Fountains of Wayne - Live in Chicago at the Double Door - 11/15/02 Nov 16 '02    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 Mai by Eri Sugai From $4 The Bottom Line Pop music is not dead, it's out on tour. Catch Fountains of Wayne and their energetic, hook-laden music on their short tour this fall if you can. "How can it be so hot in here when it's so cold outside?" A few songs into their November 15th show at Chicago's Double Door, Chris Collingwood, lead singer for Fountains of Wayne posed the above question to the audience. Granted, winter has been swinging through the Midwest a little early this year; there hasn't been snow yet, but the wind has been brisk and the temperatures have been low. Inside the Double Door, things were a tad warm. Earlier, the opening act, Motion City Soundtrack had delivered a high energy, high intensity set that got the audience worked up. The long wait while the stagehands rearranged things for Fountains of Wayne gave us in the audience the chance to mill around for a while, raising the temperature even further. By the time Collingwood and his band mates took the stage, things had gotten quite warm. But, whether he realized it or not, Collingwood was addressing more than just the temperature with his question. As warm as it was in the club, the hottest thing was the music. Fountains of Wayne, for those not in the know, are amongst a number of musical acts helping to keep power pop alive in today's music scene. Their sound combines elements of the Beach Boys, Steve Miller, the Cars, and other similar acts. Power chords, tight harmonies, and strong rhythms fuel the music, but the band's true highlights lie in their lyrics. Collingwood and songwriting partner Adam Schlesinger write such strong lyrical hooks that the words slip instantly into your memory. For many of their songs, it's possible to sing along with the lyrics even before you've finished hearing the song once through in its entirety. After they took the stage in the Double Door, Collingwood, Schlesinger, and company started the show with some strong songs from their two existing albums. Survival Car opened things up, followed by the sweet, almost campy Red Dragon Tattoo, and the energetic of I've Got a Flair. I could tell right away that the crowd was not made up of casual fans and curiosity seekers. Practically everyone in the club was singing along with every word, fighting to match the energy that the band achieved on stage. The band responded to our enthusiasm with nearly note-perfect renditions of the songs as they appear on the albums. This isn't to say that the group was playing in a stiff, stilted manner, but rather that they were tight and totally in control of everything on stage. After a few familiar songs, Collingwood mentioned the group's upcoming, as-yet-untitled album. (Sadly, it seems that we'll have to wait until March or April for its release. I'll have to be patient). The group segued into a Mexican Wine, a catchy, hook laden power pop number from this upcoming release. They followed with another new song (for which I cannot, unfortunately remember the name). Hearing these new songs for the first time was exciting, but the energy within the audience started to wane as we were forced to absorb the new material. The band new we craved more familiar favorites, and obliged us with the wry tale of unrequited love, Leave the Biker. Thus far, the show had been pretty loud and rockin', but things slowed down a bit as the group switched to a more acoustic instrumentation and presented us with Hackensack, a gentle-sounding ballad from the upcoming album, and Troubled Times, a tender declaration of love that should have been one of the biggest singles of 1999, but sadly received minimal promotion from Atlantic records. The group gradually brought the tempo and intensity back to a high level with Sick Day, featuring some psychedelic rock improvisation during the intro and ending. The moved through the rest of their main set with the nostalgic bliss of Utopia Parkway, the rock love anthem of Denise, and the wistful, yet catchy Barbara H. Thrown into the mix was also the straight-up rocker Bright Future in Sales, set to be included on next spring's new album. Before their initial stage departure, they concluded with their signature song, the infectiously catchy Radiation Vibe. Between the two encore's that followed, the group provided us with a new song that sounded a bit muddled still and whose name I didn't catch, the slacker love anthem Sink to the Bottom, and an Oasis-like new song entitled Supercollider. Musically, Fountains of Wayne was in excellent form, and there is little to quibble about. The only slips were the muddles nature of the first song in the encore and a moment of lyrical forgetfulness in Red Dragon Tattoo. The show felt a bit short at about seventy to seventy-five minutes in length. And it would have been nice to have a few cover songs mixed in with things (I've heard some excellent cover work from the band during previous shows, and was expecting a few nods to other groups tonight, but we didn't hear any). As I said though, these are just minor annoyances that didn't detract at all from an amazing concert experience. So the music was great. How about the venue, you may ask? This was the first show I have seen at the Double Door. This club, located in downtown Chicago near the location of the fictional Championship Vinyl from the movie High Fidelity, is basically a large rectangular room with a bar on the left side towards the front, and a stage in the back right corner. Much of the room in the building is simply empty space for audience members to stand and enjoy the music. The placement of the stage in the corner, rather than in the center of the back wall, seems a bit awkward, as it creates a less-than-ideal viewing set-up for audience members on the far left. Fortunately I happened to be standing right by the sound board, giving me a pretty good view of the action. The sound system at the Double Door at first appeared a little on the small side, but as it turns out, was more than adequate to handle the needs of Fountains of Wayne. Every note and every word came through clearly. As boxy as the building is, the acoustics held up quite nicely. Another nice aspect of the Double Door is that although this was a sold-out show, it didn't feel like we were packed in shoulder to shoulder. I had a fair amount of breathing room, which hasn't always been the case in my concert experiences. Overall I would recommend the Double Door as a concert venue and wouldn't hesitate to return for another show. Fountains of Wayne have more shows scheduled through the end of November. If you're a fan of pop music, you owe it to yourself to visit their website (www.fountainsofwayne.com) and to check out their tour schedule. If they're coming anywhere near you, go see them. You won't be disappointed. If they're not playing near you, or you've already missed their show, it'll only be a few more months until their next album is out. I expect them to tour once again at that time, and I'm sure the show will be just as good then as it was now.

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