As the son and grandson of Motown mogul Berry Gordy, Stefan and Skyler Gordy have hit-making music in their blood. The electro noise they make together as LMFAO may not exactly be the boss' cup of sweet tea, but the legendary pater familias should be proud nonetheless. As the raunchy rapping Redfoo and SkyBlu, the LMFAO pair not only score chart-toppers, but the uncle-and-nephew duo created a dumb-but-defining aesthetic with "Party Rock Anthem" and other like-minded tracks. Their brand of scorched-earth electronic bop and simple hedonistic lyrics make the Ramones look like Michel Foucault. Yet LMFAO got the last and first laugh from the looks of the crowd at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday. Not only was the show nearly sold out, it was packed with tweens — girls and boys — dressed in their heroes' favored garb of Day-Glo colors, oversize glasses, and giant wigs.
LMFAO score with raunchy rapping
Things were doubly goofy onstage as LMFAO's extravaganza featured well-choreographed dancers in Tron gear and pink teddy bear suits moving through the snort of "Sorry for Party Rocking." Redfoo managed to tame his bite and bark (with auto processor AutoTune's aid) through the surprisingly silken sound of "One Day." But for the most part, Redfoo and SkyBlu took full advantage of their position as pop's lewd lords. "Hot Dog" and "Take It to the Hole" featured triple entendres on top of double entendres, and "Sexy and I Know It" became a salacious soliloquy worthy of Fifty Shades of Grey.
LMFAO was savvy enough to have openers with sounds different from their own: creamy vocalist Matthew Kona, mohawked Eva Simons (Amsterdam's house-hop answer to Rihanna), and Far East Movement. The latter gave LMFAO a run for their raunchy money with a live funky-drummer sound and a trio MC approach akin to the Beasties. They raged through the hotly anthemic "Change Your Life" and the chipper "If I Was You (OMG)" with boyish brio, yet, like LMFAO, Far East Movement sounded delightful when approaching the smooth synthetic balladry of "Fly with U." Go figure.
