|
|
 |
|
 |
Thursday, July 26, 2001
Review: O-Town in Ottawa
O-Town
National Arts Centre, Ottawa
Wednesday July 25, 2001
3 out of 5
By IAN NATHANSON -- Ottawa Sun
I can see it in my mind now -- an outtake of a never-before-seen Making The Band: Episode 14.
In it, the five members of O-Town are in midway through "cover tunes" portion of their concert at the National Arts Centre in Canada's 'O-Town' when suddenly guitar-toting Jacob Underwood and Ashley Angel look at each other:
"Hey, y'all," blond heartthrob Ashley calls out to his screaming faithful public. "You want to know something? The songs that we're doing here are by Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Garth Brooks, Outkast and Prince. Go out and buy their records. We're here to teach you that these are real songs, that come from real hearts. Are you guys cool with that?"
Loud pre-teen girls scream. Fainting spells occur in droves. Let the credits roll. How's that for reality TV?
A third of the way through O-Town's in-reality and all-sold-out NAC appearance last night, that moment of clarity surfaced.
It began when Dan Miller took a solo spotlight and belted out Wonder's Superstition and Living For The City, the latter lending some credibility to this Florida-based posse of young hunks. Next, out popped dreadlocked Jacob for a techno-meets-Tina Turner stab at The Beatles' Come Together.
Trevor Penick then trotted down new country trails with Brooks' Friends In Low Places, which earned parental points for the few that mouthed along. (I emphasize few, since most were patiently waiting in the lobby before the screechfest ended.) He also scored points for his rendering of Outkast's hip-hop poppin' Ms. Jackson that got the pre-teen gals waving, shaking glow sticks and having the ride of their lives.
Definitely the fan favourite from all the ... sorry, I can't hear you! Tinnitus in left ear! What was that? Trees? Breeze? Oh, screams ... Ashley brought out his guitar to warble the Goo Goo Dolls' Name. Fine vocal attempt, though at times guitar strums seem to elude him.
And if anyone deserved to cover Prince's Purple Rain to a spiritual T, then that honour went to Erik-Michael Estrada. (Memo to parents: He's not related to the Erik Estrada from the '70s cop show CHiPs, in case you were wondering.)
That's the good news.
From the moment O-Town appeared from underneath five white-cloth-covered silos positioned high above their sextet of 'real' musicians, a standing-room-only sea of 2,300 larynx-tearing wailers and sign-wavers greeted the five as they strutted, strayed and stepped through the likes of All For Love, new song We Fit Together (from the soundtrack to Dr. Dolittle 2), a medley of The Painter/Shy Girl (sung to a blushing curly-haired cutie the guys brought on-stage) through to encore Liquid Dreams.
Like their elder boy-band counterparts The Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, the O-Town line was a well-oiled choreography machine: Rehearsed to perfection, yet somehow devoid of deep, personal meaning.
Don't tell that to the young 'uns though. Like a Star Wars convention, young screamers will use the force when armed with one of those blue, green, purple or red glow sticks.
For their part, all opening acts Wave and 13-year-old newcomer Kaci really had to do was chant out, "Are you ready for O-Town?" to get everyone primed and pumped.
What happened after that was the making of a band ... of screaming teens. There's an idea for an Episode 15: O-Town changes name to Screaming Teens, shed their Pinnochio pop skins and become real movers and shakers in the rock world.
Any takers?
|
|
|
|
