Fuel, Buckcherry play powerfully

\"Now this is an official rock and roll show," said Fuel lead singer Brett Scallions as he held up a bra. But to say that the show began there, during the three-song encore, would be incorrect. Fuel powered through an hour and a half, start to finish, with pure rock and roll Sunday at the Egyptian Room of the Murat Theatre in Indianapolis.\nThe evening kicked off with a performance from Buckcherry, a band that eerily resembles a young AC/DC. Case in point: the lead singer's vocals are too overbearing for the music and the guitarist dances around shirtless, wearing a tie. And the stripping didn't stop there, when lead singer Josh Todd revealed that, while his abs might be stacked, he's the skinniest lead man in modern rock.\nBuckcherry's short set included a few hits from its debut album, such as "For The Movies" and "Dead Again," plus a few new tracks, including "Whiskey in the Morning," from its upcoming release, Time Bomb. To close the show, Todd lectured the crowd about how all things that come from the earth get people high, before blasting into the band's smash single, "Lit Up." \nWhile the band obviously tried, its music was often too intense. The guitars were erratic and Todd could not stop screaming. The studio did wonders for these guys. \nBut not all was lost. Fuel appeared about minutes later and rocked the house. Kicking off with "Mary Pretends," the band played a clean, crisp set which just as much power and intensity as Buckcherry. But in Fuel's case, it came naturally. The instruments and vocals combined seamlessly to give fans a powerful performance.\nThe crowd got going when the band played the heavy "Bittersweet" from its 1998 release, Sunburn. Bodies were thrown around, a small mosh pit tempted the aggressive and relentless, and hordes of fans were hoisted to be crowd surfed to the stage. It was rock and roll at its finest.\nNot to be outdone by Buckcherry's "Let them smoke crack" speech, Scallions spoke about the connection between youth violence and music, or the lack thereof, before the band played "Jesus or a Gun."\nBut heavy-hitting rock and roll wasn't the only thing on the menu for Fuel; the band took a break to play a few of its ballads. "Bad Day" was a fan favorite and guitarist Bell took a short interlude afterward for a rendition of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb."\nFuel did not ignore its latest release, 2000's Something Like Human. But songs such as "Innocent" and "Last Time" didn't generate the same power as Sunburn's hit, "Shimmer." The band closed its set with its biggest single, "Hemorrhage (in my hands)," which spent eight weeks atop the modern rock charts.\nCheck out Thursday's IDS Weekend for an interview with Fuel.