No Doubt Shreds Darien

As the sun set over Darien Lake and No Doubt took the stage, it was easy to remember how we all fell in love with them years ago. Last night, with opener Paramore, the always evolving foursome from Orange County rocked the house and amped the crowd up for their return to the music scene.

Truthfully, we arrived late to Paramore's set, as we had seen them open for Jimmy Eat World last summer. But, though we only caught about 4 of their songs, they followed the same great live music formula as last summer: lots of rocking out and crowd participation. Lead singer Hayley was just as we'd remembered her: bounding around stage, head banging her red locks, and belting out their pop-py love songs.

No Doubt took the stage, and other than the band's stage attire we had spied online, we had no idea what we were getting into. Over the last 15 years of mainstream success, the band has transcended the rock genre from ska and reggae to pop and synth-rock. Comparing their albums Tragic Kingdom and Return of Saturn is nearly impossible.

Much to our happiness, the set list varied across many albums, but stuck with quite a few from Kingdom. Opening with their quintessential hit, Spiderwebs, the band immediately captured the crowd for the next couple hours. They walked the line of their own musical exploration as a band by bringing in horns for the older tunes and synth/keyboard for the more recent. Our favorite, of course, was their deconstructed update to Excuse me, Mister, which they slowed down to half time and added reggae drums and guitar. But, when we heard them weave in the sample of Sting's "E-o-oh" from Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, we knew it was love.

With the unexpected addition of fireworks from Darien's laser light show, the stage effects were bold and sensational. Futuristic costuming accented the pop-art-meets-James-Bond visuals during Ex-girlfriend. It's my life's rampaging female novella was illustrated with video of the band cruising down a late-night California strand. Old footage of the band accented Running. But, I can't recall what visuals played during Just a Girl, because we got pulled into the crowd swell of raging female fans. If ever wondering their cultural effect on the scene, the band can measure based entirely on the fact that every single female in the audience last night raised their hand Gwen-style to the lyrics "I've had it up to here."

After many tunes and a few costume changes, the band closed their amazing set out by bringing out Paramore to jam for one song, then ended with our personal favorite song of theirs, Sunday Morning. It seems that though this show was flashy and had highly produced stage visuals, the music behind it was just as genuine as it was in 1995.