It was a middle-aged man's dream come true: A Southern-style classic rock group sandwiched in between two groups of attractive ladies with instruments.
There was an interesting mix of pseudo-punk rockers, their parents and a number of mullets gathered for the final show of the summer last Saturday night at Gateway Harbor Park in North Tonawanda. The generation-spanning crowd had gathered to see headliners, the Donnas.
After over an hour of waiting between opening sets from local band Jinxed and Pennsylvania group Silvertide, The Donnas took the stage.
Contrary to popular belief, the members of the band are not all named "Donna." They just prefer to use their respective "Donna" titles as stage names. The band has been together for about 11 years and went through such names as Screen, The Electrochutes and Ragady Anne before settling on the Donnas.
Although the bass guitar was overwhelming and the lyrics were weak at times, the powerful guitar work and versatile drumming took over the stage. Lead vocalist Donna A is talented, but needs to let her voice shine more.
There were many times when the angst-ridden, shallow lyrics were mismatched with piercing guitar riffs.
"I'm all messed up and I don't know what to do/ I'm all messed up, I'm all messed up on you," doesn't accomplish much in the way of emotional reaction with furious guitar streaming overtop of it.
Nonetheless, the jolting up-tempo songs left the crowd wanting more after every song, and the girl rockers awakened the Bangles lovers in the audience. The Donnas are currently touring across the states and overseas to promote the release of their new album, "Gold Medal," due Oct. 26.
Jinxed, an all-female punk-rock trio from the Buffalo area, were opportunistically placed on the Donnas' bill. Most of their music spotlights Kristen Reilly on guitar, but her vocals leave much to be desired.
Painfully similar to Ashlee Simpson, Reilly may want to think about showcasing her guitar talent to make up for her diluted and tired lyrics. Sadly, drummer Jenna Rocco left too many gaping holes in areas just aching for fills.
Up next was Silvertide, a next-generation classic rock band who skillfully mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd and Led Zeppelin-ish guitars with a vocal style comparable to the Spin Doctors' Chris Barron. Their sound was slightly edgier than Jet.
