Savage Garden brings bloom to
Harborlights
By Paul Robicheau, Globe Correspondent,
08/26/98
It's ironic that Savage Garden and Billie Myers each sang snatches of
``Smells Like Teen Spirit'' during their sets at Harborlights. Monday
night's wide-ranging but youngish crowd of 3,100 probably contained a low
percentage of Nirvana fans.
Far from grunge, the misnamed Savage Garden has cracked the teen market with
heartthrobby dance-pop that nods to '80s acts like Duran Duran, George
Michael, and A-Ha, but with enough sophistication to please adult Top 40
fans as well. The Australian duo has sold 8 million copies of its
eponymous 1997 debut (4 million in the United States) and Monday night
showed they're ready to grow as a live act.
In Darren Hayes, Savage Garden has a singer who knows how to strike the
pose and walk the walk, recalling Bono with
his close-cropped hair, black attire, sporadic
sunglasses, and slinky stage moves. ``We need your help,
Boston,'' he cried to engage a call and response of the
``a chic-a-cherry cola'' line in a pulsing prance through
hit ``I Want You,'' and fans gladly complied.
Nearing the end of its first American tour with a
five-piece band, Savage Garden has honed its repertoire
to calculated essentials, from crowd sing-alongs to a
fancy light show and even a drum solo. The group played
the majority of its CD, plus a few set-padding covers,
led by serviceable takes on Bonnie Raitt's ``I Can't Make
You Love Me'' and Joan Osborne's ``One of Us.''
Savage Garden put more life into its own slick, innocuous
material, from the romantic ``To the Moon & Back'' and
``Truly Madly Deeply'' to frolics like the breezy
``Promises'' and edgier ``Break Me Shake Me.'' On ``Break
Me ..., '' keyboardist-guitarist Daniel Jones - the other
half of the duo - stepped forward to serve as more of a
foil to Hayes, who donned a padded, battle-ready jacket.
Hayes's preening grated at times, but he kept from going
overboard and broke self-seriousness with an amusing
mid-set routine. A Spinal Tap-ish cluster of mirror balls
lowered from the rafters, and he danced with his two
female singers in garish outfits suggesting Elton John
and the Spice Girls. ``Spice up your life,'' he shouted
to fans, rubbing his crotch and shaking his butt, then
tried Madonna-like choreography with a chair.
``I'll be your fantasy,'' Hayes sang in encore ``Truly
Madly Deeply'' to predictable screams, and he had both
the moves and the luxurious voice to fill that role. And
despite generic songs and derivative shenanigans, Savage
Garden still had something most one-hit wonders don't:
onstage charisma. Now, if only the group can record a
follow-up before the bloom is off the rose.
Billie Myers is touring behind her own promising debut,
``Growing, Pains.'' But the Jamaican-English singer
showed no growing pains, playing up to a bombastic live
band. Her best moments came when she sat for a more
understated ``You Send Me Flying,'' suggesting a soulful
Chrissie Hynde, and ran up an aisle during the catchy
finale ``Kiss the Rain,'' climbing 20 feet up a tent
girder to urge the crowd into a clap-along. With that
kind of energy and personality, she's a voice to watch.
This story ran on page D02 of the Boston Globe on 08/26/98.
� Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
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