Gwen Stefani

[Guest rohale]

This year, Stefani knocked off Kate Moss from the U.K.'s Best Dressed List to become No 1. Now that's styling to haute-couture sleek. Enough about style, let's focus on profile which so happens to be her pop music career.

 

I really call this the icing to the cake because behind Gwen Stefani's immediate eye appeal lies a band that can handle a deceptively complex set.

 

Let's get to the meat of things. Last weekend I saw her perform on the west coast before a capacity crowd. What she did was deliver 90 minutes of well-polished, tightly choreographed, never dull, almost seamless pop dazzle to a crowd that was fairly electric. Think of it like this as Madonna-Lite, or Madonna but without the expose. Gwen Stefani was flanked by those ever present Harajuka Girls, a sort of ragamuffin-style pop dancers ( three from Japan, one from Los Angeles ). Her Harajuka girls are now more appealing than ever, and being smart she added four guys whose clowning is kept to a minimum and whose break dancing is first rate. These days it seems it cant be easy to find dancers so skilled at spinning on their heads.

 

I think it's even harder to toss together a backing band as assured at a very specific sound-synthetic and seemingly disposable yet complexly layered and kinda soulful. She definitely surrounds herself with well seasoned players. The one time Oingo Boingo guitarist who hails from the OC, Warren Fitzgerald, on drums Zachary Alford was forceful as always. Two keyboard players to keep the show's feel and flow and the very great Gail Ann Dorsey who is so cool as bassist-vocalist. Ironically Zach and Gail have helped David Bowie sound so strong in these comeback years of his.

 

This entire group of musicians re-create the songs as they were recorded and apply muscle to vastly improve the versions that radio listeners are so accustomed via the dial.

 

Strange as it may sound I felt more energy coming out of this concert. I was a little disappointed that she didn't include " Hollaback Girl " in her set. It would have been nice, however to her credit, she found a good alternative as she switched to " Bubble Pop Electric ". Beyond the flip, every song virtually remained the same. The show still opens with " Crash " and " Rich Girl ", and offcourse the decadent drowning of " Luxurious ", what's nice is watching Gwen glistening in a Marilyn Monroe dress during interludes

 

Overall it was a good show and she offers some regurgitation of some great 1980's classics in the way pros can. She ends her tour next month. Gwen has said this many times over that there will be more from her group " No Doubt ". The next question beckons could she be lured into following her smash solo success much sooner rather than later. She always talks about how her solo career has thus far been a fluke. I hope she realises that there is a demand for more, seeing as she does it so well when hardly anyone else even tries.

 

Slowly but surely, Stefani is proving to be her generation's Madonnna, an enterpreneurial pop icon who will be with us for decades to come. Will she risk more, Is Stefani up to the task of challenging herself and her audience by pushing boundaries and building character by daring? We'll find out in due time.

 

Ro

[Guest DallasObserver]

The business is marketing her to the current generation as the new Madonna. Personally I don't care for her solo stuff. She is best suited to her former band's style where she by happenstance became the lead singer. This only after the original singer, a talented, young black man, committed suicide on the verge of becoming a superstar. Had it not been for his death no one wother than the guys at the local In & Out Burger would even know who Gwen is. But as I mentioned with No Doubt she was a star, now she is a walking commercial.

 

-Dallas Observer