LMFAO: Not sorry for party rocking

LMFAO - the neon-clad uncle-nephew duo behind "Party Rock" and "Sexy and I Know It" - brought its ridiculous fun to Fairfax, VA, on June 25, with a crew of back up dancers, inflatable toys and over-the-top theatrics. With one club beat blending into the next, the music wasn't all that memorable, but the two certainly knew how to put on a show and made for a entertaining night.

The show started off with three opening acts, the first of which was newcomer Matthew Koma. Koma, clearly on his first tour, is a one man performer who sings and plays guitar. However, he was overshadowed by nearly everything around him, from the lighting and the stage design, to his own super skinny jeans. One had to strain hear him over both his DJ accompaniment and his electric guitar, but it seemed like he had vocal talent.

Whereas Koma left the crowd standing wide-eyed and still, Dutch DJ Sidney Samson got the audience out of its seats and legitimately got the party started. His remixes of songs by artists ranging from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Rihanna helped him relate to everyone at the Patriot Center. Samson's name may have been relatively unknown among the audience, but his track "Riverside" was a number one hit in the Netherlands and in Ireland. His spot in the "Sorry for Party Rocking" tour may be his entrance into the U.S. music scene. One of Samsons' downsides was that he tended to play pre-recorded remixes without adding anything new while onstage. However, he also brought the night one of its most memorable moments when he stopped his track and had thousands of people come together to belt out the chorus of Gotye's smash hit "Somebody That I Used to Know."

Samson got most of the crowd hyped and dancing before Far East Movement took the stage and finished off the job. Between their "What'cha Want" tribute to the late Beastie Boy rapper Adam Yauch, their performance of "Like a G6" and an insane amount of dancing and skipping on stage, the group really managed to get the people going.

Finally, after two hours of opening acts, LMFAO was on. It was immediately clear that the group was living up to its lyric, "This is how I roll, animal prints, pants outta control" because amongst a dancing zebra, inflatable zebras, zebra print pants, vests, jackets and sunglasses, prints were everywhere.

They started off their performance with their latest album's opener, "Rock the Beat II," and throughout the night managed to play not only all of their major hits but also some of their lesser known songs, like "One Day" and "Shooting Star." However, it wasn't the music itself that made the night worthwhile - the songs were practically all one of the same club-banging variety - what mattered was the show that the duo put on.

LMFAO's entire performance was essentially a beach party taking place in front of an arena of people, and, somehow, Redfoo and SkyBlu acted ridiculous enough to pull it off. Around every three songs, one of them would undergo an outfit change and don some kind of t-shirt or bro tank bearing a relevant song's lyrics -- with accompanying tight animal print pants. The backdrop was also adjusted to keep up with the setlist. During "I'm in Miami [expletive]" inflatable palm trees were set on the sides of the stage, "Hot Dog" had hot dog vendor back up dancers and a dancing hot dog, "Champagne Showers," "Shots" featured a transportable bar and "La La La" had video playback on different surfaces to make the stage look like the song's music video.

The audience, made up of fans as young as four years old to adults in their mid-fifties, ate up the stage antics. LMFAO attracted a wide range of people, many of whom were dressed in animal print and neon, but the dominating demographic was tween girls. Clothed in their best LMFAO-esque outfits and usually with their parents in tow, these tweens cheered before, during and after every song. A tip for future Party Rockers: do not bring small children to this concert. It's extremely loud and the stage show is loaded with inappropriate language and dancing, not the ideal environment for young kids.

LMFAO has created a niche for themselves as "party rock," i.e. being dancing, drinking creators of heavily auto-tuned music that cranks at clubs and parties. Therefore, the best place to enjoy their music is right up front in the pit. In order to have the best time, take a good group of friends, bring a lot of energy and be ready to dance. The pit does present a few dangers, mainly getting sprayed with drinks during "Champagne Showers," bombarded with confetti during the closing acts and the occasional escaped inflatable zebra. All of this could be really fun, but if it's not your kind of fun, opt for the stands, where you'll be watching the raving from a distance.

If anything, LMFAO knew how to put on a good show, but they saved the best for last. After blasting the pit with what looked like champagne during a rowdy rendition of "Champagne Showers", LMFAO turned up the volume and stripped down to their speedos for their chart-topping finale of "Sexy and I Know It." With SkyBlu waving around an elephant trunk attached to his speedo and everyone else raving across the stage, it was hard not to laugh at the outrageousness of it all. Maybe that's why LMFAO was laughing, too. Maybe they understand party rock on a different level, a level that involves zebras and hot dog suits and inflatable palm trees. Or maybe, like the audience, they're just enjoying the senseless amusement, not so much for the music but for the experience.

See SCO's overview of this summer's local concerts here.