Stereos

Stereos took the stage after Fefe Dobson's negligible performance at the Hedley Concert April 5, 2010 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Front man, Pat K, may think he’s part of something novel and exciting but there was nothing novel or exciting about this generic electronic-pop band. With such poorly composed hits as "She Only Likes me When She’s Drunk" and "Summer Girl", it is little wonder they haven’t transgressed away from their tween fan base.

Pat K’s bleating vocals perverted the already chaotic juvenile quality of their ‘live’ performance and made every song sound like a continuing verse in an epic tribute to musical banality. For some reason, probably to validate their musicality, they actually have a basic band setup with drums and electric guitars on stage. I’m sure at some point in the creative process Stereos actually used instruments but because the composition is so heavily processed and each song sounds alike I'm not totally convinced (as I should be with a live performance) that some computer in the back isn’t generating the entire set.

In terms of performance, the lead was too fussed about messing up his glossy and super straight man-mane to exert any action. This left the on-stage action to the two guitar and bass players. They demonstrated their showmanship with such hackneyed moves as mounting an the amp and proffering their instrument to the crowd; mid-riff rock style jump-splits and homo-erotic, gender bending guitar duets. I suspect that without the trendy synthesized vocals, or the high energy, rapid fire pacing of the rap-like lyrics, or the ingeniously catchy choruses, “do wah, do wah, let’s make this happen”, the Stereos would fade into the oblivion that they ultimately belong in.