing what their fans want.

“YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING AMAZING FOR SHOWING UP TONIGHT!”
Four shows in or not, there was little, uh, doubt, that fans (including, according to the buzz in the crowd, pro surfer Rob Machado and actress Kirsten Dunst) would turn up at the amphitheater that Tuesday night. It was still nice of Stefani to say. No matter how big she or the band may be, they still engaged in the type of fan-friendly behavior that made them so endearing in the first place, something they no longer need to do. Stefani left the stage twice to reach out to the front row, and she brought fans up twice to take pictures with them. At the end of the set, she left the stage again to take a shot with her own camera of the numerous rows of fans behind her. Moments like that hint that maybe the band really haven’t let international fame and unfathomable success change them all that much. Or they’re at least self-aware enough to want people to think that, which is effectively just as good.

Because, really, as much as we’d like to daydream that No Doubt haven’t changed and are still just regular Orange Countians like the rest of us, how could they not have? Music superstardom or not, who among us hasn’t changed over the past two decades? What’s truly assuring is that, as much can be evidenced from these four Irvine shows—which re-defined the term “crowd-pleaser”—it’s change for the better. No matter where they go or where they’ve been, Orange County is still as much a part of them as they’re a part of us.

Tags: No Doubt, OC Weekly

taken from:

Tags: Article, Gwen Stefani, Interview

taken from: Neon Lime Light

only dream of having. She’s sold millions of records with her band No Doubt, her solo albums are scarfed up by fans just as much, and she can work a stage like nobody’s business.

Who wouldn’t want to be like Gwen?

Well, Katy Perry isn’t shy about admitting Stefani’s is a career she’s love to emulate.

“When I grow up, I wanna be just like Gwen Stefani,” Perry tweeted today.

Perry had just finished her opening set at No Doubt’s show in Irvine, CA Tuesday night (August 4) and got to witness Stefani at work up close. Gwen’s control of the stage and the audience got Perry to thinking about her career and expressed a bit of frustration with the industry’s lack of focus on artist development.

“It’s not a race, it’s a marathon. I keep telling myself this. Think of the big picture.”
She continued: “I think music is weird these days, people don’t — well the music industry doesn’t let u grow anymore.

Everything has to be now, so immediate. Like watching Gwen tonight that was a 15 year in the making [sic]. I can’t wait to make magic like that in 15 yrs, I just don’t know if people will wait for people to grow like they used too.”
“Music is not fast food… It should change and grow and not be such competition of who’s on top or not,” she went on. “I think since we live in such a internet fueled world with everything at our finger tips immediately, we all want our musicians to be of Beyonce/Madonna level from the get when we forget those amazing girls have been doing it for 15-25 years.”
Before signing off, Perry thanked her fans with the hopes that they’ll stick around with her for the long haul. “I’m so thankful for the wonderful new fans and hope you guys will grow with me.”

taken from: Babble

Posted by Sassy Smith on July 25th, 2009 at 10:31 am

Gwen Stefani may have taken time off to have two babies, but there’s No Doubt (get it, it’s a pun!) she’s back and so are her killer abs.

Gwen and the boys from No Doubt are busy on their summer reunion tour and it’s clear that Gwen is in great shape. Photos are from their Los Angeles Gibson Amphitheatre performance.

How does she do it? How does Gwen get that body after two kids?

Gwen spoke with Harper’s Bazaar, she admitted, “It’s so much work afterward to get the weight off. I thought I was going to throw up (the first time she went jogging after giving birth).

“If you just do it, it comes off. And when you’re nursing, like I am, your metabolism is like, whoosh!”

She added, “It’s an ongoing battle, and it’s a nightmore. But I like clothes too much, and I always wanted to wear the outfits I would make. And I’m… very vain.

“Seriously, though it’s very boring and embarrassing and I hate talking about it, but it’s true: I’ve always been on a diet, ever since I was in the sixth grade.”

