In all honesty, I was less than impressed with what I heard from Andreone's debut album Veiled. So I was skeptical about what this young woman whom I once described in print as "simple and mediocre" had to offer. Her single "It's Alright It's OK" is getting some airplay (mostly in the wee hours of the morning), but Andreone is far from becoming a household name. She has a simplistic approach to songwriting that makes it difficult to distinguish her from the countless other alterna-queens currently dominating the scene. But being an unbiased writer, I was willing to give Ms. Andreone the benefit of the doubt, and when the lights went off in The Troubadour I planted myself against the front of the stage and hoped for the best.

At around 9:30 the infamous diva finally appeared. She was decked out in a sparkly blue tube top, black leather pants -- and of course, the obligatory navel piercing. But it wasn't Andreone's daring fashion sense that caught my eye, it was her energy. Maybe she's had one too many shots of wheat grass juice, maybe the smell of the crisp Los Angeles air gets her going, or -- god forbid -- maybe she was simply born a spaz. Andreone flipped and flung her statuesque body around the stage for over two hours. While I admire her ability to be that enthusiastic about her own music, her dizzying stage presence was a tad overwhelming and hard to stomach.

Aside from her never-ending energy, Andreone has other talents, among them a slick vocal range which she uses to full effect. She did the rocker thing well in her opening number, "Who Are They To Say," and showed her haunting emotional side in the beautiful "Problem Child," a song about child abuse. Andreone sang this one about an hour into the set, quietly capturing the crowd's attention as she cried, "If I'm real bad will you punish me / the contact hurts / but at least you're touching me." Andreone took some time out to chat with the crowd, and tell us how "good it feels to be back home." She accepted a bouquet of flowers from a fan who reached up to shake hands with his object of desire, then flirted with the crowd a little before joining her band and ripping into "Happy Birthday," one of the guitar-driven numbers on her album. She also sang some unreleased material, such as "Topsy-Turvy" and "We're Not Alone," her contribution to Women For Women 2, a benefit compilation for breast cancer research. These were emotionally charged and had a musical complexity some of her more "pop" songs lack.

The only semi-obnoxious thing about the show worth noting was the video crew that was continually dwelling on and around the stage. They were shooting a video for her upcoming single "You Make Me Remember," which she sang twice in order to "make sure everything comes out okay." The crowd competed for photo-ops, dancing and screaming in hopes of seeing themselves on MTV in the near future. It was very weird. It was very L.A.

Jenni Balsam