The Contrarian

MUSIC

By Brian McManus

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Jun. 23, 2009

It was somewhere in the 2004 Adam Sandler knee-slapping blockbuster 50 First Dates that it happened: 311 became the greatest band the world has ever known. In a pivotal scene of love lost, the wistful chords of the Cure’s “Love Song” play in the background. Only it’s not the Cure. It’s 311 bathing the sad-sack vocals and arrangements of Robert Smith’s heartfelt lament in a lime-squeezed pool of beach party funtimes and airy calypso-like vibes. The song’s makeover is striking. And when Sandler’s character Henry Roth comes up with another kooky plan to make amnesia-stricken Lucy Whitmore—played with much confidence and pizzazz by Titan of Acting Drew Barrymore—fall in love with him from one day to the next, and the music swells, you feel blessed at witnessing the union of cinema and music, and begin to understand the true definition of high art. Let’s hope Ziggy Marley—son of overrated political radical Bob Marley—will stand in the stage’s wings each night after opening for 311, and learn how proper, inspirational music is played. ■

Tues., June 30, 7pm. $49.50. With Ziggy Marley and the Expendables. Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing, 121 N. Columbus Blvd. 215.569.9400. livenation.com