As published in Rukus magazine:
http://www.rukusmag.com/2011/1111/concert_review_the_naked_and_famous.html
Appearing before a sold-out crowd, the band appeared fully clothed and ready to go. Had they not been standing on stage, it’s unlikely that anyone in the audience would know exactly who they were. That said, The Naked And Famous were still able to live up to the bold, tongue-in-cheek spirit implied in the band’s name by performing a powerful 65-minute set at Hollywood's Music Box theater on October 17th.
Hailing from Auckland, New Zealand, The Naked And Famous first came on the scene in 2008, where they released two EPs: THIS MACHINE and NO LIGHT. In 2010, the quintet released their debut album, PASSIVE ME, AGGRESSIVE YOU, an inspired collection that included the band's first hit single, "Young Blood." The Naked And Famous sound can best be described as dance-pop music, mixed with a rock and roll edge.
By 10:40pm, the Music Box was packed to the gills. There was very little room to move inside the theater. Soon the lights went down, and there they were: Jesse Wood on drums, Aaron Short on keyboards, David Beadle on bass, rhythm guitar and keyboards, Alisa Xayalith on lead vocals and keyboards, and Thom Powers on lead guitar, keyboards and lead vocals. They appeared young, healthy, and perhaps a little bit shy…yet The Naked And Famous were full of energy, and committed themselves to each and every song.
Opening with the delicate keyboards sound of "The Ends," the band soon launched into their robust barnburner "A Wolf in Geek's Clothing." Without so much of a breath, The Naked And Famous quickly moved on to "Punching in a Dream," "Spank," and then "The Sun." Thom Powers lead the band like a pro, going from one song to the other like clockwork. Jesse Wood pounded the drums with raw power and machine-like precision. David Beadle would sway to and fro towards the back of the stage. Aaron Short would hold steady on his keyboards, and Alisa Xayalith kept herself at bay. With her hair planted firmly in front of her face for the majority of the show, Xayalith played timid with her body, yet was free and forthcoming with her strong vocals.
Neither Thom Powers nor Alisa Xayalith spoke much to the crowd that night; they preferred to keep their focus primarily on the music alone. The two singers also choose to not hog the spotlight from their bandmates (when does that ever happen?). For the most part, Powers and Xayalith stayed close to their keyboards…rarely letting their presence stand out from the band as a whole.
After performing "Bells" and "Frayed," Thom Powers introduced the upbeat, dance track "All of This" as the first song The Naked And Famous played when they first got together all those years ago. Like many songs that evening, the band infused "All of This" with a strength and excitement not found on the original recording. The crowd picked up on this right away; some danced and even sang along to the song word-for-word.
However, for the most part the packed crowd offered little in the way of enthusiasm for what was happening on stage. Before playing "Young Blood," the final song of the evening, Thom Powers remarked, "You're a bit quiet this time around." He then invited the audience to sing along to the song's catchy chorus of "yeah-e, yeah-e, yeah-e, yeah!" Fortunately, the audience happily complied…coming to life for the first time all evening. It's a shame that The Naked And Famous did not make more of an effort earlier to engage the crowd, yet all's well that ends well.
…and The Naked And Famous have done well. They’re young and innocent enough to still approach their music (and their audience) with a sense of joy, naiveté, experimentation, and wonder. Perhaps they could use a little more education when it comes to live performance, yet that does not take away from the great things the band has to offer. They may not have conquered the world yet, but don’t worry; The Naked And Famous are just getting started...
