311 delivers stirring funk-rock
311/Papa Roach/Unwritten Law
 Tweeter Center,Mansfield, Massachusetts
August 19, 2005
by Marc Hirsh

originally published in The Boston Globe, August 25, 2005

As one of the funk-rock hybrids that rode to success in the wake of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, 311 never quite equaled that band in terms of record sales or public awareness. But if singer Nick Hexum lacks Anthony Kiedis’s sex appeal and bassist P-Nut doesn’t have Flea’s oddball factor, Friday’s performance at the Tweeter Center revealed plenty about how the band has managed a successful career while staying mostly under the radar for over a decade.

A key factor was 311’s musicianship. Drawing heavily on not only funk but also Caribbean forms like reggae, ska and dub demands a tight rhythm section, and P-Nut and drummer Chad Sexton were easily up to the task. Sexton compensated for hiding behind his kit for most of the show by taking a drum solo during “Applied Science” that showed off what he had been doing almost invisibly the rest of the time, with the rest of the band eventually joining in to pound on a line of toms and cymbals that had been added to the front of the stage.

Sexton seemed otherwise content to cede the spotlight to Hexum’s easygoing singing, P-Nut’s stomping around in baggy shorts, Tim Mahoney’s slouched guitar playing and S.A. Martinez’s rapping. The band drew from each of their nine albums, paying as much attention to their debut Music as to their latest Don’t Tread On Me and acknowledging their biggest seller, 1995’s 311, just long enough to play “Down” and “All Mixed Up.” Referring to the show as a part of 311’s fifteenth anniversary tour, Hexum said “Tonight happens to be the biggest crowd we’ve had yet,” and if that was true, then it seems like it was time well-spent.

Nü-metal survivors Papa Roach were practically coheadliners, with an hour-long set and an audience that seemed to have come as much for them as for 311. With declarations like “This is rock and roll, this is not church, ladies and gentlemen!,” singer Jacoby Shaddix drew heavily from the well of metal frontman clichés, but he managed to pull most of them off. During the aptly titled “M80 (Explosive Energy Movement),” he wandered through the crowd, high-fiving and hugging fans while fiercely screaming out the lyrics without missing a beat.

Unwritten Law opened the show with aggressive but melodic hard rock that hinted at their Warped Tour past while incorporating enough rap, ska and hardcore to fit in with the headliners.

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