Live Review: The Academy Is... @ House Of Blues 11/7/08

"I want to see your best ‘80s dance moves, just like The Breakfast Club!" demanded The Academy Is … frontman William Beckett before wrapping up night two of a sold-out doubleheader at the House Of Blues. Most of the audience looked to have been born in the ‘90s and may have missed the reference point, but Beckett pulled his best Bender and walked like an Egyptian across the stage before ripping into a caffeinated version of "We've Got A Great Big Mess On Our Hands."

It was just one of a handful of old favorites that the Hoffman Estates emo-pop-punk outfit teased the crowd with in between samples from its latest release, the appropriately named Fast Times at Barrington High, which couples the band's familiar pep-rally innocence (see "Summer Hair=Forever Young") with the pains of growing up (like, um, dealing with aggressive older women, on "Beware! Cougar!").

But Beckett himself seemed to be the night's big draw: From his introduction by opener We The Kings as "a very good-looking human being," all cell phone cameras were pointed to the singer, who married his catalog good looks with passionate stage antics that caused contagious fit of swoons throughout the crowd.

Between kicking the drum kit, launching off the snare and into a Perfect 10 splits, throwing the mic stand in the air and catching it, Beckett proved a master of theatrics. While the bass player, in a soaked secondhand Eagles t-shirt, and a half-naked drummer sweated their way through the high-voltage set, Beckett turned the mic over to the rapturous crowd for the choruses of "LAX To O'Hare," "Everything We Had," and the new MTV single of the week, "About A Girl."

With its hypnotically obnoxious light show and limited conversation skills, The Academy Is… schooled old-school fans and newcomers alike on the equation that has made them a seemingly overnight sensation: Play fast, play loud, throw in a fraction of teen angst and multiply with a double dose of lustfully androgynous lead singer.

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