Stereophonics rock the Fort (from Today dated 30-Apr-2008)

Stereophonics rock the Fort
But lack of audience engagement takes some fun out of show
The Stereophonics (picture) were on fire, not just because of their scorching rock tunes. The three-piece band burst onstage with the rabble-rousing Bank Holiday Monday — clad in leather on a humid Monday evening.

"Who dressed these guys? Don't they know they're in Singapore?" someone in the audience asked.

Local band The Great Spy Experiment — fresh from its much-talked-about gig at The Esplanade on Friday — turned on the heat with their opening set, playing songs such as Class A Love Affair, Dance With Me and Siti In The City, from its debut album, Flower Show Riots.

After a blistering half-hour set, the 5,000-strong crowd were ready for the Stereophonics, who took to the Fort Canning Park stage at about 9pm.

The anticipation was palpable. After all, the band scored five No 1 albums in the United Kingdom and there was going to be no shortage of hits.

Frontman and guitarist Kelly Jones, bassist Richard Jones and drummer Javier Weyler unleashed song after song of their trademark alternative rock. Most of the set consisted of hits from Word Gets Around, 1999's Performance and Cocktails, 2005's Language, Sex, Violence. Other? and last year's Pull The Pin.

Fort Canning green was a forest of arms punching the air for most of the 100-minute show as Jones' tortured vocals sang of all kinds of troubles. They made having problems sound like fun. Except, at times, the fun began to seep away and it didn't help that the band hardly engaged the audience.

"Cheers, Singapore" said Jones after a solid hour of non-stop rocking. The crowd roared in excitement, but nothing more was forthcoming.

There was also a glaring omission in the set — there were no songs from arguably one of the band's most successful albums — You Gotta Go There To Come Back.

Perhaps, the band was saving the best for last? We were partly right as the Stereophonics returned for what was one of the shortest encores here in recent memory.

Jones, alone on guitar, performed a stripped-down version of Maybe Tomorrow from the missing album before the rest of the band joined him for the monster hit Dakota from Language, Sex, Violence. Other?

"Take a look at me now," wailed Jones in the closing part of Dakota. We did, and it could have looked a little better.