Hoobastank - January 30th, 2009 - Williams Park - St. Petersburg, FL

Review by Samantha Wright

Hoobastank Scores Big for Super Bowl Weekend

Hoobastank hit one out of the park, Williams park in St Petersburg to be exact, January 30th. Their show (part of the Miller Lite Super Party) was just one of the many events that Tampa Bay had put together in celebration of Super bowl XLIII coming to Tampa. This event kick-started not only the series of parties, but also the new tour for Hoobastank's new album, For(n)ever. The band, introduced by very inebriated local radio personalities Fisher and Boy, came on stage to a thundering audience of five thousand screaming teenagers, Millered up adults and the all too familiar Monday night football march.

We arrived just before they were set to go on, just enough time to take in the atmosphere of the now transformed, newly lighted, Hobo free, Williams Park. Recently, St Petersburg had cleaned up the area by relocating the homeless who had made a home there, and adding lights of a soft blue color to the trees. Hoobastank’s performance was going to be the first of a series of concerts played on the “Last Friday” of every month, as opposed to the commonly known event “First Friday” dedicated to the arts and drinking(the afore mentioned lights in the trees were a part of the tree lighting ceremony to kick off the occasion). The place was crowded with chilly but generally cheerful football and music lovers most of whom had plastic cups of Miller in their hands. Aromas of beer, cigarettes, food, and port-o-potty sanitizer filled the air, lending to the chilly but cheery, festival style open venue concert. When we had finally needled our way through the crowd we found ourselves near the VIP side which featured area heaters, fold out tables, chairs, and big beers. I had just found a good niche to set up camp when the lights came up.

The band opened with the somewhat popular “Spinning out of Control”, a song from their 2001 self titled album. Doug Robb’s vocals were spot on that night, although the first piece felt a little bit like a warm up. The band progressively warmed the crowd and their instruments with first few songs, making it noticeable that they were pouring their energy into this, building the night up, preparing the crowd, readying the world for their new material.

The band’s sound can best be described as ‘bold, post-grunge with a hard edge’ built into it. Sounds like I’m describing coffee, but no, their attitude on stage is punk inspired, their movements included a lot of rocking back and forth and the Robb bent over to push out the frequently loud belting notes (which were done very well and on key). By recent reputation, Hoobastank has overshadowed themselves with their smash hit “The Reason”. They have since re-emerged into musical society with the intent to dissipate that shadow with their new album For(n)ever. Their performance at Williams Park was the first step. By shining an even brighter light into the world with For(n)ever, released January 27th, just three days prior. Some of the new songs played at the Miller Light Super party were definitely the climax of the show.

Around the tenth song of the fifteen song set list, Doug Robb, having been sharing a rather intimate moment with an audience member whos afro silhouette was the only thing he could see aside the massive black crowd, decide to dedicate his next song to him, re-naming it "Afro Letter". Laughs skittered across the five thousand. During an instrumental interlude, Doug screamed out at the crowd “C’mon you guys gotta get warm by either being Jackasses and dancing around like you don’t care or singing!” and then he proceeded to play their new smash single “My Turn”. The energy on stage, to put it simply, exploded into a whole new era of its own. Their enthusiasm bled into the crowd, triggering a new sense of adrenaline. He split the audience up between the genders, encouraging them, quite successfully to help him sing the chorus. Girls sang a filler vocal improvisation while the guys chimed in with “When’s it going to be my turn?”. Even the stand offish older drunks, whom you could tell had never hear a hoobastank song in their life, (but hey free beer, free concert) found themselves singing along, with smiles on their faces no less. That chilly Friday night it was definitely Hoobastanks turn to rock the microphone and retake their niche in the music world. A bomb was dropped on Tampa Bay, and that bomb was Hoobastank, rocking us and simultaneously the rest of the world, into another football season.

Visit Hoobastanks official websites: hoobastank.com