Crowds of students and fans filled the seats at Humphrey Coliseum Tuesday for the Fray/MuteMath concert, which started promptly at 8 p.m. Unfortunately, the punctuality of the concert was one of its greatest strengths.MuteMath kicked off the concert with a string of songs that were distinctly reminiscent of a sped-up, watered-down Coldplay, but the energy kept pulses at a safe rate. The lighting and effects were adequate, while not extraordinary, and the music stayed securely between the pop and indie genres for about the first five songs. Guitarist Greg Hill stood in place and barely moved his fingers, while drummer Darren King played loud but simple rhythms. Then things heated up a little bit, and MuteMath got a lot more interesting.
Apparently the rudimentary drumming, simple chords and stunted singing of the first few songs were just warm-up routines for the band members. It didn’t take long for lead singer Paul Meany to get caught up in the songs, swinging around the stage, tangling his keytar cord around the mic stand and dragging it around with him. When a stage manager rushed onstage to attempt to untangle the microphone stand, Meany used him as a prop, jumping on his back and riding him around for a few seconds.
With the acceleration of the band’s energy came more creative songs and an increase in improvisation. MuteMath steadily moved away from the bland territory they’d begun in and branched out in a more experimental direction, sampling what sounded like a UFO and breaking into seemingly arbitrary percussion trios. The band members began sharing duties, with Hill taking over the piano while Meany walked off to perform what appeared to be a taiko drum solo.
While some of the music still became a little repetitive, the last two songs of MuteMath’s set were stellar. Rampant sampling and general chaos took over the sound, and King went slightly crazy, bashing his drums into oblivion and puncturing the head of his bass drum with a drumstick. The eerie weirdness of the last two songs was a welcome change to the formulaic sound projected earlier. It would’ve been nice for the band’s entire show to display such energy.
As MuteMath left the stage to a standing ovation, the lights came up to help the roadies set up for The Fray, the headlining act. People rushed off to get drinks and use the restroom like it was halftime at an important sporting event, anxiously awaiting the second half to see how their team would do. Unfortunately, The Fray lost the game before they even started playing.
When the lights turned off to announce the coming of The Fray, the stadium went wild, not knowing how bad it was going to be with the lights off for this concert. Countless concertgoers came to their feet and began screaming wildly. Cell phones and digital cameras lit up the Hump with their LCD screens, testaments to the excitement felt by many of the anxious fans. Then The Fray played its first song, and everyone sat down and went to sleep.
Well, not everyone. But since this performance was designed only for those that know the words to every song on How to Save a Life, the lucky ones in the audience that had the privilege (or punishment) of owning The Fray’s album were kept awake to happily sing along, while those that did not know the words slapped themselves in the face repeatedly in an attempt to stay awake.
To put it simply, every song played by the band sounded the same. None of them make full use of the other members of the band, either. Pretty much all of the songs just showcase vocalist/pianist Isaac Slade, though occasionally another band member was allowed a brief, uninspired solo.
As the songs became progressively more monotonous, it became obvious that The Fray had no intention of taking any of its songs in new directions. Each one sounded almost identical to the album version, except, of course, for the new song “Absolute,” which isn’t yet on an album. However, it can be hypothesized that the album version of “Absolute” will sound mind-blowingly similar to the concert version.
The best solution to getting a Fray fix, if one is really needed, is to buy How to Save a Life, which can also be referred to as “reusable Ambien.” It’s $13.99 at Best Buy, less than the cost of a ticket, and can be listened to multiple times. The only real draw to the concert is the opportunity to sing along with Slade, but that isn’t worth $22.50.
One of the saddest things about The Fray’s show came in the form of a cover of Weezer’s “Undone – The Sweater Song.” The band played the song quite well, almost exactly as it appears on Weezer’s first self-titled album, believe it or not. The problem is, The Fray had to use someone else’s song to wake everyone up before the band members came back out for an encore. Thanks, Rivers Cuomo.
For the encore, Slade played a solo acoustic song while people dressed as a banana, a hot dog and a gorilla slow-danced together. Several girls in the balcony chanted “How to save a life!” over this nonsense, which thankfully drowned out some of the snoring.
After this Slade asked if the audience wanted one more song before the finale, and it seemed like there were almost as many “no” as “yes” responses. The affirmatives won, though, and the audience was subjected to two more songs before the band finally took its final bows.
In the end, it seems The Fray are an album band. The songs are just too slow for a concert environment. Unless some louder, more up-tempo songs (preferably the band’s own) are added to the set list, The Fray should keep up the good work as background music for nearly every show on television.
THE FRAY/MUTEMATH CONCERT
THE VERDICT:
Opening band MuteMath got off to a slow start but later proved to be vastly superior to headlining act The Fray.
1.5/4 stars