On opening night of No Doubt’s long-awaited residency at Sphere on May 6, attendees stepped into a scrapbook of the band’s lore—grainy home videos, baby-faced band photos and vintage show flyers splashed across the massive screen like pages ripped from an overstuffed bedroom wall collage. And if anyone somehow missed the unofficial dress code memo, the sea of checkerboard prints, fishnets and thrifted punk relics made it impossible to ignore.
For two hours, the scrappy garage-born Anaheim band resurrected the sweaty, irreverent energy that launched them out of Orange County clubs and into alt-rock canon. The ska influences bled into almost every visual cue, every bouncing horn section, every jagged graphic exploding across Sphere’s impossible screen. But more importantly, the show proved something longtime fans have always suspected: Beneath the tabloid fame and pop-culture mythology, Gwen Stefani is still that pink-haired punk kid at heart.
At 56, Stefani remains a spunky force. She skanked across the stage, leapt into crowd banter with ease, and treated opening night like a close-to-home reunion scaled up to massive corporate proportions.
“I have a theory,” Stefani told the audience early into the set. “I feel like you guys were the first people to buy the No Doubt tickets. So, this will officially be the best show of the entire run, so congratulations.”
Joined by bassist Tony Kanal, guitarist Tom Dumont, and drummer Adrian Young, Stefani guided the crowd through a career-spanning setlist that felt curated by someone deep in the trenches of No Doubt Reddit. The band dug well beyond the radio staples, pulling out songs casual fans probably forgot existed and that diehards have spent years begging to hear again.
Three audience members were invited onstage throughout the night, though the spontaneity of it all made the moments feel delightfully unplanned. One fan, sporting pink ombré hair and a look straight out of the Return of Saturn era, seemed like a mirror image of Stefani circa 2000. Later, Stefani admitted that revisiting songs from that time, tied to heartbreak and younger versions of herself, can still be emotionally difficult but said she performs them because “I love you guys.”
The night’s biggest shock arrived immediately. Instead of easing into the set with a familiar hit, No Doubt opened with “Tragic Kingdom,” the sprawling title track from their 1995 breakthrough album. The song hadn’t been played live in 17 years, and the audience erupted the second those opening notes rang out.
Visually, Sphere transformed into a hyperactive amusement park ride through the band’s history. Vintage aesthetics collided with cartoon ska graphics, old interview footage and surreal animations that often felt like flipping through MTV at 2 a.m. in 1997. Even the venue’s vibrating seats contributed to the sensory overload, turning the performance into something immersive enough to border on disorienting.
Deep cuts like “Running,” “The Climb” and “Trapped In A Box” earned some of the loudest reactions of the night, while hits like “Hey Baby” and “Hella Good” detonated into full-arena singalongs. During “New,” pockets of fans on the floor even broke into light skanking and mini mosh pits, briefly transforming the pristine futuristic venue into something resembling a sweaty club show.
During her second outfit change, Stefani joked, “When they get a look at this outfit they’re gonna cry.” She wasn’t entirely wrong. Her wardrobe leaned heavily into the DIY fun of late-’90s alternative fashion with clashing prints, dangling chains and visible garters. This was, of course, a more polished version of that inspo.
Then there was Sphere itself, the massive digital elephant looming over everything.
The screen projected present-day versions of the band dressed as their old music video characters while hundreds of floating buttons featuring bands like The Smiths, The Police, and Elvis Costello & The Attractions exploded overhead. It was unabashedly sentimental and completely effective. During “Underneath It All,” the venue melted into a neon-drenched version of Jamaica, preceded by current interview clips of the band reminiscing about touring there in its early years.
Foam oranges rained from the ceiling during “Don’t Speak.” Entire sections rose to their feet for “Hella Good.” Fans danced, skanked, screamed and grinned through every deep cut and radio hit alike. And somehow, amid all the technological excess, No Doubt still managed to make the whole thing feel personal.
No Doubt feels uniquely suited for a venue this massive because their music has always thrived on contradiction. They’re polished and messy, mainstream and subcultural, cartoonish and deeply sincere all at once.
Long live ska. Long live the Anaheim music scene. Long live No Doubt.
NO DOUBT May 8-9, 13, 15-16, 21, 23-24, 27, 29-30, 8:30 p.m., $237-$445. Sphere, ticketmaster.com.
