@ THE VERIZON WIRELESS AMPHITHEATRE

Review by Caren Spitler

A bit of sugar, heavy on the spice, and all the things the galaxy is made of put Gwen Stefani here to rock your world! Cosmic energy and stellar marvels took center stage as Orange County's own No Doubt returned to the stage at Irvine Meadows (now Verizon Wireless Ampetheratre). The final destination on the tour to support Return to Saturn found the members of No Doubt shining brighter than any consolation in the heavens. Gwen's not "Just a Girl" she's a streak of pink lightning onstage. I don't mean to equate her to the Power Puff Girls, but the woman is something super to behold!

The band came out to show of their stuff. First, the master of the bass, Tony Kanal, arrived on the stage and struck a few impressive poses. He was followed by the second half of the band's rhythm section, drummer Adrian Young. Drummer boy was sporting the totally chic "chick magnet" uniform from Hot Dog on a Stick and heavily-drawn black clown lipstick; proving he is marching to his own beat. Guitarist Tom Dumont filed in and took his place, followed by the dream babe in pink herself, Gwen. C'mon, you know you love her, and those who do either want to have her, want to be her, or both.

Judged at face value, No Doubt appears to be more about looks than music. Some of you might think they wouldn't come off well in a live show, but you'd be wrong. Dead wrong. Never mind that No Doubt had had over ten years to hone and refine their talents, a lot has transpired over time to bring us the pro's we find today. Whatever they've been doing all this time has paid off, they know how to work a stage, and command an audience. They don't let up, and never cool down. The gen-Xer's second wave ska band works it hard and fast.

They hit the stage running 150 MPH, high energy all the way, getting right down to business with "Ex-Girlfriend." The pace didn't let up as the show went on, either. Man, you can get tired just watchig the stage, and Gwen is just a girl on fire! During "Happy Now" and "Just a Girl" Stefani pulled off feats of acrobatic wonder while managing never to drop a note. At times her energy alone was so astounding you'd believe she could fly! Even during the slow songs you could feel the intense nuclear power that radiates off the stage. Later in the set, Gwen started off "Magic's in the Makeup" by saying "now we're gonna slow things down a little." Yeah, right. Well, they did take it down in tempo a bit, but not in performance.

It's funny, 'cause when you see a band like No Doubt, you realize just how many radio hits they've had. As they played song after song, you could recall them playing in heavy rotation on your local station, and MTV. It was one of those shows where you'd recognize most of the songs even if you didn't know the band well. No Doubt pulled out all the chart-topping hits like "Don't Speak," "Spiderwebs," "New" and "Excuse me Mr." Giving the audience what they came for, and then some. They also played a heavy dose of songs from the new album. They managed to mix the set well, so the crowd knew the majority of the songs. During the final song, No Doubt invited the two opening bands to jam with them. Seems that's become sort of an end of tour tradition (many tours either start or end here in the LA area).

I don't think a single person in that large sold-out arena would tell you they had anything but a good time. The band performed well, sounded dead-on, tighter than ever. They played as a unit and well-oiled machine. Although the pure feminine perfection that is Gwen was at the helm of the starship, she never upstaged the sounds coming from the rest of the band, but rather complimented them musically at every turn. Ok, I admit phyisically she owns the stage, but musically they simply complete each other.