Recap Fountains Of Wayne at Turner Hall

When electric-rock bands do a tour billed as "all acoustic," it can conjure images of drowsy, solemn sets played to seas of newly minted narcoleptics. Thankfully, after more than a decade of playing rollicking, clever power-pop, Fountains Of Wayne managed to paint the staid practice of acoustic shows with an irresistibly upbeat streak, which brought Saturday's otherwise seated audience at Turner Hall to its feet for the last half-dozen songs.

Singer Chris Collingwood was hardly hampered by a soft six-string for the hour-plus show, and lead guitarist Jody Porter was as fun and engagingly cool to watch as ever. The twinkling synthesizers of "Someone To Love" weren't missed at all, their absence overshadowed by a waterfall of sugary vocal harmonies. The group invited three enthusiastic volunteers onstage to accompany the already acoustic "Hey Julie" with bonus percussion on maraca, shaker, and tambourine.

The inclusion of a handful of unreleased songs made for an extra-special departure from an easily recognizable set, which otherwise would have been mostly composed of numbers from 2003's Welcome Interstate Managers and 1996's self-titled debut. "A Road Song," a wistful, silvery send-up of lives spent waiting through long drives between soundchecks and hotel lobbies, began with a shout-out to our home state: "We're still in Wisconsin. As far as I know, today was Green Bay, and tomorrow's Chicago." The band’s bassist and all-around virtuoso Adam Schlesinger hopped behind the piano for down-tempo tracks like "Fire Island," while drummer Brian Young further relaxed the tone by bringing out the whisks and shaker. To the chagrin of the school-age audience, the band reserved the full lullaby treatment for "Stacy's Mom," which was reworked as a nearly unrecognizable, sweetly contemplative slow jam.

Having made a career of sardonically detailing the toll of cubicle drudgery, the vagaries of love, and the hangdog minutiae of constant travel, Fountains Of Wayne are at their best in settings that allow their lyrics to shine through. To that end, Turner Hall was a pitch-perfect setting for an intimate, candle-lit trip into the small wonders of the daily grind.

Opener Jon Auer—best known for his co-starring roles in The Posies and Big Star—peppered long spaces between his songs with endearing, occasionally self-deprecating monologues about everything from the kindness of Milwaukeeans to the woes of perpetual touring. Big Star's eternally cover-able "Thirteen" was bookended by a pair of Posies tunes—a fully unplugged, played-on-the-floor version of "Throwaway" and the finale, "Burn and Shine"—that closed with a dash of warmth and familiarity.