Sunday night at the Schottenstein Center, the Barenaked Ladies proved we highly underrate those who make us laugh. Much like comedic actors who never get an academy award nomination, no matter how deserved, the Barenaked Ladies’ talent has been underestimated for a decade.
Insanely talented and witty, the Barenaked Ladies concert was a highlight of the 2006 concert season. Their amazing vocals, droll (and sometimes perverse) between-song banter, crazy stage antics, and instrumental prowess make for an unbelievable live act.
The opener, Mike Doughty Band, was an esoteric mix of Beck and Dave Matthews. Although they might seem more at home in a local pub, the four piece jam band was enjoyable nonetheless. The bright spot of the set was a cover montage of “Paradise City,” “The Gambler” and “The Star Spangled Banner.”
The Ladies opened with new tune “Wind it Up,” a tongue-in-cheek look at marital relationships. After an amusing drum and verbal interlude they drove into “Old Apartment,” a BNL classic. Typical of the Ladies, front men Ed Roberts and Steve Page introduced the band with an impromptu rap. The band slowed down with the Billy Joel-esque “Sound of your Voice,” a jewel off the new album “Are Me.”
The BNL classic “Be My Yoko Ono” lightened the mood. The Band kept things light but got surprisingly sweet and sentimental with “Jane.” Keeping the joy going was “That’s What You Get,” a tune defined by the chorus “When you confuse your stomach with your heart.” They kept the music coming with a lot of stage antics and a ripping parody of “Roberta Crack’s ‘Rubbing me Softly.'”
The band waxed sentimental about previous Columbus concerts and Ed Robertson mentioned – with giddy abandon – that the OSU Buckeye logo is very reminiscent of a cannabis-leaf. Then they finished up the time travel portion of the show (playing a song off each their albums) with “When I was Young.”
“Feliz Halloween,” a holiday original by drummer Tyler Stewart, was followed by boy band send-up “Angry People”-complete with in-sync dancing and roses tossed onstage by BNL cameramen. “Pinch Me” was a fantastic live rendition with alternative concert lyrics.
After a few more tunes they closed out with a light show, which accompanied “One Week,” but the audience wasn’t satisfied. The Ladies didn’t make the fans wait long, they quickly returned for an encore of “Easy” and “Falling for the 1st Time,” saying “We got the cell phones and shit! Take that 1912!” The audience still wasn’t satisfied and the Ladies returned yet again with “If I Had a Million Dollars” with a request for the audience to sing Ed’s part. “If you won’t do it for Barenaked Ladies, do it for OSU’s Bill Crooks!”
The Barenaked Ladies are a rare find in pop-music today. Truly talented, self-depreciating, and a joy to watch and listen to live, they are the “real thing.”
