Barenaked Ladies played in Boston Monday night to a sold-out Fleet Center crowd of 15,000. The Boston show and their Portland, ME, show on Tuesday night were the fourth and fifth stops on the 36-venue tour concordant with the summer release of BNL's fourth full album, "Stunt."
The show started out with a UK-based opening band which unfortunately played a set too mellow and surreal to appeal to the varied crowd. The audience included a few from the younger set, already sporting their concert paraphernalia, and the usual Barenaked Ladies fan-yuppie hybrid.
The crowd became immediately energized when the characteristically animated Barenaked Ladies opened with "It's All Been Done," from "Stunt," and for most of the show the predominantly college-aged audience didn't stop singing along. The two-hour concert showcased an even mix of old and new songs, including "Straw Hat and Dirty Old Hank," "Jane" and "Hello City."
BNL was entertaining, surprising and even endearingly self-deprecating by gleefully admitting that several of their radio hits are overplayed. In addition to dancing and jumping through most of the songs, Steven Page, guitarist and lead singer, mooned the audience midway through the show, exciting post-show rumors of arrest for indecent exposure.
Halfway through the concert, the crowd, mostly sitting through several slow songs from "Stunt," enthusiastically rose together at the well-known start of "One Week." Ed Robertson, on guitar and vocals, jocularly quipped at the conclusion of the song, "I heard a lot of people singing along... I can't even get those words out and I wrote it. Shame on you for learning those ridiculous words!" The audience's retort was a thunderous cheer.
If they enjoyed the material from "Stunt", the audience was overjoyed at the chance to hear BNL's "classics" live, especially an extended and highly entertaining version of "If I Had $1,000,000," which included lapses into Ace of Base lyrics, mocking of Celine Dion and an improvised dialogue about the triumph of Kenny Rogers Roasters over Boston Market. The predictable but very pleasing encore performance comprised of "Life, In a Nutshell" and "Brian Wilson."
Barenaked Ladies, who at their finale called Boston "our second home," certainly did not disappoint it. The Canadian quintet will be appearing on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" this Thursday, Oct. 8, and playing Sunday at a free public show at Boston's City Hall Plaza, starting at 2 p.m. The Sunday concert includes BNL, Edwin McCain and Sister Hazel.
