EVERETT - A sold-out Everett Events Center brimmed with people of all ages Friday night. They braved the cold to have fun and rock out to world-renowned multimedia threesome Blue Man Group on its "How to Be A Megastar: 2.0" tour.
And boy, did everyone rock. The three speechless Blue Men came onstage behind a white dropcloth lit by strobe lights. Out front, three big screens gave the audience directions on sustained yelling, stomping and cheering.
When the curtain lifted, the Blue Men, dressed in black, their heads painted blue and their hands in blue gloves, began pounding on drums with red drumsticks. From there on, the evening soared with music, messages and mischief. The Blue Men tapped and thumped on a mass of contorted plastic pipes that looked like swirled-up intestines.
They even drummed on an upside-down piano. The Blue Men rocked the house with the help of their eight-piece band, which included vocalist Adrian Hartley. Hartley's rendition of Donna Summer's hit "I Feel Love" was as entertaining as her striped, flashing dress.
They were also joined for one piece by turntable genius Mike Relm, whose opening act was outstanding as he mixed it up with Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Simon and Garfunkel. The Blue Men lit themselves with flashing lights and plucked scared-looking people from the audience to help with their tricks, dance, thump percussion instruments, head-bop and jump. Blue Man Group performances encompass many things: messages on global warming, reflections of who we are in the Blue Man, and lots of visual trickery to leave audiences asking, How'd they do that?
Throughout the event, the screens flashed instructions on how to be a megastar. Rock Concert Movement No. 1: Head bob.
Everyone in the audience complied. Rock Concert Movement No. 5: Wave hands in the air like you just don't care.
Everett waved. A softer side of the evening was Blue Man Group's homage to Sept. 11, 2001.
The large screens showed footage of pieces of paper floating softly and silently to the ground. Each one had fallen at the feet of Blue Man Group's building in New York on the day of the terrorist attacks. The Events Center crowd was hushed.
A simple but poignant tribute. But the music is only one ingredient to the multimedia show: The visuals were stunning and the lighting, expert. It was a whirling dervish of a show with a supersonic pace.
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