Barenaked Ladies Save Lame Jingle Bell Bash 2

Concert review

KISS Jingle Bell Bash 2, with Barenaked Ladies, Sixpence None the Richer, Dido, Stadium Exhibition Hall, Seattle, Thursday night.

Ehhh. For most of the show, it was just that. Ehhh. With all of its big sponsors, big hype, the Jingle Bell Bash 2 was little more than the sizzle.

The act that saved the show from going down in history as one of the lamest radio concerts ever was the Barenaked Ladies. Despite their disposable music, these Canadians have got the pop secret. It was a testament to their performance acumen that they were able to lift the show back out of the pond scum it had sunk into. But it wasn't with their music.

Lead singer Steven Page and guitarist Ed Robertson were Rock Star Farce, throwing out high kicks, guitar poses, forcing a hapless security guard into coming on stage and playing the guitar for a cover of "You've Really Got Me Going," and then handing off their guitars to jiggle a dance of joy that ended with a full-on mouth-to-mouth kiss during "One Week."

They brought down the house with a musical revue of "Hard Knock Life," "You Got What I Need," "No Diggity," "Mambo No. 5," "Hit Me Baby One More Time," "My Heart Will Go On" and a mix of other vapid hits. If you thought their singles were annoying on the radio, all sins were absolved after they performed.

Until they came on stage, the Stadium Exhibition Hall looked more like a high-school cafeteria. Groups of teenagers sitting on the floor were scattered all over as everyone milled around the hall.

KISS-FM (106.1) could not have picked a worse venue for a concert. The acoustics aren't just bad, they sabotaged the artists. The music reverberated off the walls back and forth until you couldn't even hear what was coming off the stage. I felt more like walking around collecting RV logo refrigerator magnets than getting riled up for an evening of music.

British songstress Dido suffered most from the acoustics. Her music was the most sophisticated set of the evening but Dido's sultry, ethereal voice sounded flat amidst the Sarah McLachlan blend of bongo drums, electronica and guitar.

Sixpence None the Richer was hurt less by the acoustics than by its music's total lack of substance. The teen crowd cheered madly for "Kiss Me," the single that made its name off the teen romance "She's All That" soundtrack. But other than "Kiss Me" and the new cover of the La's "There She Goes," each song sounded exactly like the one before, and lead singer Leigh Nash wasn't enough of a stage presence to make up for it.

About three songs into her set, my companion pulled out a sheath of cards and began knocking off her Christmas card list. I wish I had brought a pack, too.