Pop Music Review : Concrete Blonde Goes Full Throttle at Political Fund-Raiser

Since Concrete Blonde decided not to tour in conjunction with its latest album, the band’s headlining set on Saturday at a Jerry Brown benefit at the Palladium was its only scheduled local show of the season--unfortunate for fans who didn’t find out about the minimally advertised fund-raiser in time, but fortuitous for those who did. Unwearied by the road, L.A.’s favorite power trio was at full throttle, turning in its best local performance in years.

Having the original three-person lineup back in place was a big part of the magic. The chief differences from early days are that drummer Harry Rushakoff has toned down his Keith Moon-style thunder-tom fills, hammering ahead more straightforwardly now, and that fewer of Johnette Napolitano’s more recent songs are punk-paced or mosh-friendly. But the group has never been more intense or tight.

Stan Ridgway preceded the trio with his latest and most outsize crew, Bottomless Pit, and a purposely messy multimedia backdrop. Ridgway’s big band (including horns, multiple synthesizers and an overweight male dancer) proved frisky, occasionally funky and entertainingly Zappa-esque, if still perhaps not the ideal complement for his unique persona.

Among the opening acts, Wire Train, whose sound has gotten harder and heavier over the years, turned in an uninvolving set that seemed both snotty in attitude and lethargic in feel. Far more insufferably, Orange County’s teen-oriented No Doubt, whose members were clearly reared on the Untouchables and Oingo Boingo, provided an almost lethal dose of cloying new-wave cuteness.