Long before arriving at Irvine’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Saturday evening for 311‘s summer Unity Tour 2010, I’d framed up a summary of my impending review: the members of 311, though always compelling performers, proved once again that they’d reached a plateau long ago, producing a performance that has become painstakingly static over the past decade.
The notion came from my experiences catching the Omaha, Neb.-bred band on all but one (2006) summer Unity Tour since the inception of the annual event. The gigs always upheld good vibes, but went from increasingly repetitive to robotic as the band pulled more material from more recently released, generally humdrum albums (2003′s Evolver and the 2005 followup Don’t Tread on Me), all the while incorporating the same predictable stage antics during every set.
High expectations for Saturday night’s show were further stayed by a brief listening session with 311′s latest studio effort, Uplifter, which is hokey to the point of absurdity. That said, 311 delivered a show Saturday evening in Irvine that proved not only the potential of their new material in a live, large-scale setting, but also that 20 years into its career, 311 is finally within reach of arena-rock status.
While 311 has always emphasized the element of spectacle at its shows (one can surely expect a full-band, drumline-style percussion break during “Applied Science” and a slap-bass frenzy from P-Nut at the onset of “What Was I Thinking?”), Saturday’s concert included a few new features that favored impressive production over music.
Abundant smoke clouds and a grand display of lights continually shrouded guitarist Tim Mahoney, bassist P-Nut, ever-flamboyant MC S.A. Martinez and drummer Chad Sexton, while vocalist/guitarist Nick Hexum took on the role of frontman, addressing his audience from a front-and-center raised platform (much like Slipknot‘s Corey Taylor) for most of the show.
The loudest cheers went up for ’90s hits such as “Come Original” and the heavy-hitter “Beautiful Disaster,” but a resounding chorus of fans’ voices during new rap-rock-focused tracks — particularly “India Ink” and “Jackpot” — suggested that 311 has successfully tailored its sound for large venues packed with loyal fans.
Speaking of loyalty, a remarkably immense crowd turned out early in the evening for a hometown show from longtime punk outfit the Offspring.
The band treated its amped-up audience to more recent radio fare such as “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” and the aptly named “New Song” — which sounds eerily similar to the Foo Fighter’s “Times Like These” — but it was older tunes like “Bad Habit” and the set-closer “Self Esteem” that, even 16 years after their release, managed to captivate and invigorate, making for a boisterous opening set that might have served as an equally formidable headliner for O.C. fans.
Second opener Pepper — almost always involved in Unity Tours — failed to impress once again, emphasizing goofy lifeguard costumes and adolescent humor rather than genuine showmanship.
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