On Wednesday night the fans of No Doubt got some exercise jumping and dancing to the eccentric beats of the band at the Roseland Ballroom.
Coming out on stage promptly at 9:15 p.m., the members of No Doubt, singer Gwen Stefani, bassist Tony Kanal, drummer Adrian Young and guitarist Tom Dumont, started the night off with the upbeat “Hella Good.”
Stefani, wearing a necktie and her signature bikini top and shirt, belted out the lyrics, “Feeling kind of good so let’s just keep on dancing,” which, summed up the night. From the get go Stefani got the crowd motivated and throughout the night kept showing her appreciation to New York City.
There were many different elements in the show that kept it exciting. First and foremost is the revival of the 80s. If the clothes didn’t tip the audience off, the opening band, Faint, or the piano/guitar used by Dumont, did. Another huge theme projected during the show was the Jamaican influence No Doubt used during the production of their new album “Hey Baby.” Both Stefani and Kanal wore wristbands with the colors of the Jamaican flag.
In addition to playing songs off of their new album, they mixed a variety of old favorites into the show, with cult classics such as “Spider Webs,” “Don’t Speak” and “I’m Just a Girl.” They also included songs never released as singles off their breakthrough album “Tragic Kingdom.”
Stefani had the crowd participating all night long by either making them sing the chorus to “Don’t Speak” or egging the fans on to jump throughout every song. Stefani embodies all that a band wants in a lead singer: enthusiasm, the ability to work the crowd and simply have fun on stage. She danced with every band member throughout the performance as well as danced for the crowd with her stage dancers.
The set for the show was simple. During most of the show there were curtains in the background that read “Rock Steady.” When the band was about to perform “Hey Baby,” the curtains were dropped and all that stood was a huge ND symbol with a white screen behind it to reflect all the colored lights shining The drum set lit up into different psychedelic colors bringing more personality to the set.
For “In My Head,” Young changed the scenario a bit, coming down from his drum set in his underwear, which the crowd ate up, and stood next to Stefani, beating his other set of smaller drums. Then, Stefani screamed out the lyrics, “Let’s talk about Gwen Stefani/and how much you like me,” which made the crowd go nuts. The fans could sense from the smile on her face how much she loved performing.
The crowd, which ranged from young girls, who want to be just like Gwen, to their parents, came alive when the band stepped out for its two-song encore. Beginning with the mellow toned “Rock Steady,” which Stefani states is her favorite song, and ending with the upbeat hit “Spider Webs,” the crowd left hyper and singing.
Overall, No Doubt showed why they were able to open for U2 and headline their own tour all in one year.
