Like London buses, you wait for ages for a nu metal band to play live in the UK and then two come along at once. Not only that but in the same weekend and in the same bloody venue. Spooky but handy for the army of dodgy t-shirt sellers and tickets touts outside.
Tonight is an early-teen compulsory-hoodie affair (mums and dads patiently waiting outside). The odd glum face can either be attributed to adolescent strop or the effects of last night's fun-free, doom-laden Staind concert. If any band can lift the impending sense of Armageddon that Staind left in their wake yesterday, it's Alien Ant Farm.
However, AAF are a curious yet entertaining phenomenon. They are the undoubtedly the missing link between the rap-metal of Linkin Park and the sixth-form humour of rock's Blink 182 but there's a nagging contradiction of frivolity and sincerity in their music and performance. Inevitable progression and maturity may settle this one way or another with their next album but tonight Alien Ant Farm are quite obviously schizophrenic.
On the goofy side the 'Farm clearly take pleasure in what they're doing. Their inspired cover of Michael Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal' (left to last) and their current single 'Movies' are signs that when they turn their hand to rock-pop they excel. Frontman Dryden Mitchell chats away merrily to the crowd like an excited teenager and rocks back and forth on this heels like a aerobics instructor wired up to the mains (only once foolishly pushing the boundaries by requesting jumpers from the balcony!)
Larger than life bassist Tye Zamora gets in on the act too doing his best rubber-faced Jim Carrey impression and rolling his eyebrows with commendable skill while Terence Corso tosses out power chord after power chord from his precarious position balancing on his monitor hovering dangerously above the crowd.
On the more sober flip side of the coin, AAF spend the vast majority of their set wallowing in their patchy 'ANThology' album that contains more misses than hits save for the opener 'Courage' and the downbeat 'Death Day' (the closest they come to a ballad). The brand new track 'Bug Bytes' from the upcoming Spider-man film demands a second listening but songs like 'Summer' and 'Calico' fail to get going sufficiently making the band's lack depth all too apparent.
Deciding which way to go will ultimately decide Alien Ant Farm's fate but take them as they come and you'll get entertainment guaranteed.
