No Doubt’s fierce reunion concert

Saturday’s No Doubt concert at the Cricket Wireless Pavilion should be a model for how all reunion shows need to be done.

The fun-loving band that dominated the airwaves in the ’90s with their ska/reggae-rock hits and colorful style, returned to the stage with a fierce set after a four-year hiatus, giving fans the perfect blend of youthful familiarity and mature confidence that only comes with years of touring.

Fans waited in nervous anticipation for the lights to dim while roadies constructed an elaborate set behind a black curtain, even laying down slick white flooring.

With the drop of a massive white curtain, the shadowy figures of the foursome appeared, sending the venue into an uproar. In a quick swoop, the sheet collapsed to reveal a sleek, futuristic stage set and the band in polished white outfits and instruments.

Drummer Adrian Young, his hair sculpted into a spiked Mohawk with black tips, and touring multi-instrumentalists Stephen Bradley and Gabriel McNair were elevated on an ultramodern platform that looked like it belonged on the “Star Trek” USS Enterprise.

They leapt into “Spiderwebs,” singer Gwen Stefani sounding pitch perfect, wailing out the lyrics “It’s all your fault” with a searing intensity.

The chemistry between the members of the band is undeniable and never looks contrived. Sequences from the video for “Running” flashed in the background during that song, portraying old tour footage when they were just a wide-eyed quartet. None of that seems to have changed after all these years.

“Out first show in Arizona, we didn’t even have a van,” said Stefani. “We drove all the way here and played on top of the table . . . well we didn’t even get to play because the cops came.”

This time, as a spirited Stefani later told the screeching thousands packed into the venue, was the biggest show they’d ever played in Arizona.

They fired through hit after hit including “Hey Baby,” “It’s My Life” and “Ex-Girlfriend.” Each band member was armed with drumsticks during the performance of new single “Stand and Deliver,” a cover of the Adam and the Ants track. Young took a break from the kit to move around the stage on a marching snare drum while bassist Tony Kanal and guitarist Tom Dumont tackled bass drums.

Dumont impressed on guitar, playing doubly on his electric and switching to the acoustic resting on a stand in front of him during his solo on “Don’t Speak.”

Young did not disappoint, not only with his energetic drumming but also his outfits, or lack thereof. For most of the set, he wore only striped long underwear bottoms. During the encore, he surprised the audience in tighty whities and a tutu.

On “Just a Girl,” Stefani urged all of the men in the audience to scream “I’m just a girl” at the top of their lungs, resulting in decent response considering No Doubt’s typical fan base.

It’s always refreshing to see a lead singer interact with the audience, and Stefani took it a step further by pulling a weeping teenage clone of herself onstage for a hug and photo, and going in the audience to snap a picture with a mom and her young daughter.

When your eyes weren’t on the magnetic Stefani, you couldn’t help but gravitate toward Bradley with his long braids and inspiring dance moves.

On “Underneath It All,” guest vocals are handled by DJ Lady Saw, but Stefani filled in with her own edgy version of the reggae-infused solo.

Staying true to her fashion-icon status, Stefani left for two wardrobe changes, returning in a sequined black-and-silver checkered jumper and black tights, and later a pair of tie-dyed jeans, a glittery black polo and a flashy cape-like fabric hanging from the backside of pants. There is no question that she is the only woman who can pull these looks off.

“Rock Steady,” which Stefani called her favorite No Doubt song, and “Sunday Morning” kept up the energy for the encore.

Loitering after the last song, the band members graciously took several bows together at the end. Young and Kanal chucked drumsticks and guitar picks to the crowd, and in the ultimate gesture for her diehard fans, Stefani wiped off her signature red lipstick on two towels and tossed them into the sea of flailing hands.

The six bandmates giddily danced off stage like they just played their first show to a crowd of 15 people. Yes, No Doubt is back stronger than ever, and no, we don’t want them to go away.

No Doubt’s new pop ex-ska-vaganza is its best show ever

Thursday night, 24 hours before No Doubt would play only its third proper show since launching its first tour in five years, I finally found out after weeks of asking that I would indeed have a ticket to review the band’s first Southern California stop, at Cricket Wireless Amphitheater in Chula Vista.

