Wrapping up their eighteenth(!) annual summer tour without an absence, 311
made one of their final concert stops on August 19th for a near-capacity
crowd at the world-famous Hollywood Palladium.
Touring behind their latest album “Mosaic,” the 311 Unity Tour crossed
North America on a 42 city trek that featured Danish band New Politics as
their main support act.
311’s current outing wraps in Virginia Beach, VA on September 1st. After
a short break, the group will reappear for a seventeen date fall tour that
kicks-off October 7th with Jack’s 12th Show in Irvine, CA. (That lineup
includes The Offspring, Cyprus Hill, Lit, Eve 6 and the Gin Blossoms.)
The band also announced that March 10-11, 2018 will see their biennial 311
Day shows return to Las Vegas for the first time since 2012. 311 Day will
take place in the Park Theater at Monte Carlo, a new venue that holds 5700
souls and is just half the size of the arena shows of years past. Tickets
go on sale to the public 8/31/17 and, as always, will draw fans from
around the U.S. and the world.
311, formed in Omaha, Nebraska in 1990, ran through many of their fan
favorites in a twenty-six song set, but also included nine songs from
“Mosaic,” which dropped June 23rd. The Palladium crowd welcomed the new
material with nearly the same enthusiasm as 311 hits such as “Beautiful
Disaster,” “Come Original,” “All Mixed Up,” and “Amber.” “Mosaic” is
311’s twelfth studio album and rose to #6 on the Billboard 200. (Previous
album sales topped nine million in the U.S. alone.) The first single off
the new album “Too Much to Think” is already a radio favorite, peaking at
#20 on U.S. alternative charts. Their second single “Too Late” is also
gaining traction on radio playlists.
New Politics, a three piece ensemble formed in Copenhagen, Denmark in
2009, opened for all of 311’s headlining dates. The band moved to
Brooklyn, NY after signing with RCA, and has found success with their hit
singles “Yeah Yeah Yeah” and “Harlem.” In addition to a solid
performance, lead singer David Boyd kept the crowd entertained with his
awe inspiring dance moves.
Despite the rigors of endless touring, 311 consistently brings passion and
intensity to their live performances. Back in the day, several groups of
their ilk may have sold more albums, but this gang of five is still
playing and going strong (after twenty-seven years together), while many
of those others big sellers have sunk into relative obscurity. Meanwhile
311, (a name inspired by a skinny dipping incident involving 311’s
original lead guitarist and Omaha PD’s criminal code for indecent
exposure), keeps swimming right along! They obviously have no desire to
wade in the shallow end of the pool. This concert proved, once again,
that 311 is still doing cannonballs off the high dive!
Photos and review: John G. Tobin
