Barron rocking the Upper West Side Friday night.Photo: S. Jhoanna Robledo
Gruppy parents expecting nothing more than heated hors d’oeuvre, questionable D.J.-ing — La Isla Bonita, anyone? — and fevered overbidding for class projects at an Upper West Side public-school auction Friday night got a rare treat when Chris Barron, lead singer of the Spin Doctors, took to the school’s stage for a surprise set. Barron, whose child attends the school, worked the crowd into a near-fever pitch, sending them back to grungy college years — when school auctions were so, well, uncool — with his biggest hits, including “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” and “Two Princes,” both from Pocket Full of Kryptonite, the Doctors’s triple-platinum debut album. Does Barron, like other, crankier musicians, resent having to play old standbys decades after they first hit the charts? “That’s silly,” he said. “Those are great songs.” Agreed. —S. Jhoanna Robledo
Chris Barron [MySpace]
