Fray Sets Young Hearts Racing
Isaac Slade and the Fray, shown performing last week in New York.
(By Scott Gries -- Getty Images)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
The Fray concert Saturday night at DAR Constitution Hall was fine. It felt humdrum in the middle but started and ended strong.
For what it's worth, some teenage girls sitting nearby thought it was fantastic, judging by the way they swayed, squealed out every lyric and clutched their hearts.
The Denver pop band delivered the songs off its VH1-approved debut album, "How to Save a Life," in a show that opened with the dramatic rocker "Little House," which may or may not be about self-mutilation: "Everything short of suicide / Never hurts, nearly works / Something is scratching its way out."
From there, the band strolled through its small catalogue of songs, most of which explore the same emotional space: melancholy and serious but with a ray of hope. Lead singer Isaac Slade, who wore an orange and brown plaid western-style shirt, is difficult to understand on the album, let alone live. The way he moans lyrics makes him sound as if he has a British accent, but that could mostly be because his blond hair and piano playing evoke Coldplay's Chris Martin.
An unexpected highlight occurred halfway through the show when Slade invited guitarist Joe King's toddler daughter onstage. Anyone who can resist a pigtailed pipsqueak standing atop a piano and leading the audience in a song called "Flip Flop 'n Fly" better check for a pulse.
After she scooted offstage, it would have been nice if Fray had just played its inescapable summer single, "Over My Head (Cable Car)," and that "Grey's Anatomy" song, "How to Save a Life," and called it a night, but there was still at least a half hour left. After the encore, the rabid teenagers savored a night to remember; as for the more easy-going fans, it had been a pleasant, but forgettable, evening.
-- Rachel Beckman