Gwen, who will turn 40 later this year, is married to singer Gavin Rossdale and their sons are Kingston, 3, and Zuma, 11 months.

taken from: E! Online

Just how much money does a singer like Gwen Stefani or Beyoncé take home from album sales and concerts?
—Thisfunktional, via Twitter
So you’re talking big-big singers, not merely big singers. There’s a difference; Carrie Underwood and Lady Gaga are currently on tour, for example, and they’re likely raking in thousands of dollars per show. But Stefani and Beyoncé are mini-empresses of financial clout and probably earn much more.
Simply put: Don’t listen whenever a big artist complains about the new economy. Gwen and Beyoncé are multimillionaires, but they aren’t even the richest rockers out there…
First, some music industry basics. Any singer who wants to be really rich knows she needs to not only croon but also write—or at least bully enough people so that she gets songwriting credits on all her major potential hits. Writing that “this s–t is bananas” gets you a lot more money than merely proclaiming “this s–t is bananas.”
“On the recording side it really comes down to how much they spend on making an album,” says entertainment accountant Lewis Stark of Eisner LLP. “But if you sell a couple million units both digitally and physically you may be able to pull in $3 or $4 million in revenue.” Subtract the advance a big singer gets from the record company, and that’s still at least a million or two in the singer’s pocket.
Publishing rights, though, can climb into the $3 million to $10 million yearly range, Stark says. (For true legends, probably even more.)
As for live performances, that pay is also bananas.
Top-tier acts “could make anywhere from, on the low end, $50,000 a show to $1.5 million a show, depending on how big the artist is,” Stark says.
I mentioned clothing lines and lifestyle brands, and I did that for a reason. They can make a star even more money than the revenue streams listed above.
Take Sammy Hagar, who sold a majority share in his Cabo Wabo tequila brand for—no joke—$80 million.
So what’s the tippy-top a single artist might make in a year? Might want to look to Jay-Z, whom Forbes recently crowned hip-hop’s top earner. He made $35 million over the past 12 months—about $8 million more than Stefani reportedly made in 2008.
And about $34.9999999 million more than me.

taken from: Seattle Times

By Marian Liu
Seattle Times staff reporter

Gwen Stefani is no doubtedly back with No Doubt.

After taking a five-year break from the ska band, the 39-year-old singer has found success outside of No Doubt — with a fashion label (L.A.M.B.), two hit solo records and two kids in tow.

But this summer she’s back with the band that launched her, and in its 1990s and early-2000s heyday, sold more than 27 million records and won two Grammys.

No Doubt plays the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn on Sunday. Stefani talked to The Seattle Times over the phone from Calgary, Canada. And true to her onstage persona, she was funny, down-to-earth and fashionably dressed, wearing (as she reported) L.A.M.B. pants, Topshop socks, a Vivienne Westwood sweat shirt, a Hanes tank top and a hot-pink bra.

Q: What classic No Doubt songs will you play at the show?

A: We’re just trying to do the songs that make people really happy — the hits. … There’s no way you’re going to walk away and not have fun. We put everything we have into it — all of our love, all of our energy, everything.

Q: As a solo artist, you sold 8 million albums and won a Grammy. Why did you decide to get back together with No Doubt when you had such personal success?

A: Since we were 17, we had never taken any time for ourselves. It was always band band band band band, because we loved it. … It was an opportunity, a window in time to just do something different. … It was never intended to be so long.

Q: Are you going to do more solo work?

A: Not that I’m planning on. I feel like I’m in a time of my life where I can’t really make plans. … It’s really about living in the moment, because if you start to look ahead too far, you kind of miss where you’re at. Right now, I’m just so grateful that we’re out here. I can’t even think about writing. I mean, I think about it, and I get excited, because I listen to a lot of music when I put my makeup on. When you’re a mom, you don’t have a lot of spare time. … The whole point of going on tour was to fill myself back up, because I felt really empty after having that baby. It’s just like — wow, I don’t have anything to give, talk about or say. So now, when we go home, the idea is to just go and start writing and do No Doubt records.

Q: There was some criticism — from folks like Margaret Cho — about appropriating Asian-ness. How do you respond to that?

