Fountains of Wayne, Variety Playhouse 6/19/2007

So Stacy was there. Lots of her. Her moms were there, too. I even saw Stacy's grandma, but decidedly, she hasn't "got it goin' on."

Strangest Variety Playhouse crowd ever. Teens in braces. A guy that looked like me or my friend Brad in say, 10 more years. Yuppies. There were no patterns to this crowd. I reckon FOW does have rather a universal appeal.

At the back corner of the playhouse where we sat, there were at least two categories --three counting us--the "overworked 30 something commuters"--the hit song dancing gay guys, who were having a lot of fun as they ran down to boogie with the masses during the top hits ("Stacy's Mom", "Mexican Wine"), and the "I'm in a band" guys, including the alleged drummer who sat behind me, pretending to be maxing the bass drum pedal (in completely out of time fashion) throughout the show and shaking the entire row around him-- mostly my chair...

The show was enjoyable--FOW writes and plays pretty pop that's almost authentic, as they carefully skirt the borders of novelty and genius. Strangely, my favorite song surrounding the band isn't one they wrote or perform themselves (and I'd lose any of the remaining street cred I have since my favorite band just whored themselves out to Volkswagen, ja, and if I didn't mention this--every so called FOW reviewer does, it'd be a problem) but is instead Robbie Fulks "Fountains of Wayne Hotline," with its tongue-in-cheek admiration for the layered pop perfection that FOW so often achieves.

They have a good stage presence and tight performance skills. Most hilarious to me in terms of their overall stage 'tude is their lead guitarist, who is a mash up of the following:

Jiimmy Page in "Song Remains the Same" duh, even down to the color of his Les Paul
David Cassidy (it's the vest)
and Jackie Earl Haley's Kelly Leek from the original "Bad News Bears" film.

Anyway, I wouldn't have picked it--the same Volkswagen whores mentioned earlier were playing just down the street this same night--but given the rare rain and the crappy yuppies cum infested outdoor venue ("Chat"stain") I was perfectly happy being at Variety once I got there and got settled--settled= getting to L5P late and braving the side streets in search of parking because the opening act is going to suck and we're old and tired-- and finally finding a space.

As concerts go, its nice and refreshing to see a band that embraces and plays their pop hits without any whining or teasing about it....no Michael Stipe-esque "we're just not playing "Stacy's Mom" because, that's just not who were are anymore." Whatever.

Play "Superman" so we can go home, ninny!

Thank you, and good night.