Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Weezer In Salt Lake City


Last night I went to the E-center to see Weezer in concert.

The first band was Tokyo Police Club. The music was OK, but I didn't know any of the songs and none of the songs were all that catchy. They played from 7:30 - 8:00. Then the stage crew moved stuff around till 8:30 when Angels and Airwaves came out.

I heard that name before, but I thought it was the name of a CD Shop, not a band. Once the lead singer opened his mouth I recognized why I didn't know the band. In the past, when I heard this band on the radio I changed the station. His voice is too high pitched and nasally for my liking. But to top off having to hear that voice for an hour, I had to put up with his big headedness strutting around on stage using profanity. In one song he introduced it talking about sex like a sixth grader and using obscene gestures. What a doofus. One hour of torture to endure before hearing a great band. I wondered why Weezer chose such a wimpy and terrible band to open the concert. My theory is so that the concert goers could really appreciate it when the main show came out. It looks like Denver didn't like Angels and Airwaves performance either.

When Weezer came out they were all wearing white jump suits and they started out with "My name is Jonas". (This song introduced me to a name which I liked and gave to one of my sons, several years ago) It was great. I really enjoyed the way Rivers conducted himself onstage: Not one use of offensive language, and had a sense of humility and humor which was a breath of fresh air compared to the band before.

He spoke of his experience with his Daughter Mia, at the Discovery Gateway where she would go shopping at the fake grocery store. He told a short story how another kid there was selfish with the toys and unwilling to share with his daughter. He said, "but that's life, sad, but it happens". Which made me sad that it happened here in Salt Lake, but like he said, "that's life". I could tell he is a good Dad and a great role model.

My favorite song of the night would have to go to "King", sung by the Bass Guitarist, Scott Shriner who has a fantastic voice! Spot on!

Other songs that I especially enjoyed during this show were, "Pork and Beans", "Say It Ain't So", "Pink Triangle" and "Dope Nose" and of course "Buddy Holly"

Rivers invited the lead singer from Angels and Airwaves out to sing "Undone - the Sweater Song", which his nasally girly voice didn't do justice, but thankfully he was only out for one song.

What was really cool is they invited a whole symphony of local people onstage to perform "Island In The Sun" and "Beverly Hills". There was such a diverse group of instruments and people. Rivers went around and talked with the different performers. Man I like this guy!

I was hoping to hear "This Is Such A Pity" or "Pardon Me", but there are so many great songs by Weezer, they just couldn't play them all.

This was a great concert and I'm glad I went although it would have been a much better evening had they just played at 7:30 and then had the other bands go after so I could have left and still had a good night's sleep.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw Weezer at DV8 back in 1997 on the Pinkerton tour, and it was really a terrific show. I saw them again at the E Center in 2001, and it was a completely different experience.

It wasn't so much that the band put on a bad show. They did fine, except that was when Rivers was still trying to pretend that the Pinkerton album never existed. The problem was that I was one of only a handful of people there that were even old enough to remember Weezer's first album. Everyone else in the arena looked like they were still in kindergarten when that first album came out. The crowd was completely unruly, pushing and shoving the whole time and eventually breaking down the barrier separating the reserved section from general admission. That crowd really ruined the show for me. I can honestly say that that Weezer concert was the first time in my life that I felt truly old.

Anonymous said...

I felt the same way last night. There were alot of single kids all around me in GA and a few instances of moshing which was annoying cause it detracted from the performance and disconcerting when they're actually trying to hurt people.

But it wasn't happening more than about 10 minutes throughout the whole show, so I didn't let it bug me. They had a couple security guys out in the crowd to stop that crap from happening.

Anonymous said...

Gord,
I am totally jealous, wish we could have gone to the concert with you. Glad you had a good time though. :)

Anonymous said...

You go to concerts by yourself? Why don't you invite people to go with you?
DD

Anonymous said...

Like anyone would go.