Thanks to the good people at Atlantic Records, that is, who are eager to see their ND-influenced band Paramore get plenty of attention on this ginormous outing, certainly one of the hottest tickets of summer.

The next day, however, 30 minutes before I was about to hop on I-5 and lurch along in stop-and-go traffic for four hours, I learned in a polite e-mail that said ticket had been taken away.

Don’t ask me why, I couldn’t tell you –- though it probably still has something to do with this not-exactly-pleasant column from two years ago, or this behind-the-scenes follow-up. To say the Register has had a love/hate relationship with the most popular band to ever emerge from Orange County is putting it mildly.

I ruffled feathers by loathing their Tragic Kingdom homecoming in ’97 at the Pond -– but I remain a big fan of Return of Saturn and absolutely loved Rock Steady and the tour that ensued in ’01-’02. I got a sticky-sweet rush out of Gwen Stefani’s first solo pop confection -– but I despised her reunion-delaying second disc and its wide-eyed autobiographical centerpiece “Orange County Girl.” I thought she was convincingly Madonna-esque in her Hollywood Bowl debut in ‘05 — and I thought she was utterly delightful at Verizon in summer ’07 when she wrapped her solo touring (for now) and briefly reteamed with Tom, Tony and Adrian during encores.

I like to think I approach her/them fairly, digesting each new move as its own feast and then judging -– just like any other critic would. I’d also like to think any bad blood would be water under the bridge at this point.

But now I’m left wondering just who it is in the No Doubt camp –- their label, their management, Gwen and the guys themselves –- that didn’t want me to trek down to San Diego to see what a terrifically impressive performance they gave Friday night before 19,000 shrieking, ecstatic fans.

I’d hope you (and they) would know my rants and raves well enough to realize I’d never kiss their derrieres just to get in their good graces. Honestly, after this last-minute lock-out, which left me driving to nowhere wondering if I’d get in … well, that can leave even the most balanced scribe eager to tear his subject apart.

Not that I had the slightest trouble once I arrived in Chula. Pulled into VIP parking for $20, closest to the venue just in case I’d only be able to hear what went on, then I strolled toward the box office and instantly scored a pit ticket for $86, a mere $12 over face value. I’d probably have paid more in Ticketmaster fees if I had purchased it the proper way.

As Paramore ripped into the third or fourth song of its aggressive yet tentative set –- so soon into the tour, they’re still a tad overwhelmed by the enormity of it all — I waltzed right up to a curiously unpacked pit and secured a spot left-of-center along the barrier. I wouldn’t have been this close if No Doubt’s publicist had comped me. (Forgive the sameness of my pics … I’m no photographer.)

Given all this prologue, believe me when I make this bold statement: Friday’s 19-song, roughly 90-minute set was so strong, in fact –- so crisply conceived and sharply executed, with one eye cast toward modern pop dazzle, the other toward traditionalism –- that I haven’t the slightest reservation in declaring this the best show I’ve ever seen No Doubt give in more than a decade of following the group.

“We’re just trying to get inspired,” Gwen said between “Hey Baby” and “Different People” midway into the set, reiterating the reason they opted not to hunker down in a studio all year to record a long-overdue follow-up to Rock Steady, but rather got back out on the road to re-energize themselves and see what their chemistry could yield as they enter their 40s. (Tom Dumont’s already there, at 41; Gwen and Adrian Young hit the big four-oh in October and August, respectively; and Tony Kanal’s only a year behind.)

They needn’t have worried about seeming rusty, however –- I’ve never heard them sound so rich and full and precise. What’s more, they’re already busy revamping and remixing. “Excuse Me Mr.” is now much snakier, subtly skanking across funky ’60s-soul horn blats. The soothing “Underneath It All” has been updated as well: its lulling reggae lilt now shifts to a wicked Jamaican proto-ska groove dappled with Caribbean flavors, so expertly executed it would make the Aggrolites jealous.

