NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - "How many of you have ever thought you were going crazy?," asked Johnette Napolitano of her cheering audience. And it's a valid question for the clearly weathered frontwoman whose band,
Concrete Blonde, is back after an eight-year breakup.
And the sold-out crowd at Los Angeles' El Rey Theater on Friday (Feb. 25) night enthusiastically responded, clearly hapy to see the return of their hometown heroes.
It was the band's sixth show of a new tour for the recently released Group Therapy. For this band - whose absence was due to a combination of rehab, soul-searching, psychiatric help, and general maturity - it's been a long, hard road back.
Tough times are nothing new to this act many regard as Hollywood's storytellers. The band's previous albums, originally spawned out of Los Angeles' early '80 punk and street rock scene, reveal the dark side of tinseltown as a place of desperation and despair. The band spoke for hundreds of Boulevard of Broken Dreams survivors who finally found a voice they could relate to, until personal struggles led to the group's break up in 1994.
Now in the midst of a month-long tour, Concrete Blonde's original lineup of singer/bassist Napolitano, guitarist Jim Mankey, and drummer Harry Rushakof, is rebuilding its dedication and seemingly unbreakable spirit. Songs off Group Therapy translated well to the live arena, filled with brooding introspection and identity questioning that was especially evident in the song, "When I Was a Fool."
And as if the band needed to spell out its struggles, it brought out a mime in the form of a used-up drunk who hovered precariously at the edge of the stage during the song "Angel," which reads like a tragic love letter: "What if I told you / You were beautiful / With all your scars and missing parts / And painted face?"
A dip back into tracks of the past, including the haunting "Everybody Knows" off 1994's Still in Hollywood and the song that broke the band on college radio, "God Is A Bullet," off 1989's debut Free, brought a rousing response from the audience.
Napolitano - dressed in a long red Mexican-style beaded skirt and black leotard top - hid behind her shoulder-length black locks and seemed genuinely touched by the band's warm reception.
Hanging on and singing along with her every word, the crowd even helped out as Napolitano's already emotionally wrought voice, cracked and strained through the set. "We'll sound better next time, but for now, I'm just going to croak along," she responded humbly.
In fact, Napolitano's voice was so raspy it made the group's 1990 hit "Joey" barely recognizable and roller-coastered through Group Therapy's opening track "Roxy," a tribute to the band Roxy Music, whom the band credits for reunion inspiration. Napolitano's difficulties didn't seem to impact Rushakof, who appeared so happy to be back behind the drum kit that he had a smile across his face for the entire show.
The night was indeed a triumph for a band who's been through the Hollywood dream grinder and survived to tell the tale.
