Pretty Boy Rock

Of the three bands that played last night at the Axis, I knew two of them (and own their actual CDS), so with few hesitations, I bought tickets to see Phantom Planet, with the Washington Social Club and Damone opening.
The first band, Washington Social Club was an energetic garage band. At first we thought the lead singer was a female, but it turns out he really looked like a young Steve Buscemi. Their set was short, and filled with angsty, Ramone-esque garage punk, with gratuitous references to drug, which gave them a cursory rebellious, counter-culture.
Damone was off with a bad start. While they performed on the debut CD, From the Attic, quite well, their first two songs caused me to cringe because their lead singer, Noelle, was inaudible, but obviously off key. But just when I lost hope and thought they were really a better studio band, she drastically improved, and I was soon nodding their songs. They surprised me by playing a lot of new songs, and the good thing is that the new songs were like as if they were from the same album (ie more of a good thing). The same cannot be said about Phantom Planet.
I never knew Phantom Planet had such a large young female following. Then again on second thought, with such a pretty boy line up, and an emaciated, emo lead singer, how can they not? Their early CD, The Guest, set their sound firmly as melodic, Califoia rock and roll. Their latest eponymous album saw them change their sound dramatically to a noisy, angsty, poseur rock. I didn't like that album, and their live show didn't help. The show just got more and more boring as they alternated from melodic songs from their previous album, to ridiculous songs to this new one. There were a few highpoints, but mainly from The Guest. Their last song was a good song, but they decided to sing only 2 verses, and sandwich in between those a lenghty, unneccesary jam improv. When Damone did that, they had gnarly guitar solos over their chords, but Phantom Planet opted for the spacey, desultory ramble that was really just wasting everyone's time while I made my way to the coatcheck to pick up my stuff. Anyways, my only thought was: why was Phantom Planet so angry? They're white, rich, famous, has a legion of teen girl following, and they live in California. Please leave the angst to people who really need it.