Plain White T's at the House of Blues Anaheim

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Written by Melissa Garcia

Wednesday, 09 February 2011 05:21

The Plain White T’s show on Monday, looked more like a carnival than a concert.

Promoting the release of their sixth album “Wonders of the Younger,” (Released Dec. 7, 2010) they spruced up the dull House of Blues, Anaheim stage with some eclectic props that made this performance extra spectacular.

The stage was dressed with a fancy backdrop that imitated the entrance into a circus tent, with the words, “Wonders of the Younger” lit up above the archway. The boys of PWT’s also participated in the theme by dressing in old fashioned attire with suspenders, collared T’s, vests and double-breasted jackets.

It all played very well with the sound of their new album, which applied the use of accordions and other sounds unique to a carnival setting. With much of the audiences approval Tim Lopez begins the song that forces me to think of their beach themed video, “Rhythm of Love.” The set begins at a low energy both from the PWTs and the crowd, but as the show progresses, the performance explodes with dramatic energy that gets the audience moving.

Throughout the middle of the set, much of their older material is played, “Breakdown,” and “Revenge,” being a few of them off their break-out album, “All That We Needed.” This album caught national recognition with their first single “Hey Their Delilah,” once it hit MTV, and VH1’s air waves.

Tom Higgenson takes a few minutes to see how many dedicated fans were out in the crowd. One of the questions he asked was whether anyone owned their first album, and if they had seen them at Chain Reaction so many years ago, if you answered “yes” to any of these questions, the next song is dedicated to you. “Radios in Heaven,” which Higgenson admits isn’t usually in there set list, but that he wanted to bring it back for this tour, a sort of ode to those fans who’ve been there since the beginning.

The most entertaining song of the night was, “Cirque Dans La Rue.” This woke me up and had me fixated on the performance going on in front of me. The beat is punchy, the guitar riffs slid up and down the neck giving it a teeter- totter rhythm, while the vocals were spat through a bullhorn. PWTs did an amazing job at giving the audience a feel of what a circus is all about, big, flashy, and gasp-worthy performances.

As the set was ending the crowd clapped for more, and after about 5 minutes, a spot light appeared in the middle of the crowd where Higgenson stood with just his guitar and his mic. (He was surrounded by the sound booth and security but the intimate feeling still remained.) He said the next song was just a simple song for a girl, and that it was meant to be played with just him and his guitar. “Hey There Delilah” simmered the crowd down to a mellow sing-a-long, which he encouraged the crowd to do. Now, you’d think that would have been the end to a marvelous show, but it wasn’t. He returned to a pitch black stage where the band as a whole went on to play “Hate (I Really Don’t Like You),” and ended with, “Wonders Of The Younger.” The PWTs took me by surprise with their showy performance, and it was nice seeing them progress there skills in the studio and also as performers. If you missed their show, I wouldn’t be too worried about it, they will be tour all of 2011.

Yours musically,

Melissa Garcia