Smash Mouth are not shy when it comes to exploiting their music's marketing tie-ins, making them the perfect headliners for the Yahoo! Outloud tour, which was backed by a bevy of corporate sponsors. A mini e-palooza for the computer age, Outloud stopped at the Hollywood Palladium Thursday night and will roll across the country over the next few weeks. From the looks of it, the tour was just as much about the promotional giveaways -- from a raffled-off $1,000 in cash from FreeScholarships.com to newly burned mix CDs from Liquid Audio -- as it was about the bands. Hidden beneath Smash Mouth's apparent optimism, the night's underlying theme seemed to be "All Star"'s mercenary message: "Get the show on, get paid."

In between this stop's raffles and giveaways - emceed by a demented-looking DJ in a silver foil suit -- openers 22 Jacks and Luscious Jackson logged some quality stage-time. Southern California's Jacks offered catchy power-pop that was earnest if unspectacular. Lead singer Joe Sib, looking something like a rockin' Ben Stiller, tried to engage the sparse crowd. "Your turn," he occasionally suggested, holding the mike out to a listless audience. Even a punked-up cover of the Police's "Message in a Bottle," which should have been familiar enough for a sing-a-long, got little response.

Introducing the band's current single, "Somewhere In Between," Sib speculated that the band might be able to come back someday and headline the venue "for free," before adding the kicker, "with free beer, too!" Even that bribe didn't jostle the crowd, who, besides being largely underage, had already been plied with plenty of free Doritos and other goodies.

When Luscious Jackson got their turn to work the room, they slipped directly into their smooth, languid amalgams of hip-hop, dance, trance and pop. Getting into a groove with the percolating "Naked Eye" and the driving "Devotion," singer/bassist Jill Cunniff's vocals were delicate and warm in contrast to guitarist Gabby Glaser's hushed lower tones, the mix adding rich shadings to the already textured songs.

The New York trio, augmented by additional touring members on keyboards, turntables and percussion, emphasized its disco leanings, perhaps in hopes of putting the crowd in the mood for a dance party. For "Citysong," Cunniff invited four girls and two boys from the audience to join the band on stage as dancers, as befitting the song's chorus. In synch with keyboardist Singh Birdsong (who replaced Vivian Trimble on tour), Cunniff jumped and spun around in a simple dance move that the half-dozen stage guests mimicked. Even drummer Kate Schellenbach bunny-hopped up from behind her kit to join the dance line. From there, the dance theme stuck.

Smash Mouth's revisionist-retro set brought out the shimmy, the watusi, the electric slide, and even the twist, as couples and friends spread out on the dancefloor. Oddly enough, since much of the crowd was dancing, a large percentage wasn't even watching the band. No matter, as Smash Mouth set up the stage with members on separate risers , so that they couldn't really interact with the audience anyway.

Opening with the hangover-themed "Then the Morning Comes," the band emphasized its Sixties garage and go-go leanings, referencing the Zombies, and ? and the Mysterians with farfisa-heavy melodies perky enough to groove to, and bland enough not to offend anyone. A cover of Van Halen's "Runnin' With the Devil" may have been an attempt to show a darker side, but it too felt zapped of any rebelliousness.

Due to a bad sound mix and the acoustics of the circular room, Steve Harwell's vocals sounded muddy -- though that could have been due to the band's penchant for oozy psychedelia. For the set-closing "Walking on the Sun," red and black lights temporarily blinded Harwell ("I feel like Ray Charles, I can't see shit," he complained), giving him a sunburnt glare as he intoned, "Act now, supplies are running out..." The lights were so bright, he didn't even see the irony.

JENNIFER VINEYARD
(February 11, 2000)