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JOAN JETT still rocks harder than the rest of SunFest
from: pbpulse.com
by Andrew Abramson
There's rock -- the Top 40 type that the All-American Rejects claim as hard-hitting stuff but really amounts to hard pop. And then there's real rock 'n' roll -- the music that 53-year-old JOAN JETT still owns.
Tyson Ritter, the lead singer of All-American Rejects, tried to act the ladies' man at SunFest on Saturday. But at times he sounded creepy and sexist, trying way too hard to act cool.
Then a woman came on stage and showed Ritter how to really rock. JOAN JETT, 53, is and always will be the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll. She can still draw an overflow crowd at the Meyer Amphitheatre, ripping her guitar with the best of them. On Saturday she busted out favorites like Do You Want to Touch Me? and Cherry Bomb, from her first group, The RUNAWAYS. SunFest was lucky to have her.
But it was the All-American Rejects that drew the largest crowd of the night because pop sells. It drew the kind of guy who bumps into your friend, spills his Rum & Coke and doesn't even blink, let alone apologize. Or the guy who hits on your friend even after she made it clear that she's married.
Yet give the All-American Rejects some credit. Ritter is a colorful lead man who plays catchy songs that sound identical live and on the radio. And he paid homage to Cinco De Mayo several times, so he can't be all that bad. Clematis Street was buzzing with the combo SunFest Saturday and Cinco De Mayo, which is quickly becoming as prominent as St. Patrick's Day.
And while JOAN JETT was rocking, Third Eye Blind gave a surprisingly inspired performance. For those who think of Third Eye Blind as a forgotten '90s pop band from MTV's Total Request Live, the San Francisco rockers are quite talented with a package of songs featuring lyrics that mean something. They can also improvise and jam.
Lead singer Stephan Jenkins showed off his softer side with a pair of memorable acoustic ballads. And drummer Brad Hargreaves might have given the weekend's best drum solo during Jumper. Third Eye Blind doesn't get enough credit, but they were always misunderstood. Their biggest hit, Semi-Charmed Life, is remembered as an upbeat pop hit, but it's actually about crystal meth and sex addiction. Go figure.
Despite being the prime time band on the main stage, Third Eye Blind didn't draw nearly the crowd of All-American Rejects. That's because Girl Talk, the most unusual performers at SunFest this year, drew most of the young crowd at the south stage.
Girl Talk is one of the acts you have to see to get it. No, Girl Talk is not a Lilith Fair reunion tour. It's the brain child of mashup artist Gregg Michael Ellis, a DJ who samples Bruce Springsteen and Elton John and Outkast and everyone else on the planet, while attractive girls dance on the stage with a skeleton that was a hologram or a LED-lit projection or something along like that. Girl Talk certainly wins the award SunFest's best light show. It was eye candy at its best.
Pound for pound, Saturday was SunFest's best lineup. There wasn't a single artist who drew a Snoop Dogg like following, but there was someone for everyone. Michael Franti gave one of the best shows of the day, leaving the stage to perform right in the middle of an appreciative audience. Franti and Spearhead, long a favorite on the jam band circuit, now draw a more diverse crowd following their smash radio hit Say Hey (I Love You). Franti is perfect at turning the switch from pop to his unique blend of rock, reggae and jam. He's no JOAN JETT, but really, who is?
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