But it’s the stark, striking look of the show itself that really grabbed me.

With the entire thing played out in a black-and-white (mostly white) motif –- the only color comes from videos on a giant screen behind them, like the spy-noir go-go fun of “Ex-Girlfriend” or the then-to-now evolution footage aired during “Running” –- No Doubt has crafted a bright dazzler that superbly evokes the traditionalism they’ll never leave behind while elevating the group’s ska-rock aesthetic to a high level of class, with kudos due Gwen’s 2Tone-goes-L.A.M.B. attire. (Her entrance clothes, white pants and a tight-fitting white coat hiding a white wife beater, was standard Stefani gear. But her second outfit, a checkered and sequined harlequin get-up in short-shorts and black tights, made her look like the hottest diva the Selecter never had.)

Madness and the Specials and the English Beat would be proud to see the impeccable joy they’ve wrought –- and No Doubt itself should be applauded for so unabashedly returning to their roots and refreshing them with a decade of experience, wisdom and chops development. (“This song means so much more these days,” Gwen said of “A Simple Kind of Life.” You can tell how deeply heartfelt its achin’-to-be lyrics are now that she has little Kingston and Zuma.)

Hit after hit after sharply delivered hit –- from a menacing “Hella Good” to a jaunty “Bathwater” to ripping renditions of “Sunday Morning” and “New” and a beautifully belted “Don’t Speak,” with Gwen’s face in close-up the whole time on the video screen -– all suggested No Doubt is more than ready to move forward. They’ve never played so effortlessly, yet they’re hardly coasting; when Gwen fearlessly raced up to the lawn to get up and close with fans during “Just a Girl,” I could tell just how hard they’re trying to reconnect.

So soon into a comeback tour, and they’re already at the top of their game. “Feels good, yeah?” Gwen asked pretty early on, after one of the few non-smashes in the set list, “End It on This.”

She said it again, almost purring with happiness: “Feels gooooood.”

It does indeed, Gwen. Welcome back.

(No Doubt, with Paramore and the Sounds, returns to play July 22, 27-28 at Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk … July 31-Aug. 2 and Aug. 4 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, with Katy Perry joining on the last date … Aug. 5 at Santa Barbara Bowl … and a return to Cricket Wireless Amphitheater on Aug. 8.)

No Doubt at Cricket Wireless Amphitheater, Chula Vista, May 22, 2009
Main set: Spiderwebs / Hella Good / Underneath It All / Excuse Me Mr. / Ex-Girlfriend / End It on This / A Simple Kind of Life / Bathwater / New / Hey Baby / Running / Different People / Don’t Speak / It’s My Life / Just a Girl
Encore: Rock Steady / Stand and Deliver / Sunday Morning

No dust on No Doubt in peppy Fresno concert

You could hardly tell they’d been apart for five years.

The members of No Doubt looked like they hadn’t missed a beat — let alone been on hiatus for five years — during their concert Tuesday night at Save Mart Center.

The Gwen Stefani-led ska/pop band rocked the arena for 90 minutes, going through what was essentially a greatest hits show.

Fresno was the second date on a reunion tour that will stretch into August.

“Fresno is one of my favorite places in the whole United States to play,” Stefani said at the start of the show, “and I am not joking you.”

On a spider-ish white stage that looked part “Star Trek,” the band cycled through crowd favorites such as “Hey Baby,” “Don’t Speak” and “Hella Good.”

Fans danced in the aisles and roared at Stefani and the gang throughout the night. Probably the biggest ovation came when spunky singer hopped off stage, bolted through the pit, across the arena floor and into the sections of seats furthest from the stage.

She headed back to the stage and did push-ups before launching into “Just a Girl,” one of the band’s signature hits.

Another show highlight was the band’s use of video. Like at many concerts, a huge video screen hung behind the stage.

No Doubt filmed numerous original videos to show throughout the concert. Perhaps, the most engaging though, was the video to accompany the song “Running.” It was a collection of old video footage from the group’s early years.

