Staff Editor on August 31st, 2020

0

As is typical when Fitz & the Tantrums perform, there was dancing and cheering and applause on Friday night. But fans who cruised to the Ventura County Fairgrounds for the drive-in concert by the Los Angeles pop favorites showed their appreciation by honking their car horns, too.

The show was staged by CBF Productions’ Concerts in Your Car, one of just a handful of promoters who are putting on drive-in shows in the face of a pandemic that has throttled live music. Fitz & the Tantrums play two more such concerts next weekend at the Grove of Anaheim.

The stage was set up as theater-in-the-round, with cars surrounding the band on all sides. Depending on their proximity to stage, fans got audio from the PA or from their car stereo via a synched FM radio signal. It was BYO concessions, as there were no vendors.

On a breezy night when temperatures dipped into the low 60s, ZZ Ward opened with a sit-down acoustic set with guitarist Erick Walls. Because she was sitting down, she didn’t face all of the audience members, but video was shown on big screens on all four sides of the stage. Ward seemed nervous and cold. Despite seeming slightly distracted, she was intensely grateful to the audience, constantly thanking them for their honks and laughing/smiling at the end of each song in gratitude.

The headliners, though, gave a 360-degree spectacle, with bassist Joe Karnes, saxophonist James King, keyboardist Jeremy Ruzumna and drummer John Wicks situated on the four corners of the stage while Michael Fitzpatrick and Noelle Scaggs roamed its entirety. Noting how hard the past few months have been on everybody, Fitzpatrick beseeched the crowd to join the band in a cathartic scream.

The set mixed the sextet’s hits from all four of their albums, including 2019’s “All the Feels,” the title track of which showed up in the three-song encore with “HandClap” and “The Walker.” Scaggs allowed as how she usually asks the crowd to helicopter their arms in the air for “Roll Up,” but given the conditions, she instead asked the crowd to flash their headlights.

When the band took the stage for “HandClap,” Fitzpatrick asked everyone to turn their stereos up to 11. Fitz & the Tantrums’ energy has rarely been anything but.

Setlist: Get Right Back, Spark, Complicated, Out of My League, 123456, Break The Walls, Maybe Yes, Fool, OCD, 6am, Living For the Weekend, Help, Fools Gold, Roll Up, Money Grabber, Shine, Hands Up. Encore: HandClap, All The Feels, The Walker.

Photos and recap by Annie Lesser