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FOUTAINS OF WAYNE
Open chords in the open air
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A free outdoor concert is not the optimal place to see one of your favorite rock bands. Invariably, there are distractions: little kids, beach balls, chatty passers-by. Last Thursday’s concert in Copley Square Park — part of a weekly summer series put on by 92.1 WBOS FM — was no exception; we were even lucky enough to have bubble machines on either side of the stage to "entertain" us throughout the entire show. But when power-pop darlings Fountains of Wayne launched into their second song, "It Must Be Summer," with the setting-sun-bathed Trinity Church as a backdrop, the scene seemed nonetheless idyllic. The four-piece Fountains, led by song-writing juggernauts Chris Collingwood (vocals, guitar) and Adam Schlesinger (bass) and for this show supplemented by a keyboardist, were flawless, if a little uninspired. Although they played their songs in virtually note-for-note replications of the recorded versions, the band appeared comfortable and relaxed in the laid-back atmosphere — at one point, Collingwood playfully head-butted a beach ball that had come his way. They drew almost equally from their 1996 Fountains of Wayne debut and its brilliant follow-up, 1999’s Utopia Parkway (both on Atlantic), but it was the tunes from last summer’s Welcome Interstate Managers (S-Curve/Virgin) that elicited the most enthusiastic reaction from the few-thousand-strong crowd. "Radiation Vibe," the band’s first minor hit in 1996 and the penultimate song of the set proper (they encored with "Bought for a Song" and "Leave the Biker"), featured a tongue-in-cheek medley of classic rock snippets, the loosest moment of the hour-long show. On the strength and popularity of "Stacy’s Mom," a catchy ode to maternal ogling, Welcome Interstate Managers earned the band a Grammy nomination (for Best Pop Group and, yes, for Best New Artist). At a time when bands seem to be drawing on particular moments from rock’s past, Fountains of Wayne can boast the timeless pop songwriting of Collingwood and Schlesinger. "Mexican Wine," which got most of the crowd either bobbing or singing along, sounded as if it could’ve been written at any time within the last 40 years. For an outdoor concert, the sound was terrific — the low-end was deep and clear, the guitars were loud, and the harmony-laden vocals were balanced just right. All those open chords sounded perfectly at home in the open air.
BY WILL SPITZ
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