19 Aug 2009 2 Comments

No Doubt was icing on the cake

Last week, I won tickets from BAMP, a local concert promoter, to see No Doubt’s second show here – their last one of the tour. Although I’m not a huge fan of theirs – I had a brief No Doubt phase when Tragic Kingdom came out; I was ten – I figured it’d be nice to go to a concert when your tickets are complimentary! So together with Tracy, who I met at the Franz Ferdinand gig in Tempe, we went to the show.

Before I write about the concert, let me explain how I won the tickets. It was a brilliant yet simple idea on BAMP’s part to have contest participants use online social media. To enter, participants posted a message on Twitter announcing the contest. Then, they visited BAMP’s blog and posted a comment stating which band they’d most like to see in Hawai‘i. Being the über fan, I said Muse, of course. I figured, hey, it’s an opportunity to vouch for Muse; if I won the tickets, it’d be icing on the cake.

Sure enough, last Monday, I received a Twitter direct message from BAMP that I had won a pair of tickets. Fellow local .mu Muser Kylee had also won tickets, so we used this opportunity to finally meet each other in person.

The day of the second show, I picked up Tracy and the three of us met at the Blaisdell Center box office. After retrieving our tickets, I showed Kylee the Muse, Franz and Beastie stickers on my Santa Fe. We talked about Adam Yauch’s cancer, Muse and Franz, and life in general.

Afterwards, Tracy and I headed over to Ala Moana Center to visit some friends at Apple. After a lengthy catch-up chat with my former boss there, we went to Barnes and Noble downstairs and I bought the issue of NME with Muse on the cover. (I mention Muse way too much in an entry that’s supposed to be about No Doubt – sorry, it’ll be the last time.) Dinner was at Green Papaya, where we had some fresh Vietnamese cuisine. Yum.

By the time we finished dinner, it was about time to head back to the Blaisdell. Finding parking was easier than I expected. We got in the general admission line, had security check our purses, and received our green wristbands. You know what that means? Standing room floor spots. The only way to gig it. (It’d be even better if Tracy and I were each half a foot taller, but c’est la vie.)

Half an hour after Tracy and I secured spots on the left of the stage, about three rows behind the barrier, opening performer Matt Costa came on stage. The story is that Tom Dumont, No Doubt’s guitarist, helped record some stuff for Matt, and that Matt has some history here in Hawai‘i. When he first addressed the audience, someone behind me thought he sounded British. I didn’t think he sounded British at all. Maybe because he’s from Huntington Beach, heh. At one point, a girl screamed, “Can I have your babies?!” to which he replied, “No, I’d like to keep my babies.” Instant classic quote of the night. A classic I had to tweet right then and there.

Matt Costa went through his 30-minute solo acoustic set. Usually opening acts pump up the audience, priming them for the headliner. Though I enjoyed his set, I could tell there were audience members who wanted it over with. Matt’s mellow repertoire is not one you’d usually choose as opening act material. If he had his band with him, there may not have been as many naysayers in the audience as there seemed to have been that night. At least one audience member bought some of his music as a result of his set, though; the last song he performed, “Mr. Pitiful,” is a current favorite of mine.

About 20 minutes after Matt Costa finished, No Doubt came out rocking. I wasn’t familiar with their live performances, but they proved to be an energetic act. The bass, synths and drums pulsed through our bodies as Gwen Stefani jumped, danced and pranced on stage. I (and I’m sure many others) have a gripe with Gwen’s voice (Gwen herself has wondered how people can listen to her nasally voice), but everyone around us was having a good time, dancing and singing along, so it became a minor issue. At one point, Gwen did push-ups, which I remember from concert footage in the “Don’t Speak” video. She’s way too fit to be a mom. Her abs were ridiculous. See?

Gwen's monster abs.

Gwen says buh-bye.

More photos taken with my trusty iPhone can be found on my No Doubt Flickr photoset.

Seeing a band who you aren’t very into is a much different experience from seeing one who you are very passionate about, and I experienced that with this show. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful that I got to go with a friend to see a band that was once my favorite for free. No Doubt proved my, er, doubts, wrong, and demonstrated that they are indeed an excellent live band. I jumped around a little bit when everyone else did and sung along to the few songs I knew. Though my ten-year-old self would have been ecstatic, present-day me had a difficult time getting into the show 100 percent. And time, oddly enough, seemed to fly. Before we knew it, they closed the show with “Sunday Morning” – my favorite song during my No Doubt phase – and it was time to follow the throng out of the arena.

Despite the vague feelings, I still say last Wednesday night was a blast. It was a relief to break the weekday routine and hang out with friends in town for a night of tasty food, live music, and good fun.

by Liberty in gigs, music Tags: BAMP, Blaisdell Arena, blog, free tickets, gigs, Honolulu, No Doubt, social media, Twitter