Weezer's Memories Tour: 11/26 & 11/27, 2010 @ Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City.

bricks were shat

I've been a Weezer fan forever. Listening to their early material is the sonic equivalent of eating birthday cake, one of the most instantly gratifying experiences that almost anyone with a pulse will love. Their self titled debut album was a polished slab of rocking power pop, aka The Blue Album, and served as a critical/commercial smash back in the day, sounding like a long lost Beach Boys/KISS collaboration. Their follow up album Pinkerton was the anti-Blue Album: dark, raw and deeply personal. It alienated their mainstream fanbase, tanked on the album charts and prompted the band to take a several year hiatus. Too bad, because it's quite frankly the band's best album and has become a cult classic since it's initial release. So when I found out Weezer was playing Blue Album and Pinkerton in their entirety on their Memories Tour, I was STOKED to say the least. On this tour, the band played two nights in each city with a greatest hits set followed by an encore performance of the selected "classic" album. Heres my rundown for their LA tour stop:

LA natives/hipster darlings Best Coast opened both nights. We caught their full set on night Friday but missed them on Saturday due to rain/traffic. I really liked them even though my girlfriend and buddy who tagged along were "eh" about their performance. If Hole played 1950's surf rock, they would sound a lot like Best Coast.

So the modern day version of Weezer took the stage soon after. They blasted through a a greatest hits setlist of tunes in reverse chronological order. Starting off with their latest single "Memories" on both nights, then playing a mixed bag of tracks ranging from FML songs like "Beverly Hills" and "Troublemaker" (songs that make me question my undying loyalty to this band) to rare soundtrack cuts like "Suzanne" and "You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" that had everyone on their feet. They played a good number of Green Album songs and had Bethany from Best Coast come out and duet with Rivers on "Island In the Sun" on both nights. This I approved of, but having the fat dude from Lost come out and butcher "Perfect Situation" and "If You're Wondering If I Want You To," I could have lived without that. Josh Freese did an awesome job on drums though, allowing regular Weezer drummer pat to handle lead guitar while Rivers lived out his midlife crisis and ran around the stage/venue.

Alright, so the main course! Old school Weezer was back from the dead! Pat back on drums, Rivers singing/playing guitar and not making a fool of himself. Night 1's performance of the Blue Album was awesome but had a few flaws. The band seemed kind of winded from their earlier set and some of the energy was lacking, and Rivers seemed to have some vocal and guitar troubles during a few songs. Most noticeably during the show's closer, the 8 min I can't believe I'm finally seeing this song live, "Only In Dreams." I was a little bummed about this, but luckily they played "Only In Dreams" AGAIN as part of Night 2's greatest hits set and nailed it. Here's the proof:


They still play a good chunk of Blue Album songs live to this day (Buddy Holly, My Name is Jonas, Surf Wax, Undone, Say It Ain't So) so Night 1 wasn't really that much of an epic event other than celebrating the more obscure tracks like "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" "In the Garage" and "Holiday."
Especially "Holiday!" That's such a flawless song.



Night 2's performance of Pinkerton was amazing. Amazing because unlike Blue Album, the band almost NEVER plays any Pinkerton songs live so it was a real treat to finally see this stuff in person. Amazing because the band was fired up and and sounded great. "Tired of Sex" "Getchoo" "Across The Sea", all amazing to finally experience live. The sing along for "El Scorcho" was the probably the coolest concert experience of the year. Here's a clip of "Falling For You" from some chick with a waaay better seat than me.



Night 2's finale, Rivers playing "Butterfly" was spine chillingly awesome. Never in a million years did I expect to see this song performed live. Rivers Cuomo, the metal head turned alternative rock guru, playing the most stripped down/personal song from Pinkerton, the album that was bashed into oblivion some 13 years ago was greeted with rousing applause from thousands of fans when he finished on this night. Circle of life type shit right there.


Awesome shows. The icing on the cake was Rivers even dressing up in his vintage 90's clothes to try and look the part as well! I hope my old Weezer sticks around, I don't know how many more craptacular Make Believe or Raditude type albums I can take.

*side note*
I met Nicole Richie after Night 1's concert walking around Universal City Walk. She was surprisingly cute as hell in person.