Concert Review: No Doubt

No Doubt @ Blossom Music Center

I've been a fan of this band for a while and always wanted to see them live. Then they took a time-out and Gwen did a solo career. I was so happy when I heard that they were getting back together for a summer tour, and knew I had to go.I invited my friend Angie, who's also a big fan of theirs, and of music in general. Strangely enough, we'd never been to a concert together--many trials and errors, but tonight work out.

Angie picked me up a little after four, and we headed out. Blossom is in Cuyahoga Falls which is about 45 minutes from Parma. It took us a little longer due to difficulties with directions. After going back and forth on country roads, we stopped at a gas station and the woman there was a big help. We finally arrived closed to six. I got us lawn tickets because they were only $10. Deal. Blossom is set up with the stage and pavillion seats under a huge covering and then lots of lawn space. We waitied around a little bit before they let us in at 6:30. Swarms of people flocked to their seats and stretched across the lawn. We made a spot for ourselves around the middle. We sat and caught up on each others lives. We went to high school together and we agree that there are two types of people; high school and college people. These people make long lasting friendships in either/or. We have a very close group of friends from high school whom I love seeing whenever I can. College...not so much. My friends from college are people I go to shows with who don't attend my University. Ha.

At 7:30 on the dot, the first opener, Bedouin Soundclash, came on. They were pretty good. I'd describe them as Jamacian music meets rock. But after a while, all the songs started to all sound the same.

At 8:15 Paramore came out to a very excited crowd. I'd say about half the crowd (of 22,000 people) were hardcore Paramore fans. They were good. I know a couple of their songs from the radio, but that's really it. Their female lead singer had great stage presence and was very thankful we were all there.The clouds were rolling in all night, but luckily we only experience minor drizzles.

No Doubt came on around 9:30 to a roaring crowd of 22,000 music lovers. I'm forgetting some songs but they played:

Spiderwebs

Hella Good

Excuse Me, Mister

A Simple Kind of Life

Ex-Girlfriend

New

Bath Water

Underneath It All

Hey Baby

It's My Life

Running

Just A Girl

Sunday Morning

Don't Speak

and three or four songs I'm forgetting.

They were amazing. The stage was all white with a front drop at the beginning. They each came out one by one so their shadows showed up eventually together and then was pulled down. The back screens played images and music videos they had created for the tour. Lots of color. Gwen has amazing stage presence---actually they all do. At one point she was talking to the audience and saw a sign a guy had that he wasn't leaving without a picture with her, so she told him to get on stage and they took a picture. We had fun in the back, and they were very good about acknowledging us. It was really incredible to see that many people in one place.They played for a good two hours. We made our way through the sea of people and back over to our car. After a very frightening ride home of wrong turns and near death side collision, we made it back home safe and sound. Thank God.