Extreme reunited

Extreme
House Of Blues, Chicago
Saturday, August 13, 2008

Despite a 13-year absence, not much has changed for Extreme. The adjective that is their name has been repurposed for nu metal-listenin’, Red Bull-drinkin’, X Games mayhem and, obviously, mainstream tastes have run their cycles. But Saturday, for the most part, the Boston band’s Frankenstein funk metal soldiered on.

Like Tesla and Queensryche, Extreme can do nothing about hair metal guilt-by-association. Their 1991 commercial breakthrough broadened their appeal, but schools of unwitting, adult-contemporary fans brought by “More Than Words” and “Hole Hearted” (more than a handful of whom looked perplexed on the House Of Blues floor) didn’t gain the notoriety they sought. So, partly due to Nuno Bettencourt’s shirtless reign over guitar-magazine polls of the day, they remained tethered to the Van Halen ooze from which most people think they evolved.

Though not fully reunited — drummer Paul Geary sat out — the band have a new album, Saudades de Rock (Open E), and this show, as part of the Rock And Roll Fantasy Camp, provided a peek into how well their progressive oeuvre has aged. Selections from Saudades underscored their penchant for genre clashes and willingness to stand as a curiosity, but opener “Comfortably Dumb” was characteristic of the album’s cumbersome blues rock riffs, barely masking a grudging, down-tuned concession to alt-rock (or Lenny Kravitz). “Star” fared better, affirming Bettencourt, frontman Gary Cherone, and bassist Pat Badger’s fetish for Queen-like harmonies.

“Take Us Alive” and “Ghost” set the left and right brains of the band apart, however, and put them boldly on display. The former rattled out of the P.A. like an old Ford pickup down a dirt road. While down-home is hardly an Extreme characteristic, the enthusiasm with which they approached its rollicking charms outstripped the novelty. “Ghost,” however, careened into art-rock cluelessness, big and bloated and hopelessly ambitious. It’s when the twain meet that Extreme can be found at their best.

Unfortunately that wasn’t as often as it could have been. A fussy sound mix sunk “Decadence Dance” and an electrified “Hole Hearted” felt tossed off. The obligatory “More Than Words” was mercifully dispatched early on, though “Get The Funk Out” seemed silly with Cherone’s merry prancing, and “Rest In Peace” embodied the band’s tendency to stitch mixed parts together. A first-album medley was a useful tool to fly through of their youthful, pop metal indiscretions, though they were just as adequately summed up when Bettencourt pulled off his delay-pedal masterwork, “Flight Of The Wounded Bumble Bee.”

There was a stride to hit, and it eventually came. “Am I Ever Gonna Change?” soared despite its length; Cherone and Bettencourt effectively see-sawed its lite rock and more punishing sequences and for once the latter’s power chords seemed to teem with as much strength as his solos. “(It’s A) Monster,” which titlewise encapsulates the band’s amalgamated sound, surged with anthemic energy while Bettencourt’s pinball fills bounded through it off of hyperactive bumpers.

Was it too little, too late? Maybe. But after 13 years, what’s the rush?

— Steve Forstneger

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly