KISS 108 Concert
Comcast Center, Sunday
In a lineup that played out like an afternoon spent listening to the radio – and with almost as many commercials – a briskly paced procession of pop acts made their musical speed dating pitches to a packed crowd of screaming teenage girls. For those with short attention spans and promiscuous appetites for star-gazing, not to mention an indefatigable ability to “get their hands in the air,” it was pop bliss.
The real star of the day however turned out to be the suddenly ubiquitous auto-tuner, an electronic vocal effect that lends singers a robotic tone. Here it was in the new wave sampling hip hop thump of Flo Rida's “Right Round,” and there on Soulja Boy's “Kiss Me Thru the Phone,” an ode to romance via technology which might well have served as the day's theme.
In the roles of the human resistance against the robotic apocalypse were acoustic balladeer Matt Nathanson and emo-pop rockers All American Rejects. Nathanson's heavy-hearted, tuneful “Come On Get Higher” was an intimately warm singalong with a few thousand friends.
Although judging success by participatory singalong standards is moot since almost every act, like the Rejects, enjoyed complete audience participation. Frontman Tyson Ritter seemed to relish his otherwise unlikely promotion to rocker in residence. “We're not the Jonas Brothers. We sing our own songs and play our own instruments,” he said. He could have been talking about most others on the bill. Normally affable on records like the (auto-tuned) “Stand By Me”-sampling hit “Beautiful Girls,” Sean Kingston did little more than bark over his backing tracks. Likewise the new comers LMFAO misfired with an electro hip hop set of little substance. The stylistically comparable 3OH!3 on the other hand had the crowd jumping and squealing for joy with their jokey hip hop riffs and soaring chorus hooks.
Also availing themselves well were r&b songstress Ciara, who put her considerable talents, both vocal and otherwise, on display with a sultry performance perhaps a touch heavy on floor humping. Akon exuded an effortless charisma with his reggae-tinged (auto-tuned) club bangers and lover man come-ons while actress Ashley Tisdale surprised with a crack rock band and memorable tunes. Yes, you read that correctly.
But the day belonged to the Black Eyed Peas, who blasted through one vigorously paced smash hit after another. At the end of a long concert their deliriously catchy “Boom Boom Pow” had auto-tuned itself into our brains. Resistance, as they say, is futile.
Comcast Center, Sunday
In a lineup that played out like an afternoon spent listening to the radio – and with almost as many commercials – a briskly paced procession of pop acts made their musical speed dating pitches to a packed crowd of screaming teenage girls. For those with short attention spans and promiscuous appetites for star-gazing, not to mention an indefatigable ability to “get their hands in the air,” it was pop bliss.
The real star of the day however turned out to be the suddenly ubiquitous auto-tuner, an electronic vocal effect that lends singers a robotic tone. Here it was in the new wave sampling hip hop thump of Flo Rida's “Right Round,” and there on Soulja Boy's “Kiss Me Thru the Phone,” an ode to romance via technology which might well have served as the day's theme.
In the roles of the human resistance against the robotic apocalypse were acoustic balladeer Matt Nathanson and emo-pop rockers All American Rejects. Nathanson's heavy-hearted, tuneful “Come On Get Higher” was an intimately warm singalong with a few thousand friends.
Although judging success by participatory singalong standards is moot since almost every act, like the Rejects, enjoyed complete audience participation. Frontman Tyson Ritter seemed to relish his otherwise unlikely promotion to rocker in residence. “We're not the Jonas Brothers. We sing our own songs and play our own instruments,” he said. He could have been talking about most others on the bill. Normally affable on records like the (auto-tuned) “Stand By Me”-sampling hit “Beautiful Girls,” Sean Kingston did little more than bark over his backing tracks. Likewise the new comers LMFAO misfired with an electro hip hop set of little substance. The stylistically comparable 3OH!3 on the other hand had the crowd jumping and squealing for joy with their jokey hip hop riffs and soaring chorus hooks.
Also availing themselves well were r&b songstress Ciara, who put her considerable talents, both vocal and otherwise, on display with a sultry performance perhaps a touch heavy on floor humping. Akon exuded an effortless charisma with his reggae-tinged (auto-tuned) club bangers and lover man come-ons while actress Ashley Tisdale surprised with a crack rock band and memorable tunes. Yes, you read that correctly.
But the day belonged to the Black Eyed Peas, who blasted through one vigorously paced smash hit after another. At the end of a long concert their deliriously catchy “Boom Boom Pow” had auto-tuned itself into our brains. Resistance, as they say, is futile.
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