Fountains of Wayne – Buffalo Habor, Buffalo, NY – 06/28/2012

Review/photos – Thomas S. Orwat, Jr.

Buffalo, NY – It was the perfect summer evening, with temperatures in the low 80’s and a little breeze off of the lake. Add to that, buckets of affordable cold refreshments and most importantly, a free concert featuring the New York City based alt-rockers – the Fountains of Wayne. The crowd of over 3000, rocked the evening away to the jangly sounds of the band that brought us the 2003 mega-hit “Stacy’s Mom.”

Band members Chris Collingwood – vocals/guitar, Adam Schlesinger- bass, Jody Porter- lead guitar and Brian Young – drums, played it cool during the evening and seemed unfazed at the huge turnout. At one point, Collingwood joked to the audience and said, “From here this looks like the back of our second album cover.” Soon after, Schlesinger, who was responsible for a good portion of in-between songs stage banter, invited four very willing audience members up on stage to add some rhythms and rock the maracas.

After the punchy “Bright Future in Sales,” Collingwood explained that the song was about drinking while working, which was something he would never do. And of course, after he made this declaration he lifted up his bottle of budweiser and took a big swig.

Many of the “causal fans” may have been a bit surprised that the Fountains of Wayne have stylistically deviated quite a bit from their power pop sound that was most prevalent on “Stacy’s Mom.” For anyone that has paid attention, the Fountains of Wayne have progressed to an almost a country-alt type of band. Their most recent release, the 2011 – “Sky Full of Holes,” was their most focused and cohesive release. It broke the billboard top 40 charts and won over many of the most acclaimed music critics, who praised the band’s new direction.

The Fountains of Wayne played it smart, and didn’t not perform “Stacy’s Mom” until the very end. This paid off well, in that noboby left early and many of the “causal fans” were now upgraded to real fans.