Ram's Head Live! in Baltimore, MD June 20th, 2008

Braving the Friday evening traffic of Baltimore city, my PEV pal Ken Harmon and I walked into the Power Plant Live! plaza, hours before the hustle and bustle of drunkards, party people, bachelors and bachelorettes, around 5pm. A scattering of folks caught the 4:45 train to an early weekend happy hour, but the place to be, is truly right outside the doors of the Ram's Head Live! arena. Girls line the walls leading up to the venue like an army of teenagers outside of a Best Buy at 11:57pm and GTA is about to drop. You can hear the echoes of some of the show's opening acts warming up - The Bridges and Locksley respectively. And while both of these bands are EXTREMELY talented, they're not quite as global as some of the OUTRAGEOUS acts the headliner has shared the stage with.

Rooney, the 5-piece rock band out of Los Angeles named after Principal Ed Rooney (Google it if you're confused. Seriously) has played with the likes of Audioslave, Incubus, Jane's Addiction and Weezer and on June 20th, 2008 would bring the heat to Baltimore. You know Rooney - the talented pop-rock troupe that finally returned to the spotlight of the industry with their album, "Calling the World" after amassing a set of lost records for four years. Guiding a collision between the Beatles and Blur, the band's ability to capture the best parts of music over the last 50 years is what truly allures listeners young and old; not to mention their undeniable charisma - their stage literally drips with it.

They take the stage as you might expect - to booming applause, ready to take on every ear in the room (they are after all, supporting a record that was nearly five years in the making). Slamming the crowd with past favorites such as "Blueside," lead singer Robert Schwartzman eats up the audience and keeps their attention with bellowing highs and captivating notes, handing it off to guitarist Taylor Locke during newer tunes such as "When Did Your Heart Go Missing" and "I Should Have Been After You" for shredding that reeks of the pop-rock of today and the rock n' roll of yesterday. Louie Stephens, Ned Brower and Matthew Winter are the other players of this show, thumping to the beat while dodging the occasional bra attack emitting from the crowd. Images of Tom Jones pass through our minds...these guys do however have better hair and stylistic choices.

Taking the audience where they please, Rooney mixes original material with well-selected covers, and finally brings it all to a satisfying conclusion with their hit, "I'm Shakin.'" While our respect for the rock that Rooney brings continued to grow, we did learn other key lessons from the performance. #1 - Don't stand in front of a pack of females at a Rooney show. And #2 - by no means doubt the space inside a woman's purse. Never have we seen so much lingerie packed into such small pouches. Check the Rooney schedule! These guys have been WAITING for the opportunity to tear it up for you for too long.

Stay tuned for an upcoming feature with Rooney, on PensEyeView.com