Recap Fountains Of Wayne at High Noon Saloon

As a Fountains Of Wayne roadie set the stage for the New York power-pop stars Wednesday at the High Noon Saloon, it occurred to Decider that this was the first time in ages that we’d seen a show at the High Noon where the headlining band didn’t set up its own gear. Then again, it was also easy to forget that after seven years of releasing infectiously, catchy power-pop records, Fountains Of Wayne finally took a serious swing at the pop charts with the 2003 success of “Stacy’s Mom.” Six years later, Fountains Of Wayne have only released one proper album since the well-received Welcome Interstate Managers, and the group temporarily stopped working on new material six months ago. “We need time for rehab,” joked singer-guitarist Chris Collingwood between songs.

While Wednesday's show was billed as an acoustic show, Fountains Of Wayne’s infectious pop sounded bigger than the room as the quartet kicked off with “Please Don’t Rock Me Tonight.” Collingwood's nasal vocal hooks were sporadically matched with perfect call-response harmonies from weirdo guitarist Jody Porter (who often stared into the audience like he had guzzled an entire bottle of cough syrup before the show) and bassist Adam Schlesinger (who is not only in super-group Tinted Windows, but is also responsible for writing the song “That Thing You Do”).

Before moving into “Red Dragon Tattoo,” Collingwood teased the audience: “This was our only song to hit No. 1 … in Japan.” During “Hey Julie,” Schlesinger called a few volunteers to play tambourine and shakers because “the 25-piece rhythm section that normally accompanies Fountains Of Wayne couldn’t make it.” One of the guys he brought onstage—who didn’t look a day under 44—took it upon himself to also cover the backing vocals. Schlesinger looked on in bewilderment from behind his keyboard, as the bald guy in dad shorts began wailing away into a microphone. “Hmmm, that was pretty good, but I don’t remember requesting any backing vocals,” Schlesinger joked afterward.

A fan helps fill in for FoW's "25-piece rhythm section."

“A lot of bands—when they’re starting out—think, ‘Maybe we can get this song in the L.L. Bean commercial.’ Well, that’s what happened for us!” Schlesinger deadpanned before starting into “Valley Winter Song.” The group's set stretched well across its discography and pulled out a handful of new gems (including a minor-key rocker called “The Summer Place,” which Schlesinger said is “available on YouTube Records And Tapes”).

"This is the part where we play a sad song to prove that we care about stuff," Collingwood explained before the foursome closed its proper set with “Radiation Vibe.” They came back out to storming applause for four final tunes, which featured a seemingly joyless, sarcastic, and elevator-ized rendition of “Stacy’s Mom” and a final blast in the form of “Survival Car.” For a band that stopped tasting mega-stardom six years ago, Fountains Of Wayne are damn good at keeping up the power-pop fun.