Review: Third Eye Blind, Dashboard good for sing-alongs
The thousands of faithful fans who turned out Monday at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre quickly learned that Third Eye Blind didn’t die with the ‘90s.
The nearly 2-hour set featured the flannel decade’s well-worn hits like “How’s it Going to Be” and “Jumper” but also dug into lesser-known songs from the band’s new album “Dopamine” and the rest of a five-disc catalog that didn’t get as much radio airplay.
And the devoted seemed to know every word, turning the outdoor theater into a sing-along, preventing the evening from relying only on nostalgia.
“This is the last night of the tour. We made it, and I’m so grateful to all of you for coming back,” said singer Stephan Jenkins to fans, who waded through a flooded walkway the week prior to get to a show that was ultimately postponed due to rain. “My heart is full of so much joy. We came here to get down ... We’re throwing out the setlist and playing until they kick us out.”
As fans waved their arms up and down with the music, the white wristbands they were given before the set glowed in a rainbow of colors.
Dressed in a kilt, the 50-year-old San Franciscan somersaulted and jumped on the stage throughout the set, showcasing an energy that hasn’t abated since the band’s 1993 formation.
Third Eye Blind shared the bill with Dashboard Confessional, an acoustic rock act that dates back to 2000.
Dashboard’s vocalist and guitarist Chris Carrabba showed a surprising energy, especially considering the slow pace of the Florida band’s songs.
Clad in a flannel shirt and strapped with an electric guitar for most of the set, Carrabba performed tuned-up renditions of “The Swiss Army Romance” and “The Sharp Hint of New Tears,” both of which are on 2002’s platinum-selling “MTV Unplugged 2.0.”
The band returned from a five-year hiatus with this tour, and Carrabba said they were back for good.
As Carrabba belted through “Screaming Infidelities” and “Saints and Sailors,” fans, many of them women in their 20s and 30s who used the tunes as heartbreak salves in the early part of this century, shrieked and joined in, channeling their inner-teenage fan girls.
And the men, who at times seemed like they were there to just accompany their dates, couldn’t help but mouth the radio friendly “Hands Down” and “Don’t Wait.”
“I’m a train wreck of a man,” Carrabba told the crowd after apologizing for cursing. “But I feel sexy tonight.”
Cue more shrieks and shrills from the ladies.
Carrabba and Jenkins commended each other’s groups and said they were sad to see the two-month tour end.
“It’s so lovely when a band you’re a fan of turns out to be great people as well,” Carrabba said before inviting Third Eye Blind’s keyboardist Alex Kopp to play “Vindicated” near the end of a 16-song set.
As Third Eye Blind concluded with “Semi-Charmed Life,” a Top 10 song about crystal meth addiction, some of the crowd, who left during the encore to beat the concert traffic, sang the “do, do, do” chorus all the way back to the parking lot and, presumably, the ‘90s.