Sunday, March 28, 1999

98° is cookin'

With all the hype about 98° during the past few days, members Jeff Timmons, Nick and Drew Lachey and Justin

Jeffre had a lot to live up to when they took the stage at the MacEwan Hall Ballroom last night.

Sure, they look good in the videos, their CDs are slick and well-produced and apparently they can sign their names a million times in a row.

But the question was, could they pull it off live?

The 900 rabid fans at last night's concert -- which sold out within three hours -- seemed to think so.

Again, I'm floored by the startling volume and high-pitched tones 16-year-old girls can produce.

But even the casual observer and the parents or boyfriends who were dragged along to the show had to admit 98° are at least entertaining.

Though they are lumped in with bands like The Backstreet Boys, N'Sync and The Moffats, to name a few, 98° -- whose latest CD, 98° and Rising, has gone platinum in both Canada and the U.S. -- have a little more soul and diversity than their supposed counterparts.

And the presence of the superb musicians in the backing band helped them immeasurably.

Whereas bands like V.I.P. and 3deep focus on the simple and catchy, 98° aims for the gut-level funk.

They don't quite kick it out like Sly and the Family Stone, but the group did an admirable job of covering Stevie Wonder's Superstition.

They took the stage to the strains of Carmina Burana and a recorded voice saying: "98° -- they are our only hope."

Any other band might have come off as having a big ego, but they pulled it off as tongue-in-cheek.

After their dramatic entrance, 98° launched into an energetic medley of covers which included Prince's 1999 and the rather bizarre choice of Pretty Fly For a White Guy, by the Offspring.

Oh, well. Whatever pleases the kids.

The group was careful not to tire out their fans, mixing in ballads such as Invisible Man from their self-titled debut album with the up-tempo numbers.

The three opening acts were only given 15 minutes each, but made the most of their stage time.

Ontario native Joee started off the evening with his polished brand of pop, followed by newcomer Jessica Simpson from Dallas, who sounding a bit like Britney Spears' more mature cousin.

Canadian rap star Maestro was the only one of the three openers who showed any significant originality, although it's scary to think that one of his biggest hits -- Let Your Backbone Slide -- came out when most of the audience was barely in the first grade.

Set List