No Doubt @ ACC – Photos! | MuchMusic.com

No Doubt @ ACC – Photos!

June 17th, 2009

no-doubt-1-by-wendy-heisler

Um, my teenage dreams just came true – I finally saw No Doubt in concert last night. The last three times the band played Toronto, there was always something rock-blocking my chances to see them .. but now I can check something off my bucket list. AND I got to shoot them in the photo pit. *SWOON*

Before Gwen, Tony, Tom and Adrian took the stage to thunderous cheers, Bedouin Soundclash played a short, fun set and then Paramore played about a 50-minute show for their fair share of fans in the audience. I admit that I don’t know much of their stuff, but I was maybe a bit too happy to hear my Rock Band jam “Misery Business”. Hayley was a sparkplug with her blazing hair, yellow jeans and black adidas, warming the crowd up for the *~amazingness~* that was to come.

Read more – and see photos after the jump!

After a quick break, a giant white curtain appeared onstage and the lights went low, revealing four very familiar shadows and a crowd of enthusiastic banshees. Loud!! The curtain dropped and there they were – looking sexy as ever, all in white with a huge screen at their backs, launching into “Spiderwebs”.

Then it was jam after jam for the 100-minute set, covering all their most-loved songs and even a request from the audience (he wrote a cue card with the lyrics for “Let’s Get Back” from their No Doubt album; she brought him onstage while she sang a verse). The gargantuan video screen played awesome original material directed by Sophie Muller that was unique for each song. As gorgeous as the footage was, it was hard not to take your eyes off the band, who STILL GOT IT. Tony and Tom are still as energetic as ever, and somehow even dreamier. Adrian has not lost his crazy – he marched around with a snare drum and a tutu during their cover of “Stand And Deliver”, even taking it to the audience. And then there’s Gwen, who won my heart all over again. No matter how fancy and glossy she became during the Stefani era, that woman can still kick it hard core – pulling out push ups before “Just A Girl”, traipsing across the entire stage non-stop, jumping, lunging, skanking, posing. Man, she’s 39-years old and she’s seriously hotter than any young tart out there. And she sounds fantastic. The whole band did, including bopping back-up singers/horn section/keyboards Stephen and Gabrial.

It was so exciting to see this crew back together again, looking fab and sounding fierce. The Air Canada Centre was PIZZACKED with dancing fans who were on their feet the whole time and taking over vocal duty on “Don’t Speak”, “It’s My Life” and “Just A Girl”. I may or may not have gone a little insane during “Ex-Girlfriend” and the song I was waiting for all night (and their last of the evening), “Sunday Morning”. Soooo good. Life = complete.

Setlist:
Spiderwebs
Hella Good
Underneath It All
Excuse Me Mister
Ex-Girlfriend
End It On This
Let’s Get Back
Simple Kind of Life
Bathwater
New
Hey Baby
Running
Different People
Don’t Speak
It’s My Life
Just A Girl