As I walked into the Oracle Arena, legendary alt-rock band The Pixies were playing the opening notes of “Cactus.” I had made it just in time for the show. I was shocked that a band as big as The Pixies was an opener, but after watching both acts I soon understood why. While the Pixies were great, at times they were inconsistent. There were moments when lead singer Black Francis hit all the right notes and was even witty in his vocal delivery, but there were also those in which he seemed tired and burnt out. Nonetheless, the audience seemed to eat them up and there were countless bobbing heads and smiling faces around me.

When The Pixies left the stage, 30 minutes of tense anticipation fell over 15,000 people in the almost-full Oracle arena. Everyone quickly rose to their feet as a spotlight came down in front of the curtains, which rose to reveal that Weezer was standing dressed as a barbershop quartet and signing an acapella version of their hit song “Beverly Hills.”

Most of Weezer’s hits come from their first two albums The Blue Album (1994), and Pinkerton (1996), both of which I consider to be near-perfect. More recently, they released two albums in 2019: The Teal Album, an album of covers including their famous cover of “Africa” by Toto, and The Black Album, a very solid album of original songs. In the concert they managed to work a good mix of Weezer classics, covers, and new material.

However, for me, this concert wasn’t only about the music. It was about the performance. It took a special night for my favorite song played, “Pink Triangle,” to not even crack the top five most fun to watch, despite the exhilarating pink strobe lights that accompanied the performance of the song. After finishing mega-hit “Undone – The Sweater Song,” Weezer lifted a giant disco ball over the stage to play new song called “Can’t Knock The Hustle.” At the end of the song, lead singer Rivers Cuomo suddenly bid the audience goodbye with an “Hasta Luego” and exited the right side of the stage as the band finished playing. Soon the stadium was dark and the opening notes of “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath rang out on the electric guitar. A spotlight came down from the ceiling to reveal Cuomo shredding his guitar while being pushed in a rowboat masted with a Weezer flag through the audience.

As Cuomo sailed through a sea of adoring fans, shredding on his guitar, he seemed to be a god among men. About half way through his sailing experience Rivers snapped a guitar string from “rocking a little too hard” as he puts it. The solution? Start singing “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King and get half the crowd to sing with him. Amazing.  

Even after Rivers had docked his boat and returned to the stage, the showmanship continued. To end their set, while playing “Hash Pipe,” they had fireballs flying from the ground and from the wings of the signature Weezer W.

Overall the crowd was left amazed but somewhat disappointed as they said goodbye and started walking off the stage; we were disappointed because they had not yet played their biggest hit, “Say it Ain’t So.” Fortunately, they were only building the anticipation further for the climax of the night. I didn’t see a single person who wasn’t singing along as fire flared behind Cuomo during the chorus and he belted:

“Say it ain’t so

Your drug is a heartbreaker

Say it ain’t so

My love is a life taker”

Overall, the experience exceeded my highest expectations and I would highly recommend anyone who hasn’t checked Weezer out to give them a listen and definitely go to a show if they get a chance. Rivers Cuomo was born to be in the spotlight. 10/10

Article and Photos by Mark Selden

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