Teen rockers Paramore opened for No Doubt and had the younger portion of the crowd shrieking as well. Lead singer Hayley Williams was a firecracker, hopping around the stage and bantering with the crowd.

The lowlight of Paramore’s set was guitar trouble for Josh Farro, who missed a few songs. Eventually, Paramore had to cut a song from its set.

“If anything we’re never ever ever gonna forget this show,” Williams said, before the band went off stage, promising to play an extra song next time it comes to Fresno.

No Doubt opens 2009 tour in Las Vegas

Can a band that’s been on hiatus for five years, during which time its lead singer launched a monstrously successful solo career, return to find a meaningful place again within a music industry that’s gone into free fall while it was away?

No Doubt.

Much has indeed changed since the rock foursome from Orange County bid fans adieu in 2004 with a short but potent tour to promote a new greatest hits album, one that functioned as the guidepost for Saturday’s explosive opening-night performance to a sold-out house at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Singer Gwen Stefani birthed two children and two platinum-plus solo albums, not to mention establishing herself as a bona fide fashion designer, while bassist Tony Kanal,  guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young broadened their music skill sets by writing, playing with and/or producing other artists.
Nobody tried to pretend everything was the same as when No Doubt was riding high on the pop charts in the late-’90s and early-2000s, and it paid off in several aspects of a smartly conceived, thrillingly executed show that’s due for nearly five dozen dates across North America over the next four months.

Many of No Doubt’s songs revolve around love and heartbreak, subjects both universal and timeless. As the group’s chief lyricist, Stefani has channeled the woman’s point of view, specifically that of the young woman she used to be who often struggled to identify her place in the world.

Would a song like “Simple Kind of Life,” a fetching expression of her impulse for the domestic rewards of marriage and family in the face of the complex realities of relationships,  still fly now that she has kids of her own?

“I always thought I’d be a mom” she sang Saturday when the song rolled around in the set list, extending her arms, throwing her head back and accepting the congratulatory cheers from the female-dominated crowd in the 12,000-capacity arena (scaled back to about 10,000 by eliminating obstructed-view seating behind the snazzy stage setup).

When she offered the song’s next line — “Sometimes I wish for a mistake” — she quickly quipped “but not right now!,” fast-forwarding the sentiment to express her life at this moment.

Early on, Stefani turned the tables on the traditional musician-fan relationship in which listeners are after something for themselves, whether it’s as simple as a night of entertainment or something deeper like solace, illumination or transcendence.

No Doubt’s always been big on communicating the joy of playing music, and there was no shortage of that during a nearly 90-minute set chocked with hits. But Stefani, who has made no secret that the creative spark has been missing from the band’s recent attempts to craft new material for the next phase of its career, told the crowd that she and her band mates were looking to get something equally important back from them.

“The only reason we’re doing this tour is to be inspired,” she said, virtually throwing down a gauntlet after “Underneath It All,” with its opening line “There’s times when I want something more.”
“So it’s all up to you guys if we make another record.” No pressure there.

When the band offered up “Running,” from 2001’s “Rock Steady,” and Stefani sang “Be the one I need / Be the one I trust most / Don’t stop inspiring me,” it became a plea both to those fans and to the people on stage around her.

This career step gives the group a bit of a window to connect with its audience, new fans and with its own musical foundation, before seriously grappling with the question of whether its raison d’etre entering a new decade will be creative exploration or nostalgia.

Right now the forward momentum is being fueled by a visually striking stage production overseen by tour creative director Ray Woodbury and veteran video director Sophie Muller, who came up with the arresting images for the large video screens behind and flanking the stage.

A sparkling white retro-futuristic stage setup features six spider-leg-like ramps stretching out from an inverted cone in which Young mans his drum set. All band members, including adjunct horn players-singers-keyboardists Stephen Bradley and Gabrial McNair, wore white outfits punctuated with accents in the form of black belts or boots.

Kanal and Dumont, who start the show with white instruments connected to white-on-white amplifiers, move to neon colored models as the show unfolds, and as the accompanying visuals introduce shades of shocking pink, electric blue, bright orange and sizzling green.

