Opening for No Doubt was San Diego based Unwritten Law, who came across as a cross between Blink 182 and Papa Roach. With each song varying from your usual Californian pop-punk to nu-metal, Unwritten Law provided a good opening piece of entertainment - and with main vocalist Scott Russo semi-stripping onstage, the females in the crowd (made up of mainly Gwenabees) were kept entertained. When No Doubt step on stage, the crowd cheers and singer Gwen Stefani's presence is known. Dressed in a tartan outfit complete with pants, kilt and Adidas boxing boots, we then see Gwen strut her stuff and energetically start off with the band's latest single Hella Good.
Following with tracks Sunday Morning (taken from their international hit album Tragic Kingdom) and the super-energetic Ex-Girlfriend, Gwen and the rest of the band carry themselves extremely well onstage and prove to the audience that each band member brings a significant element to the band. As well as being very good looking, bubbly and open with the audience, Gwen proves that due to her strong and finely in-tune vocals, that she is very capable of singing live, and No Doubt prove that they are worth every penny. Each No Doubt song is based on a different unique style; for example Don't Speak has a reggae background melody, where as Hey Baby has a more new wave sound.
By the time the band get to play their feminist breakout song Just A Girl, Gwen makes sure that everyone in the audience is aware of its theme, even climbing onto the top of a high speaker stack to stress the point even more. Even bassist (and ex-boyfriend) Tony Kanal tells Gwen to "Just sing the fucking song!"
No Doubt finish with an encore made up of Rock Steady and Spiderwebs, which delights the crowd and puts a nice ending to the whole evening. :: Ben Lewis |
