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Puddle Of Mudd Win Friends, Rail Against Yanks At Chicago Tour Opener

Band debuts songs from upcoming Life on Display at House of Blues.

CHICAGO -- The way Wes Scantlin pandered to the sold-out crowd at the House of Blues on Thursday night, he would have made "How

to Win Friends and Influence People" author Dale Carnegie proud.

Three songs into Puddle of Mudd's 12-song show, the first of a 14-date

club tour (see [article id="1479539"]"Puddle Of Mudd Getting An Eyeful Of Fans On Next Tour"[/article]), the band's shaggy-haired frontman scratched the crowd right where it

itched.

"F--- the Yankees!" screamed Scantlin, and the response was deafening.

Even those in the plush opera boxes who had one eye on Scantlin and the

other on a TV playing game five of the World Series cheered.

"The Cubs were robbed," Scantlin continued, alluding to the

bespectacled fan some feel was responsible for the North Siders' loss to

the Florida Marlins during last week's National League championship

series. "That f---in' bastard!"

Then Scantlin dedicated Come Clean's "Drift & Die" to "the guy

who caught the ball and f---ed the Cubs!"

Showcasing material from the group's forthcoming sophomore album,

Life on Display -- and everything a Puddle of Mudd fan would

expect from Come Clean, their platinum-plus debut (including

"Blurry," "Control," and "She Hates Me") -- the group seemed

virtually rust-free following a long hiatus from touring.

"I don't even want to go back in the studio for another f---in' six

months," announced Scantlin. Life on Display arrives in stores

November 25, but the four songs the band previewed prove the band isn't

ready to surrender their Nirvana-inspired aggro-rock quite yet.

Led by bassist Doug Ardito, the torpid groove of "Nothing Left to Lose"

and first Life single "Away From Me" -- with Scantlin's

Cobain-y warbles -- didn't deviate tremendously from Come

Clean, while the stoner textures of "Already Gone" and dreamy, Pink

Floyd-ian "Think" (an excellent candidate for a second single)

indicated some growth.

Naturally, songs from Come Clean -- the ones everyone knew

-- generated the strongest reaction. "She Hates Me," in particular,

inspired the audience to sing along enthusiastically. "Fortunately for

us," Scantlin said midway through the song, "we're actually on tour

because of that bitch."

Scantlin dissed the dudes in the audience by noting, "There's a lot of

good-looking women here -- and a lot of ugly dates. That's good for

us." But he got them back when he quoted the opening riff from

Metallica's "Master of Puppets" before launching into the band's

ubiquitous radio hit, "Blurry," dedicated to "the lovely ladies in the

house."

The band nodded to the gods of metal by adding the first line of Led

Zeppelin's "Black Dog" to "Bring Me Down," and during their one-song

encore they dropped a verse of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" (with some

alternate lyrics) into "Control."

Beholden to the unwritten rule that a band with only two albums,

including one its fans haven't heard yet, doesn't need to play until

the members drop, Puddle of Mudd called it quits 65 minutes after they began.

But a new Puddle song they didn't perform suggests where the

band left the crowd. It's called "Cloud 9."

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

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