Concert review: Weezer

Sydney Entertainment Centre
19 January 2013
Support acts: Ball Park Music, Cloud Control

Schnitzel: After months of intensifying excitement, Moose and I finally jumped in our rental car on Saturday and made the journey down to Sydney. Our destination was the Entertainment Centre, and our purpose was seeing the long-Australia-absent Weezer run through their greatest hits and then play the seminal 'blue album' from start to finish (a concert that had previously existed, dare I say it, "only in dreams". You're welcome). On our journey, we ran through our favourite Weezer songs (with Moose patiently trying to figure out what key I was singing in so he could join in without his ears bleeding) and the excitement just kept building. There was a sense we were going to see something really special… some of the masters of power pop performing their crowning achievements for an audience kept waiting for 16 years.

Moose: I was very keen to see this band, they had been one of my top 5 acts to see live, but due to their long and unexplained absence from Australia, I never thought I’d get the opportunity. The road trip down to Sydney with some cool tunes and Schnitzel in the driver's seat was a great way to kick things off, too!



Sam Cromack of Ball Park Music

Schnitzel: Cap the trip off with burgers and beers and we were ready. We made our way into the Entertainment Centre and positioned ourselves front and centre for opening act Ball Park Music. The Brisbanites were brilliant, playing a punchy and note-perfect 30 minute set, running through crowd favourites 'Surrender', 'It's nice to be alive' and 'iFly' before finishing with a thumping rendition of (my personal favourite) 'Literally baby'.

Moose: BPM were all class. I reckon this band has a lot more to offer a few albums down the road as they all seem to be really technically proficient, perform really well and write great songs.

On the other hand, I can't say I was as big a fan of Cloud Control's set but it was tight and energetic.

Schnitzel: Agreed on Cloud Control. I've seen them a couple of times live and am always very impressed, but can't really seem to get into their studio work. Their set was enthusiastically received by a significant portion of the crowd and the band played quite a few new songs… but really, I was just waiting for the headliners (and so was a large majority of the audience, it seemed). There was much screaming and snapping of iPhone photos when Weezer front man Rivers Cuomo wandered out on stage to check on how things were going, teasing the crowd by looking out from the stage but not saying anything… not that we had to wait too long - the A-Team theme started playing at around 9.00 pm and then the boys appeared and launched into 'Memories'.



Moose: The opening set was a greatest hits retrospective winding back to their first album which made up the the second half of the show. Averaging around two songs from each album at other shows, Saturday night's set felt a little rushed, with the band leaving out a couple of sections from ‘(If you're wandering if I want you to) I want you to’ and only playing one track each from Maladroit and Pinkerton ('the Green album' got two songs, but one was saved for the encore). Who am I to whinge, though; I was lucky to see Weezer and they put on a great first set. Really tight and polished with Rivers rocking a suit jacket and his trademark glasses like an indie rock Woody Allen.



Weezer (L-R: Brian Bell, Patrick Wilson (obscured),
Rivers Cuomo, Scott Shriner

Schnitzel: It did seem a little quick, and they probably cut a few tracks after Rivers hurt his knee in Melbourne (during the Pinkerton gig, which he confirmed as being "off the proverbial hook"... now that's just rubbing it in!) I was a bit disappointed to not get more from Pinkerton, but I thought the whole set was really tight, they looked like they were having a great time on stage, and Rivers' between-song-banter was nerdy and charming. I really enjoyed the slide show which split the first and second halves of the show, too. It was cool to have the unofficial fifth member of Weezer, Karl Koch, have some time in the limelight narrating the pictorial stroll down memory lane.

Moose: I thought 'the blue album' set which followed was noticably tighter (maybe just a change in guitar tone) and really energetic. It was really cool to see the album played in full... you knew the songs, you knew the order and people when absolutely nuts for it. Standout tracks for me were 'The world has turned and left me here', 'Buddy Holly', 'Holiday' and 'Only in dreams'... and 'Say it ain't so'... and 'Undone'...



The band turned back the clock to
play 'the blue album' in full

Schnitzel: Totally. The whole second half of the show was amazing and, despite the fact that it was essentially a nostalgia performance, without unnecessary bombast or pretension. The giant =W= sign disappeared, Rivers reverted to his 1994 look (plain blue t-shirt and no glasses), and the band went through the ten (almost mythic with all the status they have cultivated) songs with proficiency and little chatter. The audience hung on every note, arms waved and heads nodded in unison (although, can I ask when moshing stopped being a thing?) and the band had an entire arena of backing singers (all this was true for the first set as well). Highlights for me were 'My name is Jonas', 'Say it ain't so', 'In the garage', and 'Holiday'… but that's with me being really ruthless. Every track was played with the kind of precision that years of touring and studio practice brings, and yet they sounded just as beautifully imperfect as they did on the original album. The band coming back out for 'Island in the sun' was just gravy, giving us all one last chance to sing and dance to some of our idols… and for me to ponder if I'd be waiting another 16 years to see Weezer again, and whether or not my daughter will come with her old man next time.

Moose: See, I think using language like mythic and beautifully imperfect is kind of overstating what ‘the blue album’ was, while nostalgia performance understates what the concert was. At the time of 'the blue album', Weezer were just a garage band with an album with some great songs that hit people at exactly the right time. These songs grew to mean a lot to people, and people still like them not because of nostalgia, but because they're well constructed and tight and dumb and angsty… just the right combination. I guess what I like about them is that they were never mythic (like some of Cobain's work and the man himself), never pretentious (not naming any 1990s names here) and never nostalgic in the way that lacks value now… they were just a group of dudes, who wrote honestly and never made excuses when their sound got grittier (Pinkerton) or shinier ('the green album') or poppier (Raditude). To me, they are a really authentic band playing songs they are really proud of to people who love them (and waited a long-fucking-time to see them live). That’s the kicker.

Schnitzel: So, to summarise, a brilliant show? Everything you wanted?

Moose: Yeah, it was. A couple more tracks in the first set and a full Pinkerton show in Sydney wouldn't have gone astray, but I love it. A great gig.

4 out of 5

 

SET LISTS

Ball Park Music

- Fence sitter

- Sad rude future dude

- All I want is you

- Coming down

- iFly

- Surrender

- It's nice to be alive

- Literally baby

Cloud Control

- Meditation song #2 (Why, oh why)

- Scar

- Gold canary (with "Pepper" snippet by Butthole Surfers)

- Promises

- This is what I said

- Ice Age heatwave

- There's nothing in the water we can't fight

- Ghost story

Weezer

Greatest Hits

- Memories

- (If you're wondering if I want you to) I want you to

- Pork and beans

- Troublemaker

- Perfect situation

- Beverly Hills

- Dope nose (Scott on lead vocals)

- Hash pipe

- El Scorcho

- You gave your love to me softly

 

Weezer ('the blue album')

- My name is Jonas

- No one else

- The world has turned and left me here

- Buddy Holly

- Undone - the sweater song

- Surf wax America

- Say it ain't so

- In the garage

- Holiday

- Only in dreams

Encore

- Island in the sun