On this unusually windy Friday night, the cavernous environs of the
Aragon Ballroom played host to the Yahoo! Outloud Tour featuring Weezer --
or, as the band themselves have dubbed it, "The Corporate Sell-Out Tour
2001". Its corporate nature showed too: t-shirts were $25 a crack,
pizza was $5 a slice and you needed a Platinum Visa card to park
anywhere near the joint. Ah, the things we put up with just because
it’s Weezer...
The band’s first full scale tour in nearly four years sold out far in
advance, leaving huge throngs of fans to loiter in front of the venue praying that
some generous soul would have one extra ticket and wouldn't feel the need
to charge an arm and a leg for it. Luckily, the intrepid Splendid crew
already had tickets, so we breezed past the 4,000 lb. security guy at the
door and got there just seconds after the set by first opening act Ozma
had ended.
For some reason the set changes at tonight’s show were incredibly
drawn out. After what seemed like three days (but was closer to 35
minutes) The Get Up Kids strode onto the stage. Lead singer Matt waved a
quick hello, giving keyboardist James Dewees just enough time to remove
the old-school red Michael Jackson zipper jacket he was sporting. From
there the band ripped though a set that included a short version of
Cheap Trick’s "Surrender", as well as old favorites like "Woodson", "Ten
Minutes" and "Forgive and Forget". By far the strangest part of
their set was watching rabid Weezer fans bodysurf to "Mass Pike" -- which,
for those of you who don’t know, is a slow, piano-led lament to lost
love. The incongruity of it all was fantastic. With that, the Get Up Kids' set
ended. James put his MJ jacket back on and they were off.
The set change between TGUK and Weezer seemed like an eternity, mainly
due to the huge crush of humanity and the stench of said crush.
Finally, after 45 minutes of nose-punishing agony, the curtains opened
and the evening’s heroes emerged.
Weezer's stage set was a huge high school gymnasium, complete with
basketball hoops, streamers and bleachers. They began their performance on the
bleachers with a campfire version of a song from their forthcoming,
as-yet-untitled record. They then ran to their
instruments and began to pick out the familiar opening refrain of "My
Name is Jonas". This sent the crowd into absolute rapture, and they
began repeating every word that came out of lead singer Rivers Cuomo’s
mouth. From there onward, the band was almost on autopilot, dispatching
favorites such as "In the Garage", "The Good Life" and "Tired of Sex"
with ruthless precision and an enjoyable fervor. They then treated the
crowd to a sizable chunk of new material that included a heady mix of
rockers, and more mid-tempo numbers. During "Buddy Holly" the band
unveiled a huge, light-up version of their logo W, which only helped add
to the evening’s slightly KISS-like aura.
The band trooped back on stage for a twin-headed encore of "Only in Dreams"
and "Surf Wax America", both of which were delivered in a particularly
brutal and noisy fashion, with the latter eventually disintegrating into
a heaping pile of white noise and ear-splitting feedback. They then
waved politely and returned to the deep-pile comfort of their tour bus.
Even the night’s decidedly corporate feel could not dampen the spirit of
this most loyal of crowds. Weezer will always be "our" band, no matter
who might pay their way to our town. Remember, "If it’s too
loud, then turn it down".
Article and photos by Jason Jackowiak.
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