The Barenaked Ladies, a band synonymous with dynamic stage presence and captivating melodies, graced the stage at Pine Knob. Known for their quirky lyrics, the band brings the audience together with a communal sense of joy.
The band was preceded by two openers, Del Amitri and Five For Fighting. Both bands did a great job at hyping the crowd, bringing back the 90s and early 00s. While both bands are known for their bigger hits, “Roll to me” from Del Amitri and “Superman” from Five For Fighting, that definitely did not take away from the experience. Five For Fighting finished the opening set lists with a very faithful version of “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
Moving on to the main act, I went into this concert only knowing the main hits from the Barenaked Ladies: “One Week” (my personal karaoke favorite), “If I Had $1000000”, “The Old Apartment”, and “Big Bang Theory Theme”. If I just described your knowledge of the band as well, then I highly recommend you check out more songs by this band. This concert exposed me to quite a few gems from their discography. Here’s what stood out to me.
“Odds Are” is a feel good song that encourages you to forget all of your worries. It compares how the extreme ways to die, such as getting struck by lightning or bit by a shark, are far less common than falling in love. I thought you just said this was a feel good song, and now you're talking about death. While the song does have a little bit of a grim subject, it encourages optimism with lines like, “tell the bookie, ‘put a bet up’, not a damn thing will go wrong,” and the chorus, “odds are that we will probably be alright”. Personally, I think the chorus of the song could’ve been the tagline of 2020.
“Big Back Yard” embraces an acoustic feel, while spreading a message of what a typical American Dream lifestyle looks like. I also interpreted the message of the song to mean that the band wishes they were able to stay home more often with their families, rather than touring; especially with the line, “all I really want is a home”.
There were no surprises when the band introduced their #1 hit “One Week”. This classic, with its quirky lyrics, had the crowd singing, and laughing at their own missteps with the lightning-fast verses. Throwing the lyrics up on the big screen helped get the crowd together, but that song takes serious practice to nail.
Finally, the show closes with a few different covers, including Rock of Ages, As It Was, and Jet Airliner.
Overall, the Barenaked Ladies have stayed true to their positive style. This includes how they perform, and their most recent music that they have released. Their latest album “In Flight” is set to release on September 15th! One of the singles for this album, “Lovin’ Life”, has already managed to be an ear worm for me.
To listen to the whole set list, check out the Spotify playlist below!
Special thank you to Girlie Action and 313 Presents for providing review tickets and photo passes to this event. WXOU was not influenced in the writing of this article. Questions can be sent to generalmanager@wxou.org.
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