Brightest Young Things

Although I arrived an hour early, the only seats available were on the margins of the room. If you ever want to catch an act at the Birchmere with good seating arrangement, you'll want to get there earlier than what you consider early. Turns out that proximity meant little for enjoying opener Nicole Atkins, whose voice carried so powerfully that it was inescapable even in the bathroom in the far reaches of the building. Working with the sounds of doo-wop girl groups, singer-songwriter introspection, and rock n' roll Americana, she slotted in well as a tourmate of Fountains of Wayne.

Although she normally plays with a full band, most of the night it was just Atkins and an acoustic guitar, with the occasional supplement of a tambourine and backup vocalist. Such a stripped down arrangement seems like a hushed affair. But her voice is about as conspicuous and unsubtle as an anchor tossed onto your lap. The reaction of most people in the room was a wide-eyed one, with variations of the thought, "Girl's got pipes," running through their heads. On top of having such a strong, throaty vibrato, her arrangements were engaging in their pop sweetness. Many of her melodies sound as if they were cribbed from the likes of Roy Orbison or Loretta Lynn. And although she does owe a lot to her predecessors, her confessional song writing transforms her work into an expression that's wholly her own.

Her songs were filled with 7th and suspended guitar chords that send your ears back to tinny radios playing golden oldies, and the way she wrenched multiple notes from a single syllable sound in a series of wonderful, cascading melodies it was as if she could match the ambition and aggression of just about any golden throated rockabilly badass. Some of her highlights included "My Baby Don't Lie," "The Tower," "Maybe Tonight," and a crowd pleasing cover of Roy Orbison's classic "Crying."

Atkins left the audience enamored as Fountains of Wayne came to take the stage fifteen minutes later. A moment to reflect on their band name: It's probably one of the most uninspiring, uninteresting band names I can think of. A more appropriate name would be something formulaic similar to pop acts of the 1950s. You know -- (First and Last Name) & the (good humored plural noun). But you get the sense that "Fountains of Wayne" might be a deliberate choice to be unprovocative. Lead singer Chris Collingwood, draped in a blazer, tie, and denim getup that might've been foraged from a Good Will, noted halfway through the set that should the audience "want to hear more sissy rock, we're playing an acoustic set here tomorrow."

If self-effacement is their forte, then so is their encyclopedic knowledge of pop of the past. FoW's career began with a hard rock sound, and comparisons to Weezer's crunchy, insanely catchy sound seemed fair, but over time their edge was sanded down into a broader palette, drawing nods from The Cars, The Beatles, and The Beach Boys. Their set began with uptempo numbers "Little Red Light," "The Valley of Malls," and "Summer Place." All three tunes are standard 4 piece rock numbers with plenty of bounce and sugar injected into the arrangements and melodies. You get the sense that a hearty dose of handclaps wouldn't be out of place. Or if they really wanted to yuck it up, some sort of acapella interlude would be appropriate.

The band blitzed straight ahead into newer tunes like "Richie and Ruben" and "A Dip In The Ocean." Although the Birchmere is a seated venue, there was still plenty of energy glowing from stage. The three guitarists stepped away in unison from their mics during instrumental jams, chugged at their instruments, spun their bodies wildly, and then on cue stepped in in file back toward their mics to lacquer some sweet three part harmonies.

Before finishing out their initial set, FoW paused in the middle of a first album favorite, "Radiation Vibe," to play a medley of Peter Frampton's "Do You Feel Like I Do," "Mad World," with an arrangement skewed towards the Tears of Fears original (as opposed to Gary Jules' infamous take), and "Burning For You" by Blue Oyster Cult. For their encore, they returned to play a cheeky but hilarious arrangement of "Stacy's Mom" lead by a drifting, melodramatic piano line that would serve a youtube montage of Dawson's Creek pretty well. They closed out their set with "Sink To The Bottom," one of their hardest hitting songs and also from their first album. Their set was well mixed, and still left plenty of favorites to be played at their acoustic gig on Monday evening. One night was enough to be infused with good feelings and rock n' roll nostalgia, but Fountains of Wayne certainly made a case for the gluttony of a double dose should your appetite call for it.