By Delia Paunescu
The Hammerstein Ballroom was flooded last Wednesday night with moody teenagers and no, it wasn’t Prom. Surprisingly enough, these giants in the eyes of the marketing industry were there to see The Fray.
As a fairly new band, The Fray have reached mass success with this summer’s hit “Over My Head (Cablecar)” by playing up the Different card. This is a very tricky angle to take since the entire existence of those whose ages begin in a 1 is devoted to just this goal. Entire trends, both fashion and otherwise, have begun in its pursuit and more often than not, they have all failed miserably.
Even though all these youthful, if somewhat snotty, buyers still turned out to see the newest “different ones” of the music industry, they “tolerated” Brits The Feeling beforehand. Much as these kids complain about not wanting to follow the mold, they were all too eager to bounce around and sing along to this band, which donned the intelli-band uniform of shirt, tie and tight vest with tailored trousers. Their single “Sewn” was the highlight of a performance that blended the sounds of all famous musicians to come of England, both old and new, though much of the crowd seemed to enjoy the fact that many of the songs could easily have been played over that sappy photo montage at eighth-grade graduation.
But then, The Fray did come on and they were really pretty awesome. After emerging from a lighting arrangement that was more pretentious that the band itself, it was easy to understand the appeal these guys have with this younger audience (I kid you not, some of the crowd was made up of parents chaperoning the outing) – they are just normal. The Fray came from Denver, CO about 10 minutes ago and despite the widespread popularity of their music, frontman Isaac Slade continues to sit at the piano and play dutifully while the rest of the guys follow suit and refrain completely from typical rock-star antics. The most outlandish act of the night consisted of taking an audience member’s cell phone and placing on the piano during the album’s title track. The guys performed entirely from their debut album How To Save A Life except for the brief intermission during which Slade returned to the stage alone with a guitar and played a song which, he explained to the crowd beforehand, he had written for his 84-year-old grandfather’s wedding two weeks prior. In speaking of this, Slade treated the audience like an old pal and they responded in kind. The show continued successfully but this intimate moment stuck out as a bonding experience.
As the adolescents left the Ballroom (the show ended just after 10 p.m.) they prepared stories to tell during the lunch period the next day and it looks like The Fray have played their cards right. Here’s hoping they can steer impostors away just long enough to make a change from the undeservedly pompous bands currently out there.
