No Doubt

Way back before Gwen Stefani was regarded as a trend-setting fashionista, solo pop artist, and fetishist of leashed Japanese women in schoolgirl outfits, she fronted a peppy ska-pop band called No Doubt. Stefani didn't so much sing as launch into flat bleat attacks, but the high-energy songs, tacky accessorizing, and forward-thinking video concepts more than compensated for that failing. No Doubt were fun, you see, in an era when angsty hand-wringing and pathos poses were all the rage—Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Pearl Jam, we're looking at y'all. Then they took a break for the inevitable solo projects and child-sirings and, of course, to give the public a chance to miss 'em. And now—finally, some might say—they're back together to hump the summer touring circuit, get reacquainted, and parlay whatever adoration results into interest for a 2010 studio album. Fingers crossed, over here. With Paramore and Bedouin Soundclash. All ages.
Sun., July 5, 7:30 p.m., 2009