No Doubt rocks Elliott Hall

Liz Nicol/Photo Editor HELLA GOOD: Gwen Stefani of No Doubt sang to a sold-out crowd at the Elliott Hall of Music Sunday night.

By Kate Johann
Assistant Features Editor

Elliott Hall belonged to Gwen Stefani Sunday even before she strolled on stage.

Shouts of "Bring Out Gwen" and "I want Gwen" carried over No Doubt's openers, The Faint, who's style was obviously put together in the "Making the Band" sort of way. No, they weren't O-Town, but they all had different hairstyles and the vocalist tried too hard to convince the audience that The Faint was somehow a code name for Orgy.

The Faint plagued the stage for 45 minutes and left fans screaming for No Doubt while stage hands began to set up for the real talent — Stefani and the boys.

No Doubt opened with "Hella Good," the latest release off of their new album, "Rock Steady," and then jumped right into "Sunday Morning." Hyping it up with a good mix of new and old, every fan held one hand in the air and obeyed Stefani's every command.

Though Tony Kanal (bass) attempted to woo the women audience members with his muscle shirt and mohawk, he was merely a second rate sideshow to Stefani. Clad in a bikini top and cheetah-print pants, she knew the men wanted her and the women wanted to be her.

The band went through all of the favorites — everything from "New" to "Simple Kind of Life" to "Don't Speak." On "I'm Just a Girl," Stefani stuck a microphone in her pants and did push-ups.

Magenta and green danced on the stage for most of No Doubt's performance, but a suddenly shocking show of lights and dancing and the lowering of a huge No Doubt logo set to "Hey Baby" sent a surge of jumps and shouts through the crowd.

Thanks to Stefani's incredible voice and all of the players' stage presence, No Doubt's performance was flawless and tireless. Constantly pleading the audience to "jump with me" and "sing with me," the band made the audience feel more like part of the show. At one point, Stefani took a silver-sequined hat from a student in the audience and ran around with it on. No Doubt even pulled a Stefani lookalike up on stage.

For the encore, Stefani came out riding on Kanal's back. The two played their former romance to fans, even though Stefani will marry Bush frontrunner Gavin Rossdale later this year.

"Spiderwebs" was, sadly, No Doubt's last song. The audience cheered and jumped and screamed, but they knew the good time was over.

No Doubt rocks Elliott Hall

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Features editor: Jenny Jones

Assistant Features editor: Kate Johann

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