Recap Fountains Of Wayne at Park West

There's an old, overly simplistic axiom that states the mark of a quality song is one that can translate well in an electric and acoustic setting. By that standard, Fountains Of Wayne should feel good about the majority of its catalog.

The group hit Park West Friday evening as part of its "full-band acoustic" tour, with an emphasis on "acoustic." Frontman Chris Collingwood and guitarist Jody Porter both wielded plugged-in acoustics throughout the evening, while bassist Adam Schlesinger split his time between an electric bass and piano. Yet the group's set came across as anything but the kind of coffeehouse folk that audiences tend to expect from a stripped-down performance. Instead, the full-band sound proved as loud as, if not louder than, most plugged-in rock sets, with the material never losing momentum or veering into ballad-drenched singer-songwriter fare.

Throughout the evening, the band covered the full range of its discography, from its 1996 self-titled debut up through 2007's Traffic And Weather. The band even tested a handful of new songs, many of which, fittingly enough, fixated on being a band on tour. (One such song, "A Road Song," included the obligatory shout-out to the city the members happened to be playing that night.) Explaining the influx of tour songs to the room, Schlesinger deadpanned, "We've been on the road for over one week."

When it wasn't debuting new songs, Fountains Of Wayne delivered a set of fan favorites and recognizable hits. Especially well-received were selections from 2003's Welcome Interstate Managers, even with "Hackensack" getting slightly derailed by the addition of a guest vocalist who was invited onstage a little too early. Surprisingly, fans pulled from the crowd proved far more capable in assisting on tambourine and maraca during "Hey Julie," when the band brought up two twentysomething girls and a dreadlocked college kid in tie-dye, himself warranting a brief tease of "Uncle John's Band." That selection inspired the predominantly reserved audience members to rise to their feet, cheer, sing-along, and even flirt with the idea of dancing (though not for long). Elsewhere, the group displayed impressive timing on "Someone To Love," with the abrupt drop-off at the end of the line "she cuts in front of him and leaves him for dead" executed precisely, resulting in an extraordinary silence throughout the room. Between songs, the band joked around, like when Collingwood remarked, "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Tori Amos to the stage," as Schlesinger took to the piano and demonstrated Amos' open-leg sprawl performing position.

Yet the best joke of the evening came in the act's most notorious track. When the group played "Stacy's Mom," delivered to a room of legitimate cougars (one such woman easily in her 50s sported a shirt announcing "DIE YUPPIE SCUM"), the band members decided to up the ante, if not the schmaltz factor. Rather than providing the upbeat power-pop version of the song, the group instead delivered a mid-tempo piano-lounge rendition, even utilizing the venue’s house disco ball. And while it could have come off a bit like a throwaway gag, it made the rest of the evening's set that much more impressive, proving that while Fountains Of Wayne are clearly in on the joke, it refuses to let itself to become one.