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Sunday, 29 January 2006 15:54

While lead singer and rhythm guitarist Eric Dill might have turned off any hipsters in the room with some of his slightly over-the-top Rick Springfield–esque crowdplay, it’s his and keyboardist/songwriter Ben Romans’ unabashed enthusiasm—along with Zehr’s rock steady backbeats—that kept the audience engaged and on their feet through the last notes of the rousing closer and new single, “Catch Your Wave.”

 

Mississippi Nights, St. Louis

 

On the opening night of the Click Five’s first headlining tour, the big question was how successfully Boston’s power-pop moptops would be able to make the transition from playing shorter hit-and-run opening sets in arenas (after spending most of 2005 touring with the likes of Ashlee Simpson and the Backstreet Boys) to stretching out for an hour or more in the same kind of low-ceilinged rock clubs in which they began two years ago. Although the crowd for this night’s St. Louis show was on the small side (in numbers and in stature), the enthusiastic kids crowding the stage more than filled the empty space in the back of the room with the kind of pure adrenaline shrieks that only a totally blissed-out 14-year-old fangirl can provide. Fortunately for those hyperventilating fans, the Click Five boys are born entertainers, intent on giving back every bit of energy you can send their way.

After a fun taped intro played over the P.A.—the sounds of a radio dial switching between snatches of songs and bursts of static, supposedly coming from a radio offstage—the band bounded onstage to an ear-shattering reception. In perfectly matching black fitted suits and ties (and blue shirts and mod black boots and black studded guitar straps and haircuts...), the Click Five looked just like every other young, freshly scrubbed pop band…in the summer of 1965. As drummer Joey Zehr laid down a familiar up-tempo beat, lead guitarist Joe Guese (celebrating a birthday, according to the pile of presents left at the merch table) and bassist Ethan Mentzer joined in for a short tribute to old-school rock excess—the intro to Kiss’ classic fist-pumper (and, in 2006, parent-pleasing) “Shout It Out Loud.”

The band started strong with the propulsive riffs and bouncy keys of “Good Day”—the lead track from their debut, Greetings From Imrie House—and the rhythmic pogo of “Pop Princess.” While the set consisted mostly of Imrie tracks (the uninitiated would be hard-pressed to tell which of these tunes were the singles; they all sound like radio hits), the band varied the pace by mixing in a couple new tracks, some fun covers, and a short “unplugged” set. The most memorable of the new stuff, “By the Way”—an anthemic mid-tempo grooving stepsister to Weezer’s much-less-fun (you bet that’s what I said) “Beverly Hills”—is as catchy as they come. In addition to playing the cover included on Imrie, a revved-up take on the Thompson Twins’ “Lies,” the set included a spirited run through the tired Tommy James & the Shondells classic “I Think We’re Alone Now” and—starting off the encore—a surprisingly solid version of ’Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry,” a song the band recently released as an exclusive iTunes single.

While lead singer and rhythm guitarist Eric Dill might have turned off any hipsters in the room with some of his slightly over-the-top Rick Springfield–esque crowdplay, it’s his and keyboardist/songwriter Ben Romans’ unabashed enthusiasm—along with Zehr’s rock steady backbeats—that kept the audience engaged and on their feet through the last notes of the rousing closer and new single, “Catch Your Wave.”

Openers from L.A. Big City Rock and Chicago’s October Fall planted the rest of the show all too firmly in the present, with the former’s weary Bravery/Killers redux and the latter’s faux bad-boy fake punk posturing. While you can expect to see more of Big City Rock’s army jacketed singer and hipster Jew-fro’d keyboardist as Atlantic Records releases their Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne)–produced debut CD in the upcoming months, you can pretty much write off October Fall, who—despite their adorable Jared Leto drummer and Adam Brody keyboardist—have the most obnoxious old-school Chris Carabba–pompador’d blowhard for a frontman. Whether to dislike this clown for his bombastic and seldom tuneful vocals or for that cigarette strategically placed behind his ear (just above the so punk! arm tats, natch), I couldn’t decide. But after hearing him repeatedly yell NOW SCREEEEEAM! to rile up the little girls in the middle of another otherwise tepid pop-rocker, I wanted to scream, if only to shut the guy up. The little girls, mind you, were eating up that shit.