April 21, 2003
By Kevin Amorim
STAFF WRITER
Lifehouse is 100 percent more than a one-hit wonder.
And wouldn't you know it? The band nearly bookended its 1½-hour show with the two tracks most of the post-grungy great unwashed knew - "Spin," off last year's generally ignored "Stanley Climbfall" album, and "Hanging by a Moment," from the 2000 debut, "No Name Face" (both DreamWorks). The former showed up second in a main set of 14 songs. The latter, a "Stairway to Heaven" for the new millennium, closed the Los Angeles-based band's encore. No surprise there.
It was like that the whole night Friday at the Vanderbilt - as predictable as hidden eggs and chocolate bunnies on Easter. Lifehouse - which bears no resemblance to Pete Townshend's 30-years-in-the-making "Lifehouse" project - stood motionless most of the time, except for the umpteen guitar switcheroos. A bonus track from "Stanley Climbfall" came to mind: "How Long," as in how long will singer-songwriter-guitarist Jason Wade grit his teeth and spit out the same chunks of alternative pop. Instead of inciting teen spirit, the foursome droned on in that Creed-ish, monochrome way.
The problem is the songwriting. The group played a set made up of its two-album oeuvre - but whether it was the upbeat "Wash" from the new record, or "Sick Cycle Carousel" from 2000, it was apparent the Lifehouse sound hasn't matured much. Even the big single off the current collection, "Spin," a crunchy, quasi-relationship/religion paean, could be a "No Name Face" outtake.
That all said, the band - rounded out by bassist Sergio Andrade and brothers Rick and Sean Woolstenhulme (on drums and guitar, respectively) - plays as polished and shiny as the front bumper of an immaculately restored '57 Chevy Bel-Air. But Wade and his young journeymen could end up roadkill if the material doesn't change.
****More promising was opener FICTION PLANE, which flew through a too-short 30-minute set. The group definitely has issues - and that's not including the bloodlines of front man Joe Sumner, conceived with help from Dad, aka Gordon Sumner, aka Sting, presumably before the old man became tantric. MCA, the label that last month put out Fiction Plane's debut LP, "Everything Will Never Be OK," didn't mention the Sting connection in publicity materials.
The crux of the band seemed to be its daily requirement of cynicism, which materialized in such numbers as "Hate" (sample lyric: "We're cool, we're different / And we hate things") and "Cigarette," a lust song-turned-anti-smoking rant. Sumner sounded most like his father when he sang "Listen to My Babe," and then the 26-year-old turned on the graciousness, saying, "I love this place. The toilets aren't even dirty." That's something Sting wouldn't have said when the Police played CBGB back in 1977.***
LIFEHOUSE. A guitar lover's guilty pleasure, with lots of luster, but ultimately lacking much oomph. With Fiction Plane, a promising Brit outfit led by Joe Sumner, the son of a former Police man. Seen Friday at the Vanderbilt in Plainview.
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/ny-etlife3246227apr21,0,750939.story?coll=ny-music-print
