Eureka! Rooney At The Wonder Ballroom

By Christian Lipski

The Wonder Ballroom, Portland OR
June 24, 2010

A backdrop painted with a California sunset hung at the back of the stage, setting the scene for the music to come. Though not all the bands came with the West Coast sound, the vibe was there anyway.

First up was Black Gold, an NYC band whose song “Shine” scored the gig as the “goodbye” song for season seven of So You Think You Can Dance. Their lead singer, Eric Ronick, plays keyboard, which posed the usual problem for a frontman, but angling toward the audience helped matters. His voice was clear and his body full of energy as he pounced alternately at the keys and the microphone.

Drummer Than Luu matched him in enthusiasm with his playing and vocals, and it was entertaining to see when he’d have time to push his glasses back up his nose. The bass player touring with the two-man group was a joy to behold as he danced and grooved Tony Kanal-style at the side of the stage, and rounding out the touring section was a guitarist who also assisted on backing vocals. Their songs mixed rock and dance music with absolutely no self-consciousness, and the crowd loved them for the length of their tidy 30-minute set, They hit that length with some rather awkward pauses between songs, though, which they should hopefully tighten up by the end of the tour.

The break between opening bands was exactly 15 minutes, which was impressive considering the amount of time the second band, The Young Veins, spent adjusting the on-stage monitor mix (15 minutes). Founded by two ex-members of Panic At The Disco, The Young Veins sounded as though they were trying as hard as they could to be a 1960s British Invasion band, down to the striped trousers and Beatle Bass.

Photo © 2010 Deborah Lipski

At that goal they succeeded, with the “Be My Baby” beats, jangly guitars, and pop progressions, but nothing of their own was added to the mix, so the result was ultimately unsatisfying. “Change,” the band’s latest single, had a pseudo-psychedelic sound, and a new song, “Defiance,” came closest to breaking out of the mold with a more country-rock, Topanga Canyon, early-70s sound, so perhaps they’re changing even as we speak. Without bringing something new to the party, they come off like more of a tribute band than an original.

Photo © 2010 Deborah Lipski

When the lights came on before the main event, it became clear that the demographic weighed heavily on the distaff side. The place was filled with females of all ages, with their men hovering, nervously attending them, for Rooney is a heartthrob band. There were a surprisingly large amount of younger girls there, which makes one wonder where they encountered this band, having been ten years old when “Blueside” was released (though the band members themselves were graduating from high school at the time). Regardless of the method, there were screams when Rooney ran onto the stage.

The opening song, “Stay Away,” from the first album, has a recognizable hook and tight harmonies, and its performance left no question about whether prisoners would be taken. From the first moment, the band was hitting on all cylinders, lead singer Robert Schwartzman (brother of Jason Schwartzman) running around the stage in an untimely “Italia Futbol” T-shirt, slapping hands with the audience. Schwartzman was at ease with the vocals and the stage, and guitarist Taylor Locke sang backup while making eyes at the front row, though he really only had eyes for his guitar. The keyboards were stationed back by the drums, and Louie Stephens played them while seated, giving him a kind of Alan Parsons demeanor: talented but withdrawn.

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