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Kick Out the Jams

Spin Doctors, Gin

Blossoms at the

Stratosphere, May 10

Here's something you don't see very often: an affluent, elderly couple--the man wearing a golf shirt and topsiders; the woman, a bonnet and a flower-print blouse--high as hippies on a reefer farm. But so were the sights at Saturday's Spin Doctors/Gin Blossoms double bill, an early '90s pop music flashback peopled by everyone from whacked-out grannies to sun-dressed pseudo-hippies to frat boys turned polo-sporting executives. Actually, the only thing stranger than the crowd might have been the pairing of bands--an ostensibly random union of jaunty grooves (Spin Doctors) and mainstreamy alterna-pop (Gin Blossoms). In fact, the only thing connecting the two groups might be the fact that each was last popular during Bill Clinton's first term (a distinction shared by such sonic burnouts as Soul Asylum and Toad the Wet Sprocket).

Take the Spin Doctors, for example. Once the toast of college radio and cover fodder for Rolling Stone, the Spin Doctors have evolved into a sort of jam-band lite for the thirtysomething set--a reality that has not escaped bud-burning lead singer Chris Barron. "We'd like you to think of this song as music," said Barron as the band plunged into "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong"--the single that catapulted the band's debut studio album Pocket Full of Kryptonite to multiplatinum accolades nearly a decade ago. But besides a certain flair for the ironic, the bellbottoms-clad Barron appeared unfazed by the Spin Doctors' change in fortune. Truth be told, he seemed genuinely pleased to be hamming it up in front of the 1,000-odd spectators who smacked down 30 bones to see him high-kicking and heel-clicking like a blond Abe Lincoln jacked up on a fistful of Ritalin. And despite the disgruntled groans periodically lobbed by a smattering of naysayers (myself included), Barron's energy and the band's bubble-gum funk proved oddly contagious, boosting everyone onto their feet for the Doctors' fond farewell, "Two Princes."

Unfortunately, it marked the highlight of the evening. Regardless of lead singer Robin Wilson's entreaties ("There's a rock concert happening right now if y'all want to join us"), the Gin Blossoms were unable to glom on to the good-time geekiness of Barron and company. And while the crowd remained standing, many seemed confused about exactly how to dance to the wishy-washy drone of "Mrs. Rita," "Follow You Down" and "Hey Jealousy." Even the stoned oldies decided to wobble off for the exits before the end of the Blossoms' set, a tribute perhaps more fitting than any to the band's wilting capacity for inspiring any enthusiasm--even on the second-rate summer music circuit.--Newt Briggs