Stefani introduced costume changes into No Doubt’s vocabulary, switching well into the show from the white jacket over a shirt and crisp white jeans into a checkerboard mini-dress over black tights and boots, her bright red lipstick providing the only dollop of color in the ensemble. The whole production echoes a back-to-the-basics-before-moving-ahead theme.

By the time Dumont reeled off the pogo-ing notes of the guitar riff that opens No Doubt’s girl-power anthem “Just a Girl” — near the end of a night of female-front rock that also included strong sets from Paramore and Sweden’s the Sounds — the crowd appeared fully committed to extending the group the love Stefani had invited earlier.

It made for a stirring and convincing welcome back.

– Randy Lewis

No Doubt Kicks Off Tour in Las Vegas

After an absence of five years, No Doubt returned to the stage Saturday as if they hadn’t missed a beat. “You always remember your first show of any tour,” singer Gwen Stefani told the audience a few songs into the concert, “and so far, so, so, so good.”

Dressed in white, members of the band ripped through a 90-minute set at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, the highlight of the 12th annual Tiger Jam, a benefit for the Tiger Woods Foundation, which specializes in children’s education.

“The only reason we’re doing the tour is to feel inspired,” Stefani, 39, told a crowd of 12,000 that included Woods, P. Diddy, Cassie, and a plethora of professional athletes.

The band appeared energetic as it played new songs but stuck mainly to hits, sending the audience into a frenzy when Stefani ran into the middle of the crowd to sing “I’m Just A Girl”. The crowd again went crazy when Stefani scanned the room, saying she was looking for her “favorite person.” (No word on whether husband Gavin Rossdale, on tour with his own band this spring, or sons Kingston and Zuma were in the house.)

No Doubt continues its tour Tuesday in Fresno.

2. No Doubt, “Underneath It All”: With no new material to promote on this tour, (Gwen Stefani said the only reason they were touring was to get some inspiration from their fans to write a new album) it’s basically “Rock Steady Part Deux.” But the island vibe of “Underneath It All” holds up quite well and the band is sounding and looking good.

As Gwen Stefani said during the Bamboozle festival’s Sunday closer, this was No Doubt’s “second show in five fucking yeeeeeeears.” And the intrepid band made sure their headlining set picked up exactly where they left off. This was the return of No Doubt the Billboard-dominating party band, not the continuing adventures of Gwen Stefani, globe-trotting pop star and fashion mogul. Stefani was looking as punky and spunky as she was in 1997: tight ponytail, trademark sleeveless white shirt and some chains flopping by her sides. With gusto, she bounced around, skanked like a ragdoll, banged her head, flailed her arms and basically ran around like a white blur straight through opening tracks “Spiderwebs,” “Hella Good” and “Bathwater.” Somehow she never appeared out of breath.

The band hammered away with a set made up exclusively of their voluminous catalog of hit singles — excepting a quick detour into Tragic Kingdom album track “Different People” and a lively cover of the Skatalites 1964 first-wave ska classic “The Guns Of Navarone.” “Underneath It All” was greeted with a shimmy and “Excuse Me Mr.” got a radical makeover, slowed down and skanked up until it sounded like the English Beat.

Stefani seemed almost perversely excited to be performing onstage with a band again, spending the show running out into the crowd, pointing out audience members she recognized from the previous night’s Atlantic City warm-up show, and screaming “I fucking love… this… song” before launching into their hit cover of Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life.” The reason she’s so excited, she intimated, was because touring gives No Doubt inspiration to record music — so expect the long-awaited follow-up to 2001’s Rock Steady sooner than later. After nine very sultry push-ups and launching herself up the scaffolding for “Just A Girl,” the band gave the audience a sneak peek of their drum-heavy cover of Adam & The Ants’ “Stand And Deliver,” which they’ll be performing on an episode of Gossip Girl on May 11th.

