Monday, October 20, 2008

And when it's party time, like 1999, I party by myself because I'm such a special guy - er, gal

So we drove to Phoenix this weekend to see Weezer. I gotta say, it was the best show I've ever seen a band play. Rivers Cuomo is seriously different. But that's what made the show so unique. It felt like performance art. Okay, so here's how it went down...

When the band first came out, they were wearing what looked like white, full-body, painter's uniforms. And Rivers Cuomo had what looked like pantyhose or some sort of bandage around his head, with only a small hole for part of his face in the middle. It was bizarro.

Then they unzipped those suits and came out in red Weezer tracksuits. Rivers Cuomo took off the head bandage to reveal long scraggly 70s hair and a porn moustache, straight out of the Beastie Boys' Sabotage video. He was tiny and skinny and hunched over a lot, and walked kind of like a T-Rex. Painfully nerdy but in a really endearing way.

During the show, he bounced around on a trampoline. During Hashpipe, he put on a green headband, completing the 70s fitness theme.

During El Scorcho, he mounted a bodyguard's shoulders and rode him around the audience. It was awesome.

For the encore, they brought out 35 random Weezer fans who had won the opportunity to play an instrument of their choosing at the show. So they did Island in the Sun & Beverly Hills with 35 random people of all ages playing trumpets, cellos, didgeridoo, xylophone, bongo drums, etc. It was badass.

For the second encore, a roadie set up a Weezer-themed record player on stage. He got out a vinyl Red Album and started playing Heart Songs. So there we were. A huge arena of Weezer fans sitting there listening to a Weezer record. It was odd. When the song referenced Nirvana's Nevermind, Rivers Cuomo came out, kicked over the record player and started playing Nirvana's "Sliver." You know, the one that goes, "Grandma take me home" over and over. It was amazing.

So yeah, the moral of the story is, Weezer puts on a fantasic show and I hope they go on tour again soon.

4 comments:

Bethany said...

I'm so jealous! It sounds like an awesome experience. I will miss you next week.

Cladeedah said...

Not as much as I will miss you, my sweet.

Allison and the Angry Inch said...

It's heartening to hear that Rivers was bouncing around on a trampoline, seeing as he had the same surgery I did. Maybe I can go to Happy Jumpy Land now!

David said...

*sighs*
Osaka was on this tour last month...
I still get pissed when I think about it.