(An incredibly belated show review from last Saturday. I guess I was too caught up in post-caucus mania and forgot to post it.)

at the KNDD lonely hearts ball. more [flickr]

Adam Corolla is wildly popular. Soak in that for just a moment, particularly if you’re someone who assumed that he must be living off his Loveline fortunes. Or at least his popularity is overestimated by the “oversold” show at Neumo’s on Saturday night. The only tickets were those issued by some process related to the KNDD morning show that he hosts, and people are lined up for a chance to get inside. When I arrive, the place is packed and people are singing karaoke from the balcony. I dodgeball my location as “in hell”.

Corolla’s role in the proceedings is to step on stage for a few minutes between sets, driving his adoring fans into spasms of ecstacy. They cheer madly, shout gleefully, and pass giant bottles of Red Stripe to him. When he steps back down, en route to the dressing rooms, he is swarmed by photographers desperate for picture of themselves with him grinning happily in the dark. It is a remarkable sight.

Here’s the other thing. There is ample time between bands and it is set aside for people to work through each and every cliche karaoke song in the book. There is Billy Joel. There is a large woman so inspired by “Sweet Child of Mine” that she tears off her shirt in a makeshift stripshow. The crowd below indulges for a while, but it is only a matter of time before chants of “ACE MAN” overpower the amateurs.

metro station at neumo’s. (more [flickr])

Metro Station [myspace] sounds just about exactly how you’d think a dance band of underagers from Hollywood, California would sound. They are young and energetic, fueled by hearing their single on the radio for the second time ever and looking like something out of central casting. There’s the hip Asian drummer; the tall, thin, tattooed and pierced bass player; the shaggy-haired slightly preppy, but hot topixed lead singer; and the cute hipster nerd (signified by a t-shirt and stylish glasses) on keyboards who rocks the keys back and forth as an expression of enthusiasm. The most obvious musical reference here is the Faint. It’s sweaty, electroemo, rambunctious and dance-friendly and I confess a weakness for this kind of teenage heart-on-their sleeves full spectrum smeary diary entries dressed up in relentless beats with electronic assaults. As the audince catches on, waving hands in the air, and moving around, it’s clear that it’s no accident that “Shake It” was an iTunes single of the week that has inspired countless fan videos [youtube, youtube, ].

When Metro Station is finished, having throwing sweaty t-shirts into the crowd, it’s back to karaoke time and I can feel my karaoke allergies kicking in. You think I’m exaggerating, but as I endure “I will always love you” (the Whitney Houston Bodyguard version), a singing banana duet of “Pour Some Sugar on Me”, an overserved woman’s attempt at Bon Jovi’s “Shot Through the Heart” I feel my throat tighten and swear that a few hives start to break out. If I hadn’t recently re-discovered Rogue Wave’s Asleep At Heaven’s Gate (an album that I listened to once or twice last summer and liked, but didn’t love for lack of a warm-weather hook) I doubt that I could have survived, even with all of the Pabst Blue Ribbon in all the world. But eventually, the person singing “Love Shack” gets booed off the stage and Adam Corolla introduces the band (saying that they must be the best because they’re the last on the list — one would think that a guy who works in radio might take the time to know something about the band. but alas).

rogue wave at neumo’s (more [flickr])

It was worth the wait. Rogue Wave sounded great. Their sound is lush and emotional, but reserved and damaged enough to avoid being sappy. They’re the kind of band that dedicates a song about heartbreak, “Publish My Love”, in honor of the holiday and boasts that no one has ever sung karaoke to a song from their first album. By this time, the Corolla-obsessed crowd has thinned, but with the exception of the girl perched on the edge of the stage, squeezed into an American Apparel lame tube dress hovering on the edge of consciousness, looking alternately disaffected and disdainful of the crowd, and generally unaware of her surroundings those who remain are engaged and responsive to the wide-ranging set list. When Zach introduces their second single, “Chicago X 12″ as being about all of the bad stuff that can happen — a topic that the band knows far too much about — Pat interjects from his drum kit that it’s going to be their next big hit. And if there is any justice in the world, it will be. I don’t know how I missed it on the first pass through the album. It swings in on high guitar strings, then mellows out with twinkling keys over warm strums any melancholic apologetic lyrics, that eventually lead into multi-part harmonies and climax with loud and resilient instrumentals. Go ahead, have a listen. [myspace]. The show itself ends on a run kicked off by an aggressive beginning to “Bird on a Wire” that ends with a makeshift drum circle, all of the guys pounding on the floor, a snare, or any available surface. When they close by saying that “Harmonium” is about what it feels like when Barack Obama wins every single primary of the day, even this Clinton delegate gets a sense of the rush of Obamamania. It is far more effective than that will.i.am youtube video.