Elsewhere at Bamboozle, other bands were similarly ecstatic, or as best they could be under a drippy, grey New Jersey sky. Taking Back Sunday stalked the stage like the classic rock stars they are destined to become one day, even lightheartedly complaining about the number of “f-bombs” the other bands lobbed at the rain-soaked crowd. Adding to the bravado of their giant choruses, lead singer Adam Lazzara swung his microphone in impossibly huge circles. Like Stefani, he ended up climbing the scaffolding as well, but made it maybe a good 15 feet higher — a harrowing height which he topped off by hanging from his knees.

Also currently attempting a radio takeover, political punks Rise Against got their Bono on, lead singer Tim McIlrath standing on the drum riser and chanting “Rise! Rise! Rise!” Rooted in hardcore punk, the band demanded two competing circle pits and playing the occasional Descendents-styled burner. But they’ve picked up enough arena rock tricks to take a mostly acoustic breather for the third single off their new album, Appeal To Reason, “Hero Of War.” Pretty interesting to see a bunch of cigarette lighters raised triumphantly for a mostly straightedge band.

Booger-punks Sum 41 had one of the biggest crowds of the day, despite comedian Joe DeRosa’s quip, “Sum 41? I thought those fucking douchebags died in 1996.” Frontman Deryck Whibley channeled his best Billie Joe Armstrong, pointing everywhere, rambling over rhythm section runoff and leaping all around when the time was right.

The crowd shrunk to a fraction of the size for the act that followed — Disney Channel songstress Demi Lovato — but was no less passionate. Lovato’s voice, a crystal-clear waver that soared into distant parts of the parking lot was a sharp detour from Sum 41’s nasal roar — and she knew it. “I was a little nervous because this is not my usual crowd,” she said, “but you guys have been so good to me.” As she burst into the punky “Get Back,” a giddy sort-of-mosh-pit broke out among some of the younger fans in attendance, full of smiles and bouncing and joy. The face on of one of the few crowd-surfers in attendance was, justifiably, one of pure surprise.

No Doubt set list

• “Spiderwebs”
• “Hella Good”
• “Bathwater”
• “Underneath It All”
• “Excuse Me Mr.”
• “Ex-Girlfriend”
• “Simple Kind Of Life”
• “Guns Of Navarone” (The Skatalites)
• “Hey Baby”
• “New”
• “Running”
• “Different People”
• “Don’t Speak”
• “It’s My Life” (Talk Talk)
• “Just A Girl”

(encore)

• “Stand And Deliver” (Adam & The Ants)
• “Sunday Morning”

The reunited No Doubt electrified The Bamboozle festival tonight, bringing this massive, sprawling, waterlogged festival to a close. A night after performing a sparkling show at the Event Center of the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City – the band’s first since going on hiatus in 2004 – the California quartet offered the shivering crowd in East Rutherford a heart-warming dose of power pop, ska, and soul-inflected gems.

By 9:30, the rain had stopped and only a chilly breeze remained in the night sky. With no new material to play (the band has said that it plans to write a new record while on tour), No Doubt was free to give the thousands who had braved the weather all day exactly what they wanted: a collection of old favorites and radio hits to sing along with.

The band opened with one of its earliest hits, the ska-flavored “Spiderwebs,” before moving onto the crunky dance track “Hella Good.” Two songs in, No Doubt had already displayed more musical range than many of the bands that preceded them at The Bamboozle. The slow-burning reggae tune “Underneath it All” was next, followed by “Excuse Me Mr.,” which the band transformed from a straight-ahead rocker into a Police-style, “Message in a Bottle” arpeggio piece.

In the hours before No Doubt took the stage, a number of bands in the same musical tradition did their best to warm the dampened masses. Southern California scene veterans Face to Face – contemporaries of No Doubt – made their own case for being the best punk band to escape the West Coast in the last 20 years, pummeling the crowd (many of whom weren’t born when the band started in 1991) with a fierce and rapid assault of genuine three-chord malice.

They were followed by Chicago punk heroes Rise Against. who played their own rendition of ’90s-style punk-core on such favorites as “Re-Education” and “Ready to Fall.” Lead singer Trevor Keith challenged the crowd to form the biggest circle pit possible, with the stage left crowd facing off against the stage right crowd. Anyone who witnessed who won is a braver person than I.

