Gavin Rossdale Remembers The '90s

The Music Hall

Toronto, ON

on Apr 25 2009

Stephanie Joudrey (CHARTattack)

04/27/2009 3:41pm

My parents wouldn't let me gets tickets to see Bush when I was 15. I was heartbroken.

I had long since given up hope of ever hearing those songs live, but that teenage dream was rekindled when I found out Gavin Rossdale was playing The Music Hall.

Rossdale was here touring on behalf of his new Wanderlust solo album. It's a sub-par adult contemporary record, and was mostly an afterthought for most of the attendees who were still holding on to their Bush dreams.

While huge gobs of the crowd waited for Rossdale to emerge from his tour bus outside the venue, a few of us inside tried listening to Rock Star: INXS loser Suzie McNeil's opening set.

McNeil powered through songs with enough fake smiles and poses you'd think she was back on reality television. I doubt she was aware, but it was nearly impossible to hear or understand her. It didn't matter anyway. This audience was waiting for their retro '90s fix and weren't interested in anything else.

With McNeil done, the crowd filled in the rows of empty seats and Rossdale entered to a standing ovation before even singing a note. Rossdale opened with "Can't Stop The World" and played in darkness until the spotlight revealed the man everyone was waiting to see.

When the lights came on, nearly everyone in the concert hall screamed. Even a few guys in the front row reached out to touch Rossdale's hand, probably hoping to be the next gay romance in his roster. His sex appeal clearly hasn't dried up the way his ability to write a hit has, since everyone reached for a piece of him.

The whole hall didn't truly explode until three songs in when the first few notes of Bush's "Machinehead" powered out. Crowds of people rushed from their seat to the front of the stage to get closer to Rossdale. Seats became completely irrelevant for the next few moments. If there were concerns that the singer had gone soft, he quickly proved he can still rock like it's 1994.

Rossdale toyed with the crowd through the set and jumped between new and old songs. Everyone put up with the new stuff in hopes that an old song was only moments away, and the transitions weren't always smooth. "Everything Zen" had everyone in the place screaming and hollering before they plopped themselves back into their seats the second Rossdale went into a new track. He tried to make it work by ramping up the energy in the new songs — the singles were the only ones to get any type of response at all — but most of the crowd only wanted Bush.

Then things started to get mellow, and the acoustic cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" was probably to blame. It was enough to make you seriously consider that Rossdale really had softened up after having a few kids. The crowd was still screaming, but with all the pent-up lust in the audience, those women would have shrieked at anything.

In what was emerging as a pattern, Rossdale put down the acoustic guitar to run and jump around the stage for "Adrenaline." He bounded about exactly like I imagined he would have years ago. He may have overdone the rock star posing and theatrics, but that was exactly what the crowd needed to get fully behind him.

The girlish screaming was nearly scary when Rossdale knelt at the front of stage in his sweaty white shirt. The louder and heavier the music got, the more they ate it up. The set came to a close with Bush's "People That We Love."

Rossdale returned to the stage for the encore with the same energy to deliver an amped-up version of "Bullet Proof Skin," the only single played from his short-lived band, Institute. He next played a muscular reworking of the new "This Is Happiness" that was far heavier and sweatier than the one you'd hear on your stereo.

Rossdale finished the set on a high by delivering the Bush hit "Glycerine." It might as well have been 1996, with everyone singing along and Rossdale even going a capella at some points.

He concluded the time warp with "Comedown." He couldn't have picked a better song to end the night and please the loyal fans who've stuck with him through 15 years and some musicial misadventures.

Rossdale probably wishes more people were into his new work, but, by transporting us back in time and giving us a taste of his entire catalogue, he delivered exactly what one would want from his show.