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The chorus of "Come Clean" rang through Raley Field, coupled with the sound of screams and the smell of snow cones. EndFest 2007 was in the air Saturday night, the annual concert sponsored by The End (FM 107.9) that showcases the good, bad and pre-recorded in Top 40.
And once again EndFest was like a concert equivalent of the food court, where a crowd of more than 6,000 sampled the latest hit makers in pop (Hilary Duff, Katharine McPhee), rock (Gym Class Heroes, Click Five) and R&B (Ne-Yo).
What a difference five months makes.
This is the station that came under intense scrutiny after an on-air water drinking contest ("Hold Your Wee for a Wii") led to the death of contestant Jennifer Strange. Just the idea of an EndFest seemed inappropriate back then.
But the spirit of EndFest didn't look sullied Saturday night, with camera phones clicking away at McPhee and cotton candy for sale in the aisles. The End also is also enjoying a recent Arbitron ratings spike, which shows it at No. 8 -- up from No. 11 -- among local stations for the first part of 2007.
The End's sister station, KWOD (FM 106.5), was the one dealing with bad vibes this weekend. The alternative-rock station cancelled tonight's KWOD Summer Buzz concert due to poor ticket sales.
But back at Raley Field, EndFest 2007 was screaming away. Here's the blow by blow:
• The Click Five kicked off EndFest at, appropriately enough, 5 p.m. And the band's 25-minute set sped by with apple-cheeked pop-rock (sample lyric: "She's bittersweet, she knocks me off my feet"). The guys in Click Five also get extra style points for rocking button-down shirts with skinny ties while the crowd was sweating it out in tank tops. This was prime snow cone eating time, so the Click Five couldn't quite compete with everyone who was getting in the concession lines and settling in for the show.
• McPhee might've been the runner-up on season 5 of "American Idol," but she was the Queen Bee of EndFest 2007. McPhee held fort in one of Raley Field's suites after her 20-minute set, and whenever she came to the balcony and waved to the crowd - which was a lot - it was camera phone mayhem.
On stage, she sang to canned back-up music. But she did bring two back-up singers, and they all karaoked away to McPhee's debut album. McPhee also took a solo turn, albeit with pre-recorded piano, and wailed on Alanis Morissette's "Mary Jane."
• Gym Class Heroes brought instruments back to the stage, along with a funky, rap-rock sound. The band may have aspirations to be like a smart-aleck version of the Roots but came off more like Ugly Kid Joe for the MySpace generation. Speaking of MySpace, singer Travis "Schleprok" McCoy pleaded for the crowd to add Gym Class Heroes to their Top 8. Because who doesn't want to be cyber-friends with a band that samples Supertramp, and a singer who claimed that "Cupid's Chokehold" caused "a spike in the birth rate?"
Gym Class Heroes does get bonus points for name-checking Sunny Day Real Estate, the great emo band, in "Taxi Driver." But the group gets a C- for the off-key singing in "On My Own Time (Write On!)." Guess these Gym Class Heroes skipped music class.
• Hilary Duff arrived in a brunette hair, a baby doll dress and the sound of every pre-teen in the crowd going bonkers. And she was responsible for the signature EndFest moment: the impossibly perky chorus of "Come Clean," where the crowd sings "Let the rain fall" and all feels right and Disney in the world.
Duff also showed up everyone in terms of a stage show. She was backed by four dancers and an eight-piece backing band (an extra percussionist is, you know, really important to exploring the nuances of her songs).
The band was too big for Duff's voice, but the crowd didn't seem to care. And everyone was kind enough not to chuckle when Duff joined the dancers for a few clunky steps. In terms of all-out crowd excitement, "The Duff" couldn't be beat.
• A significant chunk of the crowd had left by the time Ne-Yo started the night's final set. And with the R&B singer joined by just a DJ and two back-up dancers, his show felt scaled down after the Duff extravaganza. Couldn't Ne-Yo at least have brought an extra percussionist?
But what Ne-Yo lacked in live music, he made up for in the strength of his voice. Ne-Yo's forte is R&B meant for making out ("Sexy Love," "Because of You"), sung with a sturdy tenor and the kind of dance moves designed to make the crowd swoon.
"I might even find me a little Sacramento girl before I leave," said Ne-Yo, before kicking into "Can We Chill."
Ne-Yo left soon enough, after just 50 minutes on stage, and EndFest 2007 was a wrap. Because singers may come and go, but EndFest always seems to stick around.
The way he says they "karoakied" away to her debut album makes it sound like she wasn't really singing or something. It sounds fine when you are there...it's just cheap. The record label went cheap on her not to send the band they spend time to put together for her TV tour on the road with her. And it gets mentioned in all of these reviews. They don't say she doesn't sing well...they don't even say she doesn't perform well. But they ALL mention that she's singing to track.
Katharine McPhee fans around the world