In the 7 p.m. slot, one of the best bands of the festival appeared on one of the smallest stages. They may not have been the most powerful or the most experienced, but Care Bears on Fire, comprised of three teenage girls from Brooklyn, wowed the sparse crowd gathered before them with some of the most authentic, classic punk music at The Bamboozle. Eschewing the cookie-cutter pop-punk sound that dominated the festival, Care Bears on Fire played riff-ready, 1-2-3-4 punk rock, and were the closest thing to the Ramones one was likely to find. Before one tune, drummer Izzy said, “This next song is about something everyone can relate to, because we all did at one point: gym class.” Rock ‘n’ roll high school, indeed.

Stefani, No Doubt rock Borgata to kick off ‘Procrastination’ tour by Dan Good

Five years, two solo albums, some side projects, four babies and one marriage later, No Doubt is officially, unequivocally back – even if they never really went away, have nothing to prove and no new products to hock.

The So-Cal ska/pop/rock group opened its 55-stop “Procrastination” tour at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa’s Event Center on Saturday, playing a stream of hits and re-acquainting with old fans.

Singer Gwen Stefani, bassist Tony Kanal, guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young walked onstage to Star Wars instrumentals, wearing white pants and white shirts. Stefani rocked a white blazer with black trim, her blonde hair fixed in a double-bun updo – or something to that effect.

They opened with “Spiderwebs,” the opening track off their most popular album, 1995’s “Tragic Kingdom.”

Stefani scatted about the stage as she sang, kicking and dancing, her wallet chain dangling against her leg. She lost the blazer after two songs. Soon after she apologized to the crowd.

“Sorry we don’t have a new record,” she told the standing-only crowd. “I needed to get inspired to write some new music.”

Thus, the “Procrastination” tour was born. No Doubt’s tour is unique because the foursome never had a falling out like the Stone Temple Pilots, never broke up like Blink 182, isn’t promoting a new album and doesn’t have anything to prove.

They just took a break and now they’re back, traveling the country for inspiration for an album that’s a year away.

The group formed in the 1980s, a relative unknown California product until “Tragic Kingdom” and its smash hit about soured love, “Don’t Speak,” made them international stars. “Tragic Kingdom” sold more than 10 million copies.

No Doubt’s 2000 album “Return of Saturn” wasn’t as big a commercial sell, but 2001’s Reggae-infused “Rocksteady” netted No Doubt two Grammy awards. In 2004 the band mates went their separate ways, with Stefani recording two successful solo albums and starting a family in the band’s downtime.

Stefani is the A-lister here, with a marriage to a fellow musician (Bush’s Gavin Rossdale) and looks that lend well to fashion photography.

But let’s set the record straight – this isn’t just a knock-out singer and three random guys. You listen to Dumont’s haunting guitar solo on “Don’t Speak,” you see Young smashing the drums on “Hella Good” and Kanal slinking around the stage as he provides the hypnotic bass line for “Bathwater,” and you realize these guys could be big with any front man – or in this case, front woman.

And No Doubt’s front woman is in shape. Midway through Saturday’s show Stefani bent down and stepped her hands forward until she found herself in push-up position, and Stefani started doing push-ups on the stage.

Eight… nine… ten.

She walked her hands backward, stood up, flexed her biceps then sang the female power anthem “Just a Girl.”

The group closed the 90-minute set with “Sunday Morning,” a track from “Tragic Kingdom” that deals with, like “Don’t Speak,” the failed romance between Stefani and Kanal.

Afterwards Stefani wiped her face and armpit with a towel and threw it into the crowd. Young emerged from behind his drum set – shirtless, wearing jockeys and black and white striped socks.

The band assembled at mid-stage. A photographer snapped a picture. The crowd cheered. No Doubt blew kisses, said goodbyes, threw drum sticks and walked into the night.

Tinted Windows opened for No Doubt, and they sounded slick for a relatively unknown opening act – which makes sense, because it’s actually a super group consisting of Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, Hanson singer Taylor Hanson, Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick.

