Squeaky-clean pop groups enchant schoolgirls at state fair
Screaming could be heard from outside the fairgrounds, but the sound wasn’t coming from frightened patrons on rides. The ear-piercing squeals weren’t resonating from pigs on display at the livestock exhibit either.
The high-pitched shrieks were unmistakably expelled from the mouths of a giddy throng of teenage girls.
Hot Chelle Rae and Allstar Weekend brought their brand of squeaky-clean pop rock to the Pepsi Grandstand Friday night, where they had a mostly middle school and high school-aged audience eating out of the palms of their hands with every note wailed, booty shaken and guitar chord strummed.
Allstar Weekend, whicj got its big break as a competitor on Radio Disney’s “Next Big Thing,” started off the night with a lively 30 minute set, pumping up an already excited crowd for the headlining band. Early on in the set, lead singer Zachary Porter, a Nick Jonas look-alike, asked the crowd, “Do you guys like music?” — and the crowd answered with an obvious “yes,” punctuated with squeals and lots of jumping up and down.
The band’s combination of sly smiles, coy winks and a bunch of booty shakes only amplified the crowd’s volume. Girls held up heart-shaped hand signs throughout the show and some fans even carried Sharpie sketched posters and wore puff paint T-shirts. More than a few moms could be seen singing along and snapping iPhone pics, too.
Tunes like “Dance Forever” and “Not Your Birthday” got the crowd singing and swaying along. Partying came up in nearly every song in Allstar Weekend’s set, but for this crowd, parties still include magicians, paper hats and goody bags, and Solo cups are strictly for drinking juice and soda. The boy band got a little scandalous with some serious hip action while dancing to its silly rap “Orangutan,” a track the group debuted via a homemade YouTube video this summer that features rhymes like “Hands up, this room’s about to get funky / Häagen-Dazs bananas, I’m going Chunky Monkey,” and the teenage fans went wild. The group’s closing song, “All the Way,” sounded like a musical invitation to lose one’s virginity, but the sexual reference seemed lost on most of the young crowd.
Muse’s “Absolution” album played over the speakers between the sets, an uncharacteristic choice for this show, though the kids in attendance might know the band courtesy of that one song from the “Twilight” soundtrack. The crowd screamed, either confused or way too impatient, as tech guys and roadies tuned instruments and set up the drum kit.
The “Hot Chelle Rae” chants began at 8:01 p.m. and the band hit the stage mere minutes later to an eruption of applause and shrieks. Lead singer Ryan Follese looked spiffy in a garnet blazer, black bowtie and matching pocket square and powder blue pants so tight that not much was left to the imagination. Lead guitarist Nash Overstreet (brother to “Glee” actor Chord Overstreet) took his style in a different direction, showing off tattoo sleeves under a studded black tee and cerulean denim vest which complimented his mint green axe, though he looked like he belonged in a completely different band.
Hot Chelle Rae played a slew of upbeat tunes from “Lovesick Electric,” including “Honestly” and radio smash “Tonight Tonight,” throwing in a cover of the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” theme song, which surprisingly enough, many of the kids in the audience knew the words to. Covers cropped up all over the band’s set, from choruses of Taylor Swift’s “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and P!nk’s “Perfect” mixed between original tunes to a pitchy, rough rendition of Usher’s “Without You.” The crowd was enthusiastic nonetheless.
The pop-rock group debuted two brand new songs, and Follese and Overstreet strummed their acoustic guitars for a few, including a humorous song called “Emo,” the first tune the pair wrote together, and “Bleed,” the band’s first radio hit.
Hot Chelle Rae closed the show with “I Like It Like That,” inviting two fans onto the stage to rap along and giving away a handful of “Hot Chelle Ray-Bans” to some lucky audience members.
No encore ensued. Three six-year-olds screamed about “getting higher than the Empire State” as Fun.’s “We Are Young” blasted through the speakers, unaware of the drug reference and giddy with post-concert glee. The crowd cleared out quickly, leaving nacho containers, popcorn buckets and a lone Red Stag mini bottle (probably from a sneaky mom), on the ground as they exited. The crowd had been placated; the screams were over.