A: People catch bits of things, so they don’t see the whole picture. But if you go back and listen to the whole song — “Harajuku Girls” — the song is clearly a song about loving a culture and being inspired by a culture. That’s all it is. It’s just being a fan. So, if anybody takes offense, of me publicly saying this culture is amazing, then there’s something wrong with them. It was very positive.

Q: How do you describe yourself?

A: I just see myself as really busy and really passionate about all the opportunities that have come my way. … Now I have a family, that takes up obviously my No. 1 priority, and I try to make some good kids, you know. That’s the newest, hardest thing I’ve ever done.

Q: How do you balance family life now that you and your husband [Gavin Rossdale] are on separate tours?

A: He’s actually here right now — he just got in last night. … I think when you have the family involved, you take it to a different level. It’s such a very self-centered lifestyle out here. It’s about just doing everything you can to put on a great show and that takes a lot of energy, emotionally and physically, and so when you have two little humans … and you’re missing your husband, and you’re trying to work it out all the time, and you’re catching me on a day when you’re like, “How’s it going to work?” Some days it doesn’t work and most days, it just works itself out.

Q: Would you want your two kids to be rock stars?

A: Hell no, they’re not allowed.

No, I want them to be happy. I think the most important thing, the most blessed thing is I get to do what I feel passionate about. I love, love performing. I love being creative. I love designing. Being able to be passionate makes you able to work really hard and just do so many things and just enjoy life. My life is so rich and full because of that, so I hope they find something that they love.

Tags: Gwen Stefani

taken from: Seattle Weekly & Beacon Street

With the first plaintive verses of 1995’s “Just a Girl,” Gwen Stefani and No Doubt ushered in a new era of enticingly flagrant girl power. So sorry, Katy Perry and Lady GaGa – those in-your-face poses? The boudoir-meets-couture outfits? It’s all been done before, and better, by Stefani, the only woman who could make bindis, blue hair and braces trendy. It’s been five years since No Doubt played together – a hiatus in which Stefani produced two solo albums and two babies – but now Gwen and the boys are back on the road. The tour precedes a new album that will be released in 2010 and has the band dressed in all white, a là A Clockwork Orange, playing fan favorites from the reggae and dance pop of their later albums and quite a bit from the ska-reviving Tragic Kingdom, including the iconic “Don’t Speak.” These are good people, too – much of the proceeds from the tour will go to charity. With Paramore. All ages.
Sun., July 19, 7:30 p.m., 2009

taken from: Celebrity Diet Doctor

I had to post this one too because they used my clip from Milwaukee of “Underneath It All” ;o)

Check out the abs on this hot mama! The mother-of-two has been showing off her post-baby figure across America as her band, No Doubt, tour the US. Even though Gwen gave birth to her second son, Zuma, 10 months ago, she hits the gym four days a week with her personal trainer and mixes up her routine with lightweight resistance and a little bit of cardio.

But with the start of their nationwide Summer Tour 2009 in May, the band has been forced to take their personal trainers with them on tour – because they attract too much attention at the gym.

“I have to wear make-up to the gym because I get some dude doing sit-ups next to me and surreptitiously taking pictures,” she told ContactMusic.com.

Gwen has been working intermittently with personal trainer, Mike Heatlie, since 1997. Even though Heatlie isn’t a big advocate of cardio training, he gets his clients to focus on interval training, resistance exercises and a good diet instead.

Watch this video of Gwen rocking her rock-hard abs in Milwaukee.

Tags: Gwen Stefani, Milwaukee

taken from: Time Out Chicago

Live review: No Doubt + Paramore + Bedouin Soundclash at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Posted in Music by Raf Miastkowski on July 13th, 2009 at 4:21 pm