Young,
raw, talented and blissfully uninhibited, she bullied the stage into
submission. Her voice was her instrument, yet her body was her most
complete means of expression. This is Chloe Chaidez, a 16-year-old
Wunderkind who fronts a new teenage band called Kitten. On Friday
evening at the Key Club in West Hollywood, Chaidez’s face was buried in
her hair as she danced, twisted, spun, ran, jumped around, moshed and
even did handstands while her more conservative bandmates held down the
fort and rocked out
Also
located inside the vendor section was a small second stage, officially
known as the “Monster Energy Stage.” Those who arrived early to the
concert, were treated to 40 to 50-minute sets by bands like P.O.D., Crossfade, Redlight King, Middle Class Rut and Asking Alexandra. Drive A were the very first act of the day, performing at 11:30am. Unlike other festivals, Epicenter
was planned so that one could possibly go see all six bands on the
“Monster Energy Stage,”...and then go over to the Main Stage inside the
amphitheater proper, to watch the nine other bands. Of course, things
happen, and as it played out...P.O.D’s set ran longer than expected,
which overlapped into the set of the very first band on the Main
Stage...Red.
“The
rest of the day”...was managed quite well. The organizers knew they
had to fit nine bands into seven hours, so they built a rotating
stage...so while one band performed in front, another band could set up
their equipment backstage. As a result, the downtime between each act
was only about 5-10 minutes...if everything ran smoothly. Of course,
the next performer could not help but rebel against such a tight
schedule.
Memphis Christian-rock band Skillet
came on next. Lead by husband and wife team John and Korey Cooper,
Skillet performed five songs, featuring key tracks from their 2009 album
AWAKE...”Hero,” Awake and Alive,” and “Monster.” Similar to Red, Skillet
worked extra-hard to engage the crowd...playing hard and loud, and
employing shooting smoke in the background in order to enhance their
stage presence. John Cooper took on the role of preacher at one point,
pontificating to the crowd about the “War for your souls.”
Lead by shirtless, tattooed-to-oblivion lead singer Josh Todd, SoCal rockers Buckcherry burst
onto the stage after 6:00pm with the ironically upbeat “Dead,” the
closing track of their 2010 album ALL NIGHT LONG. Josh Todd prowled the
stage like a middleweight boxer. His feet were fast, and he moved as
much as possible to the sounds of Keith Nelson and Stevie D. on guitars,
Jimmy Ashhurst on bass, and Xavier Muriel on drums. “Rescue Me” came
next, a fast-paced track off of 2009’s BLACK BUTTERFLY. Keeping up the
fast pace, Buckcherry then broke out “All Night
Long”...a party anthem that opens up their 2010 album of the same name.
“Recovery” is also off of the ALL NIGHT LONG album, and was performed
with a fierce intensity. “I used to go to high school around here” said
Josh Todd, who informed the crowd that his teachers used to scold him
for his dirty mind. Buckcherry then attacked ”Dirty Mind,” from their 1999 debut album BUCKCHERRY.
It felt as if no time had passed. After a few bars of Led Zeppelin’s
“In My Time of Dying” the band went straight into their cocaine tribute
“Lit Up”...the opening track off of their debut album. Before the song,
Josh Todd said “The first time I did cocaine, it was a Friday night.
Then I figured out I could drink more.” Fantastic. To close out the
set, the band played “Sorry,” their second biggest hit from their
breakthrough 2006 album 15, as well as Buckcherry’s
biggest hit from the same album...”Crazy Bitch.” Before performing the
latter song, Josh Todd told the crowd that “a crazy bitch can take down
an empire.” The band then played snippets of Prince’s “Irresistible
Bitch,” Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” and KC and The Sunshine Band’s “Get
Down Tonight” before launching into the song proper. Buckcherry was clearly pleased to play at the Epicenter festival,
and was the only band on Saturday to give a shout out to KROQ, the
festival’s sponsor, and the station that first broke the band...
