Review: No Doubt at the Xcel

Paying extra to get in early paid off. Kate and I got a spot in the front row. Thousands of people trickled in behind us. We passed the time singing along to the Descendents and Bad Brains tunes blasting out of the speakers.

Speaking of the Bad Brains, I was curious about the opening band, Bedouin Soundclash, because Darryl Jenifer (Bad Brains bassist, yo) has been producing their albums. Unfortunately, their mopey ska didn’t really reflect that connection.

Paramore came next, opening with “Misery Business,” the one song I knew.  Their set moved faster than the 45 minutes it lasted. Bonus points for the back flip the bass player did over the guitar player.

A giant white curtain fluttered in front of the stage. The band member’s silhouettes appeared on it and me, Kate and the 10,000 or so people behind us went nuts. “Spiderwebs” kicked it off as Gwen and the band ran around the sci-fi sleek stage set.

Part of me was worried No Doubt might have been one of those bands that, having reached such a level of popularity that they can pack arenas, would put on an overly glossy show, overproduced, choreographed and punctuated by cheesy, rehashed crowd banter. I had no reason to worry. Yes, they were tight musically, but it still seemed fresh, even spontaneous. They were into what they were doing and their energy flowed from the stage in waves.

I don’t usually get starstruck, but with Gwen Stefani and her abs four feet in front of me, yeah, I get starstruck, so highlights are hard to pick out. They played all of their singles, throwing in a few curve balls, like a slowed-down arrangement of “Excuse Me Mr.” They also threw in a couple less-familiar tunes from Tragic Kingdom, like “Different People,” during which Gwen forgot the lyrics, which she blamed on a couple of sisters in the front row with the lyrics “Two sisters only have their parents to blame” written on a sign.

They wrapped up the set with “Just a Girl.” After doing a dozen push-ups, Gwen requested that the dudes in the audience sing the chorus. “That was terrible,” she said before handing it over to the ladies to give it a shot, which she was more approving of.

For the encore, Gwen came back onto the stage dressed like some sort of ultra glam skinhead chick, wearing bleached jeans and a glittery Fred Perry. Instead of covering a song by The Business, they covered Adam and the Ants, perhaps the least skinheady band in the world. Drums were brought to the front of the stage to lay out the marching beats that lead into “Stand and Deliver.” I never thought I would like any fucking song that Adam Ant had anything to do with, but I guess this is an exception. Verses were handled by Gwen with assistance from the singers of Paramore and Bedouin Soundclash.

When the stage cleared, No Doubt wrapped things up with an amazing run through “Sunday Morning.” Then they went away. Sigh.

Set List:

• Spiderwebs
• Hella Good
• Underneath it All
• Excuse Me Mr.
• Ex-Girlfriend
• Happy Now/End it on This
• Simple Kind of Life
• Bathwater
• Guns of Navarone
• New
• Hey Baby
• Running
• Different People
• Don’t Speak
• It’s My Life
• Just a Girl

Encore:

• Rock Steady
• Stand and Deliver
• Sunday Morning

No Doubt played the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on 07/05/09.