As I warned you before, this is a totally biased opinion about how awesome Weezer is. First, a little back story, I have been a Weezer fan for as long as I can remember. Rivers has always sung about not being popular or being one of the cool kids, he made me appreciate not being normal when I was younger and now I’ve reached the age that I realize there really is no such thing as normal. Enough back story on my love of Weezer and Rivers, especially Rivers *sigh* *swoon*.
Not only was the set full of hits and sing-alongs, Rivers knew exactly how to work the crowd. The band barely stopped to talk while blowing through songs. The night began with the voice of Al Molinaro, you may remember him from Happy Days and the “Buddy Holly” video, “Okay kids, Arnold’s is proud to present Kenosha, Wisconsin’s own Weezer!” When you have a catalog strong enough to open your set with your most recognizable song, there is no going wrong for the evening. The band played several songs from The Blue Album, which is often cited as one of the best albums of the 90’s, and in my opinion, one of the best albums of all time, but didn’t neglect their other albums with the exception of “Hurley” and “Everything Will Be Alright in The End”. Interesting side note, the artist of the cover for E.W.B.A.I.T.E. is Chris McMahon from Iowa City. I had the pleasure of chatting with him the last time Weezer was in town with Panic! At the Disco. Mixing in covers from The Turtles, Green Day & A-Ha though out the set, the band knew exactly what the crowd wanted.
While most of the action took place on the main stage, Rivers ran across to the 2nd stage to play an acoustic version of “Island in The Sun” and “Take on Me”. Before they finished off their main set Rivers spoke to the crowd and said he was going to take the crowd on a trip, when he asked where we wanted to go, in unison the crowd shouted “Africa!!” The band played their surprise hit of the summer with the crowd singing along the whole time. The encore kicked off with “Troublemaker” and ended with a partial version of “Paranoid”, an homage to the metal music they listened to growing up. While there are some songs I wish they would have played like “Pink Triangle”, “Butterfly” or “Smart Girls, there are absolutely no complaints about the setlist. If they played every song the crowd would have wanted them to play, we would still be there. The band appears to be the most unassuming guys, but watching them on stage, they are full-on rock stars! Rivers relishing the attention from the crowd, Brian shredding on his guitar and keyboard, Scott laying down the bass and Patrick flipping his drumsticks while playing. I love every second of every Weezer show I’ve seen and I’ll love every other one I go to in the future. I could brain dump about how awesome Weezer is all day, but I will avoid boring you all with my geeking out. I will leave you with this note, the next time you have a chance to see Weezer, DO. NOT. MISS. IT!!