The gentleman seated to my right noticed my press notes, then gave me the devil finger sign and warned me that Five Finger Death Punch
was by far the heaviest band on the bill that day. He was not
kidding. In fact, I think underplayed the emphasis on the word
“heavy.” With a new album due next month, the 5-piece heavy metal band
blasted through seven of their best songs from 2007’s THE WAY OF THE
FIST and 2009’s WAR IS THE ANSWER, as well as performing a new single
called “Under and Over It.” With Zoltan Bathory and Jason Hook on
guitars, Chris Kael on bass, and Jeremy Spencer on drums, the band was
fast and furious through each and every song. Yet it was the presence
of Ivan Moody on vocals that stole the show. Moody is a formidable
commanding general, leading his troops in a take-no-prisoners attack on
the audience. This is a man not to be messed with. His vocals were
frightening, whether he sung straight, or in a demonic, devil-sounding
voice. One song after another...”Burn It Down” into
“Salvation”...”Under and Over It” into “Hard To See”... Five Finger Death Punch
beat the crap out of the audience. “No One Gets Left Behind” was
dedicated to the military, and after the song, Commander Moody told the
crowd that the band recently had gone to Iraq. “It changed my f*#king
life!” Moody continued, “Over there there they had a nickname for
us...,” and thus began Five Finger Death Punch’s heavy
cover of the 1974 classic by Bad Company...”Bad Company.” However,
Moody stopped the song midway, in order to call out the security people
for being too rough with fans. “You security guys need to relax!” he
shouted out. Moody in particular yelled at security for kicking out a
woman from the lower seating level. In protest, Moody refused to sing
another note until security guards let the women back in. Thankfully,
security gave in, much to the crowd’s delight. Moody was thankful, and
told the security guards that he understood that they had a job to do,
yet the fans paid hard-earned money for concert tickets, and deserved to
be treated better. Once that was taken care of, Moody and the band
resumed “Bad Company,” and closed their set with two standout tracks
from THE WAY OF THE FIST...”White Knuckles” and “The Bleeding.”
Staind
is no doubt an excellent band, having sold over 15 million records
worldwide. Aaron Lewis, the band’s frontman, is without doubt a
fantastic vocalist, probably the best singer on the entire Epicenter
bill. Yet as big as the band is, their performance style clashed with
the explosive energy exhibited on stage by the other bands who performed
that day. Staind is very akin to The Eagles, in that they have great
songs...have sold millions of records, yet cannot compare in performance
style with other bands of equal popularity. While Papa Roach,
Buckcherry, and Five Finger Death Punch owned the crowd, Staind instead
choose a much more low-key approach. Interaction with the crowd was
kept to a minimum, as the band preferred to just play. There’s nothing
wrong with that at all, except that most of the previous acts worked
extra-hard to engage the audience. The result of this contrast proved
unsatisfying for both the crowd, and the band. Feeling high off of Papa
Roach’s dynamic set, the audience had a hard time connecting with
Staind. Aaron Lewis voiced his displeasure at the crowd’s indifference a
number of times. After a weak attempt to get people to sing along to
song at one point, Aaron Lewis responded with “That’s all you got?”
Before Staind’s final number of the night, Lewis told that the crowd
that he hoped the next act (Limp Bizkit) would somehow
wake them up from their slumber....clearly a dig at the audience’s lack
of enthusiasm for the band’s set. Perhaps in a passive aggressive move
(or just simply...aggressive), Staind punished the crowd by not
performing their biggest hit...2001’s “It’s Been a While.”
Staying in CHOCOLATE STARFISH AND THE HOT DOG FLAVORED WATER mode, Limp Bizkit
next broke out “Livin’ It Up”, along with another CHOCOLATE STARFISH
gem.. “My Way.” Diving into classic material from their landmark 1999
album SIGNIFICANT OTHER, “Break Stuff” came next, which was performed
with the same ferocity as when the track was first recorded 12 years
ago. After a miscue, and some confusion as to which song to play next,
the band asked the crowd what song they would like to hear... and
finally settled on performing “Eat You Live,” from 2003’s RESULTS MAY
VARY. Then it was back to SIGNIFICANT OTHER-territory with a
double-shot of great numbers...”Re-Arranged” and the huge hit “Nookie.”
Before performing the song, Durst dedicated the entire show to “all you
troopers who have to work tomorrow.” Shifting gears, Durst next lead
the band through their 2003 acoustic version of The Who’s 1971
masterpiece...”Behind Blue Eyes.” Then Limp Bizkit broke out 2000’s “Take a Look Around”...which was featured prominently on the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II soundtrack.
