Sugar Ray

Sugar Ray The Current | March 15, 1999

McGrath, Sugar Ray pose, put on sorry performance

Sugar Ray/Everlast
The American Theater
March 7

The American Theater was chaos waiting to happen Mar. 7, the evening of Sugar Ray, Everlast, and 2 Skinnee J'sÑor at least it should have been. Outside were vans from three competing radio stations, but luckily only one was broadcasting their music, mostly stuff heavier than what would be found inside. To help control the possible madness, security guards frisked all the 15 year-old girls to make sure they weren't carrying too much lipstick, or some other devious item. Police officers sat twiddling their thumbs at the predominantly pre-pubescent crowd, and chaos was deterred for the show.

2 Skinnee J's took the stage first, and their blend of rock, ska, and dorky Brooklyn rap won the crowd over. 2 Skinnee J's, named after their slightly built frontmen, J Guevera and Special J, hosted what was easily the most energetic and most impressive set of the night. Their goofy lyrics mixed with an amazingly energetic and mobile band was more a sight to see than nearly any DJ, and the sound concocted was nothing other than original.

Everlast, the musician responsible for the portion of the crowd old enough to drive, appeared next, along with a band consisting of a keyboardist, guitarist, DJ, stand up bassist, and drummer. Everlast's recent heart attack had apparently taken its toll on him, as his set contained very little of the energy he was known for in his days of House of Pain. The folk/rap show sounded nice, but was nothing to get the crowd up and moving, which seemed to upset Everlast a bit. He and his band, the White Folx, trudged on through the rest of their set and made way for the headliner, Sugar Ray.

When Sugar Ray pranced onstage, no one noticed a thing but the lead singer, Mark McGrath. This is obviously where the show could have turned into chaos, but instead it was nothing more than the previously mentioned 15 year-old girls screaming at the top of their lungs while McGrath posed onstage.

There were two highlights of the Sugar Ray show, and neither involved Sugar Ray playing a thing. The first was a freestyle competition Sugar held between two members of the audience, one frightened high school kid, and one fearless Beatle Bob. Beatle Bob stole the show from Sugar Ray in less than a minute, and all he got for it was a T-shirt. The other highlight was when Mark McGrath lamented the loss of a fellow musician, Lynn Strait of Snot, who died in a car crash last December.

All in all, Sugar Ray showed their true colors as the metal band that couldn't, so the band shamelessly played the pop music they used to mock. Mark McGrath's onstage bravado wore thin after the first song, and I kept hoping that the clocks reading 14:59 (the name of their new album) on top of the speakers would change to 15:00, and their 15 minutes of fame would be over.

--Cory Blackwood