After all these years, why would the 39-year old Gwen Stefani choose to go back on tour with her old SoCal bandmates and ex-boyfriend? Considering she got married to Gavin Rossdale, had a pair of kids, launched a massively successful solo career, and cashed in on a couple of clothing lines, jumping around on stage and screaming “I’m just a girl!” at the top of her lungs just doesn’t seem to make much sense anymore. Perhaps Gwen simply misses strutting around as a rock goddess as opposed to pursuing the pop-star-turned-entrepreneur career track of someone like Diddy. After all, many people forget just how instrumental the strikingly spazzy songstress was in shattering the glass ceiling for female rockers in the 90’s. Why is it so hard to believe she wants to re-capture some of that old magic? No Doubt has said the new tour is about reconnecting with its audience and inspiring the band to write new material. Sure, there’s all that cheddar too, but maybe Gwen would prefer to recruit another generation of fans as a bona-fide rocker rather than a quirky pop diva. After experiencing the ska-pop group’s epic, indefatigable, nostalgia-fueled show Saturday night at Tinley Park’s First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, that’s not such a hard pill to swallow.

Walking up to the stage as a quartet of silhouettes projected onto a massive white scrim, No Doubt showed early on that everything was going to be turned up to 11. As the white fabric dropped, it revealed a massive, spider-like walkway structure with Adrian Young’s drum kit resting in the middle. The band sported white wardrobes and matching blonde-mohawked haircuts, with Gwen rocking black boots, a tiny tank top, and a toned figure that rivaled G.I. Jane’s. The stage was so polished, so impressive, that the band’s previous Rock Steady tour looked like a county fair gig in comparison. Launching into “Spiderwebs,” No Doubt instantly riled up the noticeably older crowd and soon had the capacity crowd of 25,000 people jumping up and down to “Hella Good.” By the time “Underneath It All” finished up, Gwen was proclaiming that it was “The loudest show of the tour so far.” During “Ex-Girlfriend,” a retro-cool spy montage featuring the band appeared in the background, with the entire stage turning red as the songstress screamed “Why am I so Jealous!?”. Surprisingly, The Beacon Street Collection’s “Squeal” made an appearance, though it was truncated because Gwen admittedly forgot the lyrics. Before “New,” Stefani made sure to freshen up with a new outfit consisting of a sparkly checkerboard hot-pants dress and black tights. Undoubtedly, one of the highlights of the night was when Gwen got the entire lawn section going absolutely bonkers with concertgoers up front looking on in awe during the funky, trumpet-backed “Different People.” Of course, the obligatory push-up demonstration occurred before the set ended with “Just A Girl.” Gwen effortlessly pumped out ten reps before amping up the seething crowd to a memorably ear-splitting boy vs. girl shout-off.

For the encore, Gwen dressed down to more comfortable camo pants and a sparkly polo before picking up the action again with “Rock Steady.” Though I liked how the band decided to play their go-to power pop ballad “Don’t Speak” earlier on, I thought that opening the encore with “Rock Steady” didn’t sustain the frenzied energy of the crowd. Next came the band’s new cover of “Stand And Deliver,” which saw the entire band and a young boy from the crowd banging on drums at the front of the stage while Adrian pranced around the stage hilariously in a pink tutu. Hoping that the band would close out the evening with the barreling “Sunday Morning,” I was pleasantly surprised when they actually chose to do so. The crowd summoned whatever energy they had left to close out the night with a bang, and stuck around to applaud the band copiously as No Doubt lingered on stage waving to their fans. Sure, No Doubt chose to postpone developing new, mature material for this tour, instead wanting one more go-round with their old catalog of songs about breakups and youthful enthusiasm. Though at first glance it doesn’t seem like a winning formula, when it’s pulled off with this much shimmer and swagger it’s not to be missed.

Opening for No Doubt was a pair of compatible and competent bands. First up was Bedouin Soundclash, which skillfully performed crisp, uppity, reggae-influenced jams reminiscent of the Clash. This time around No Doubt didn’t pack quite as much dancehall ammunition, so Bedouin Soundclash’s reggae flavor and tiki lounge vibe was a welcome addition. Then came Paramore, a tight, energetic pop-punk group that features 20-year-old orange-haired banshee Hayden Williams. Though some of the band’s songs felt a little stagnant and manufactured, riot girl Williams showed some serious spunk while hopping around on stage just like Stefani did when she started out so many years ago. The band also exhibited some surprising showmanship, which was appreciated by the numerous fans cheering them on.

Tags: Chicago, Concert Reviews, No Doubt, Tour