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Sun, stars shine at kiss concert 19,000 jam show at Tweeter Center By Megan Tench, Globe Staff, 6/2/2002 Grammy winner Alicia Keyes, R&B diva Mary J. Blige, and Latin rocker
Shakira were among the performers who drew enthusiastic responses from the crowd
during the star-studded marathon. ''We're obsessed,'' said 25-year-old Kimberly Fagan of Boston, who nervously
held a bouquet of flowers and a fan letter she hoped to give to Gwen Stefani,
lead singer of the California rock band called No Doubt. Fagan's best friend, Andria Ledoux, 18, shared her obsession. ''Gwen is the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on,'' said Ledoux,
waving a poster-size picture of Stefani over her head. ''We have to meet her,''
she said. ''I hope she sees this poster and asks us to come backstage.'' All decked out in orange and pink feather boas, courtesy of a Dunkin' Donuts
give-away, another group of young women were making the rounds, calling
themselves the Dunkin' Divas. ''I am all about Johnny Rzeznik'' of the Goo-Goo Dolls, said New Hampshire
resident Melissa Fifel, 18. ''Well, I want to be Shakira,'' countered her Divas partner, Ashley Ghannad,
17. Spread out on the Tweeter Center's renovated lawn, where 7,000 reserved seats
were added this year, were thousands more bikini- and minishort-clad
concertgoers - some armed with both suntan lotion and Budweiser. ''This is the greatest concert ever,'' shouted Kerri Schmock, 23, who won two
tickets by calling the radio station last month. ''I come here every year.'' While many in the crowd said they came to hear headliners like Marc Anthony,
Alanis Morissette, and Celine Dion, several of the younger fans had other
interests. ''I want to see Craig David,'' said a blushing Alison Wellman, 14, who
couldn't keep herself from giggling. ''He's a hottie,'' chimed in Nikki Brooks, 17, from Chelmsford. But it wasn't just the adoration of young girls that drew such a large crowd
to the Mansfield venue. Male twenty-somethings were awed, too. ''I'm here to see Gwen Stefani and Shakira,'' said Paul Areias, 25, from
Lowell, as he downed a beer along with friends Steve Camara, 24, and Tony
Martin, 25. ''They're so hot,'' Areias laughed. The Kiss 108 concert has the distinction of being the first radio program to
hold such a large concert to thank its listeners, said concert organizers. The nearly daylong event, which started at noon yesterday and was scheduled
to end after 10 p.m., has raised over $1 million since 1986 to benefit the
Genesis Fund, a New England nonprofit, which provides care and treatment to
children born with birth defects. ''So far everything is going great,'' said Joe Mazzie, Kiss spokesman. ''The
crowd is great, the weather is fantastic. We are here to thank our listeners.'' This story ran on page C13 of the Boston Globe on 6/2/2002. |
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MUSIC REVIEW KISS leaves no doubt that girls rock
By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff, 6/3/2002 Above all the day belonged to a girl named Gwen, whose group, No Doubt, is at
that rarefied moment in the arc of a hard-working band when energy force fields
seem to converge (as good an explanation of success as any in the fickle field
of pop music) in a radiant blast of all-around cool. Beyond her impossible
hairdos and wacky fashions, Gwen Stefani is one of the most charismatic
performers today in any genre or gender. She commandeered the stage at a full
run, singing like a little riot grrrl lost, and reminded the cheering - dare we
suggest grateful? - masses how fabulously stylish mainstream pop music can
sound. Unpretentious, too, which cannot be said about Alicia Keys, who spent a good
chunk of her set being introduced. ''It hasn't changed me at all,'' Keys said
backstage of her quintuple Grammy sweep, a claim that was seriously undermined
by a protracted segment featuring a fawning MC trying to whip up some worship.
When Keys finally did grace us with her presence, her smooth, scripted
performance was a mixed bag. The piano-based soul ballads that fueled her rapid
ascent - ''Fallin''' and ''A Woman's Worth'' - were enticing. But forays into
generic dance pop killed the light that set her apart in the first place, and
suddenly Keys became just another R&B singer. By contrast, India.Arie was the picture of earthy, understated soul. No
flashy star wattage about her, just the glow of subtle textures and a deep,
sensuous singing voice. Similarly, Canadian teenager Lavigne outshone
contemporaries Branch and Carlton (both of whom seemed like deer caught in the
headlights of a massive tour bus) with a pocketful of original, bristling pop
tunes. Celine Dion and Mary J. Blige delivered what was expected: chest-beating
interpretations that were passionate to the point of being overwrought. Dion's
adult pop and Blige's turbulent rhythm and blues have little in common
musically, but both singers have mastered the art of full-bore, mass-consumption
emotion, which they graciously heaped on their cheering fans. Birthday girl Alanis Morissette, who was serenaded by her crew midset,
stalked and paced through a sinewy half-hour of new and old tunes. Judging by
the sheer volume of wrath rising from a sea of pumping fists, ''You Oughta
Know'' is still the burned lover's reigning musical middle finger. Among the smattering of guys, Goo Goo Dolls played muscular pop-rock to
perfection, Marc Anthony - in a mysteriously brief three-song set - squandered
his God-given pipes on big-money high notes and pedestrian singles, and British
heartthrob Craig David crooned urban soul and funky hip-hop backed -
compellingly - by acoustic guitar. With help from an 11-piece band and what looked like ripped strips of rubber
gripping her thighs, Colombian sensation Shakira did her best to keep the
audience members from filing out in droves to beat one another out of the
parking lot. Despite her rich voice and surprisingly warm stage presence,
though, her set wound up as soundtrack to the exodus. This story ran on page D15 of the Boston Globe on 6/3/2002. |
ANSFIELD
- Extreme sunshine blessed the sold-out crowd at the 23d annual Kiss 108 concert
at the Tweeter Center yesterday as 19,000 fans, both young and somewhat older,
came to feast their eyes on their favorite singers.
ilith
Fair may be a memory, but KISS 108 went a long way toward filling that niche
with an estrogen-heavy lineup at the 23d annual KISS Concert on Saturday. The
10-hour marathon was all about the girls - wildly famous girls Celine and Alanis,
suddenly famous girls Alicia and Shakira, newly minted girls (who still need
their last names) Michelle Branch and Vanessa Carlton, and one unknown
17-year-old small-town girl whose name you should remember: Avril Lavigne.