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311's happy and hot rock concert features pot-smoking anthems By
Jason Robey The smell of sweat and smoke filled the room at Orem's McKay Events Center as the music group 311 rocked the crowd through two hours of songs from the six albums released in the last decade. The band got many of its longtime concert staples out of the way quickly, opening with their biggest radio/MTV hit, Down, followed by the first single from 1993, the "happy slam-dance" song, Do You Right. 311's set included many more of their more reggae-inspired, chilled out songs than usual on Monday, such as the latest single, Amber, which is the only sound that actually sounds like the color its named after; an extended version of All Mixed Up, the song that first brought the band to the mainstream; the modern pot-smoking anthem Who's Got the Herb, the rarely played Strangers; and another song from the current CD, Champagne, which was complemented by perfectly by hot pink and purple mood lighting and bubbles flowing aimlessly from all around the stage. This doesn't mean the band didn't rock hard as well. Vocalists Nick Hexum and SA Martinez layered perfect harmonies to the tight guitar riffs of Tim Mahoney on fast rockers such as Unity, Flowing, and Hydroponic, which served as another chance for the band to promote its beliefs on marijuana, by projecting images of floating pot leafs on the backdrop. The crowd responded in kind, as dozens of lighters and small puffs of smoke from the floor seats were visible from the upper seating areas. The band also played several other songs from its latest CD release, such as the title track, From Choas, the first radio single, You Wouldn't Believe, and another fan favorite, Uncalm. One highlight of the evening was the song Applied Science, from the band's second album, Grassroots. Even on the album, the song has always included a drum solo by Chad Sexton, quite possibly one of the most talented and original percussionists on the scene today. Sometime last year, the entire band got involved with the interlude, when the members added four large floor tom drums to the stage, one for each member to beat into a tribal madness. Another peak in the band's performance came during the energetic frenzy of What Was I Thinking, one of the heaviest songs the band has ever recorded. Hexum took complete control of the vocal responsibilities as he ran from one end of the stage to the other, as if he suddenly realized he was late to be on the other end. As with any concert, there were plenty of people who were apparently unfamiliar with the concept of encores. When the band left the stage the first time, hordes of people starting running toward the exits like a pack of hungry wolves, only to turn around and run back to their seats when the music resumed with the opening guitar riffs to the popular Beautiful Disaster, from the band's fourth album, Transistor. The music flowed perfectly into one of the band's first original songs, Freak Out. The evening ended in 311's usual fashion with Feels So Good, another song from their earliest days, which features the precise slap style of talented bassist P-Nut. The live versions of 311's songs usually don't vary from the recorded versions, but the energy brought forth from the stage is comparable to small nuclear explosions in each of the member's instruments. When Hexum played guitar on certain songs, he centered himself on the stage, which was flanked by Mahoney and P-Nut jumping and bouncing around like they had bare feet on hot coals. S.A. moved between his turntables and the front of the stage when it was time for his smooth sounding vocal contributions. 311 brought two bands with them to open the show. Kyros opened with about 30 minutes of unimaginative and poorly mixed heavy metal, which fell on unimpressed ears. Cries of "You suck" could actually be heard from the very back of the arena over the crowd. Second on the bill was a fairly new band on the scene called Hoobastank, who were much more appreciated, as evidenced by the pack of sweaty bodies crowding the stand where their CD was being sold, immediately after the band's set. 311, whose members named themselves after the police code for indecent exposure in their hometown of Omaha, has been a pioneer in popular music in the past decade. Their style is too heavy to call reggae, too musical to be called rap, to precise to be called punk, and too bright and happy to be called heavy metal.
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