Live from San Jose, Ashlee Simpson really sings

Oakland Tribune, Feb 24, 2005 by Jim Harrington, CONTRIBUTOR

THAT whole "Saturday Night Live" lip-syncing incident hasn't turned out too badly for Ashlee Simpson.

Sure, it was embarrassing in the moment, but it hardly signaled the end of her career. If anything, it only endeared her more to her fans, underscoring the desired image that she is fallible just like everyone else.

Just ask Valerie Luu, Ricky Wang, Nate Fu and Sherri Azim, four students from Homestead High School in Cupertino, who came to Simpson's show Tuesday night at the San Jose Event Center wearing homemade T-shirts that read "Lip Syncing is Hot." These teens, as well as a near capacity crowd of 4,200 others, certainly haven't written off the 20-year-old starlet based on the "SNL" episode or the resounding boos that greeted her at the Orange Bowl.

In all, Simpson came across a pretty decent role model in San Jose, waving one simple flag: "It's OK to make mistakes." I'd rather see young teens be fed that message than get the downpour of dumb blonde jokes -- which collectively seem to say, "It's OK for girls not to be smart" -- that mark sister Jessica's concerts.

Plus, Simpson's tale is a great example of how to take lemons and make lemonade, which she did by turning the "SNL" fiasco into a highly anticipated episode of her MTV reality show.

Following a cutesy opening video segment of Ashlee and her big sis as children, Simpson was greeted with an avalanche of piercing shrieks from her wildly enthusiastic fans as she took the stage to perform the

title-track from last year's double-platinum "Autobiography."

Ashlee and Jessica are pretty much polar opposites as vocalists. The elder Simpson does her best work with gooey love and inspirational ballads, while Ashlee is at her finest with up-tempo rockers like "Autobiography" and "Nothing New."

During the best moments of the hour-long set, Simpson managed to convincingly meld the eruptive vocal style of Alanis Morissette or Evanescence's Amy Lee with the punky girl-who-just-wants-to-have- fun image of Avril Lavigne.

While not taking her show to the sometimes ridiculous extremes of Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera, Simpson did try some slightly more adult-oriented material. The theatrical rocker "Harder Everyday" came across as a mix of Guns N' Roses and "Guys and Dolls" and the power ballad "Shadow" would make a drama queen like Cher proud.

The singer wasn't so fortunate during the acoustic segment, where her vocal limitations grew even more pronounced as she bumbled through "Giving It All Away" and "Love Makes the World Go Round" without the assistance of her rhythm section.

She recovered nicely as the band plugged back in for a driving version of "Surrender" that included a portion of Hole's "Celebrity Skin." (Sneer if you want, Courtney Love fans, but the song's authors surely wouldn't mind the royalties that would come from Simpson's including that track on her next album.)

Because of the limitations of her catalog, Simpson wisely chose to fill much of the latter portion of her set with covers. The up- tempo tracks -- Blondie's "Call Me," Madonna's "Burning Up" and the Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket" -- all worked in this setting.

Of course, the fans would say that none of those songs will stand the test of time like Simpson's own "La La." Timeless or not, "La La" was a resounding piece of chant-along pop-rock that brought the main set to a frenzied close.

The encore was "Pieces of Me," which served as a proper sendoff to the fans who would then flock to the merchandise booth to buy $5 glow sticks, $10 sticker sets, $25 tutu-clad teddy bears and other pieces of Ashlee.

And that would be the end to this story if not for one lingering question: "Was there any lip synching?"

Plenty.

But it came from 4,200 fans mouthing the words sung by their favorite, yet fallible, artist.

You can write music critic Jim Harrington at jimthecritic@yahoo.com .