No Doubt? A guy who sang MMMBop? A Smashing Pumpkin? Is this the 1990s?

Tinted Windows performed offerings from its week-old self-titled album, including “Doncha Wanna” and the single “Kind of a Girl,” a power pop song about an intoxicating woman.

After their set ended you found yourself humming their choruses in your mind, wishing Tinted Windows could have kept playing.

But then No Doubt emerged onstage, and – well, it made you stop humming Tinted Windows. One of the group’s most beautiful songs is the ballad “Simple Kind of Life,” which Stefani penned for “Return of Saturn.” It’s about marriage and family and settling down.

“This is the first time I’m singing this song since two babies came out of my womb,” Stefani said.

She made a lyric alteration mid-song, substituting “I always thought I’d be a good mom” where it didn’t originally appear.

Simple kind of life, huh? After all the years and babies and weddings and solo albums and side projects, things are finally simple again for No Doubt. They’re back on-stage and back together, right where they belong.

Before singing “Simple Kind of Life” Saturday night at the Event Center of Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani said that this was the first time she had sung it in public since her two sons were born, in 2006 and 2008.

Originally released on No Doubt’s 2000 album “Return of Saturn,” this is a bittersweet ballad where she yearns for motherhood, and describes herself as selfish for putting it off too long.

If she had any trouble getting into the spirit of the song, which no longer applies to her personal life, she didn’t show it. Similarly, the band — presenting the first show of a reunion tour that also comes to Holmdel and Camden in June — basically picked up where it left before it went on hiatus in 2004. It was a high-energy, glitch-free tour opener, with the band, lacking new material, free to focus on highlights of its previous years together.
When the band announced the tour schedule, in February, its festival-closing appearance at the Meadowlands’ Bamboozle festival tonight was the first show. Then it added, as a warmup, the concert at the Event Center, which has a capacity of 3,000. It will spend most of the tour headlining amphitheaters that have a capacity of five or more times that.

Originally the band planned to release an album before touring, but the songs turned out to be frustratingly long in coming. Stefani said, from the Borgata stage, that the band hoped to get inspiration from the tour to write some new music.

So the show was devoted to old stuff: hits like “Don’t Speak,” “Just a Girl,” “Underneath It All” and “Spiderwebs,” as well as more obscure songs like “Excuse Me Mr.” “Different People” and “End It On This,” and a cover of the Talk Talk new-wave hit, “It’s My Life.” There was a bouncy, retro feel to “Bathwater,” a celebratory, good-time groove to “Keep On Dancing,” and some venomous anger to “Ex-Girlfriend.”

Throughout the show, the band moved smoothly from reggae to ska, punk-pop and power ballads, with Stefani, bassist Tony Kanal, guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young ably supported by longtime associates Stephen Bradley and Gabrial McNair on backing vocals and a variety of horn, keyboard, string and percussion instruments.

Stefani, who established herself as a successful solo artist during the band’s hiatus, couldn’t have looked happier, back onstage with her old friends, and with many of the group’s longtime fans crowding close to the stage. She beamed when fans sang along, and graciously took audience members’ cameras and snapped photos of herself, with them behind her. Before the sarcastic feminist anthem “Just a Girl,” she flexed her biceps, showed off her rock-hard abdominal muscles, and dropped to the floor to do 10 push-ups – a 39-year-old mom, still feeling empowered by the song’s defiant message.

The new intergenerational power-pop supergroup Tinted Windows opened the show. Taylor Hanson of Hanson sang lead, James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins played guitar, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne handled bass and most of the backing vocals, and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick was on drums.

The group, which released its self-titled debut album on April 21, seemed modeled, to a large degree, on the clever-but-catchy formula of Fountains of Wayne; that’s not surprising, since Schlesinger is the primary songwriter. Still, the group had a personality of its own, with Iha’s guitar riffs flirting with dissonance, and Carlos, with his unwaveringly buoyant playing, adding more personality than your average drummer.

The musicians’ other commitments will likely make Tinted Windows a fleeting side project. But this is a band worth checking out, for as long as they may stay together.