(May 10, 2006) — “This must be Los Angeles. I can tell by all the perfect looking people.” These were the first words out of Tom DeLonge’s mouth Tuesday night at the Troubadour. Standing mere inches away from my face at the tiny packed club in West Hollywood, Angeles & Airwaves played three songs before lead singer DeLonge began his ramblings of the history of the band and the message of their songs. DeLonge, guitarist/vocalist of Blink-182 (who are on an indefi nite hiatus), was the brainchild of Angeles & Airwaves, which includes Box Car Racer guitarist Dave Kennedy, bassist Ryan Sinn from The Distillers and drummer Atom Willard from The Offspring. DeLonge spent the night singing into the microphone with an overtly emotional expression on his face, which sometimes seemed to be bordering extreme pain. Although their first album, We Don’t Need to Whisper doesn’t hit stores until May 23, somehow most of the people in the audience already knew every word to every song. One of the highlights of the show was watching Delonge’s occasional bursts into dance, which were entertaining at best and hilarious at worst. Girls and the occasional guy screamed with glee as he shimmied and spun around the stage. Although the band and the fans certainly seemed to be into the music, the very nature of the songs didn’t allow for the scream-at-the-top-of-yourlungs- mingling-of-sweat-and-spit-energy one might expect from such a hyped band and a small venue. Previously, AVA had been opened up for by metal thrash band Viva Stereo, who although were good, seemed out of place in a club packed with cigarette smoking hipsters and girls donning Blink 182 shirts hoping for a chance to touch DeLonge after the show. Despite experiencing a drumstick to the face thanks to the opening band and a close encounter with a stranger’s vomit, I was overall satisfied and entertained by the show. However, the fact that I wasn’t completely soaked, exhausted and dying for a shower by the end attests to the ultimate shortage of energy brought forth by both the band and the crowd.