The All-American Rejects

Saturday, March 25, Reliant Arena, 8400 Kirby, 713-629-3700

A A A Comments By Steven Devadanam Thursday, Mar 23 2006

Tyson Ritter, lead singer of the All-American Rejects, has cheekbones you could build a small town house on, and a whole Jeff Buckley-meets-Zach Braff look. His band rocks the greasy hair, striped tees and dirty Converse getup that says, "We're not emo, we just dress this way." Indeed, the GQ-looking Ritter (could there be a modeling contract or indie film in his future?) and his fellow Rejects would be right at home as a party band on The O.C., or maybe as extras in an extended night-on-the-town sequence on Laguna Beach.

The All-American Rejects

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What's that? What do they sound like? Oh, yeah...

Truthfully, the band from Stillwater, Oklahoma, couldn't get any more pop-ified on their singles "Dirty Little Secret" and "Move Along." (The summerific "Secret" single grabbed headlines with its accompanying video, which exposed anonymous postcards bearing personal secrets from the Web site www.postsecret.com). But there's a split personality at play here. Perhaps the band really does take great pleasure in playing derivative, made-for-radio hooks on tunes like "Secret." Then, maybe their conscience takes over on tunes like "Night Drive" – the best track on Move Along – which starts out with high school pep-rally drums and boasts a dashboard-pounding chorus.

Either way, their show today with Fall Out Boy, the breakout pop-punk band that's a less annoying version of Blink-182, will be packed with high school hipsters and college freshmen who've just discovered their first tube of TIGI Bed Head. It'll be reminiscent of the Rejects' "Move Along" video, with the cute band tearing through their number while young girls in tight tees – and the young dudes who ogle them – sing along.

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