off-topics

Weezer took the stage to someone else’s tune, but they changed that quickly. The band plugged in and ripped into “My Name Is Jonas,” followed closely by “El Scorcho.” After three or four Weezer standards Rivers informed us that the band would be inflicting a few new songs on the crowd, all in a row: “Mad Cow,” “Superstar,” “O-Girl,” and “To Hard To Try.” All of the songs were quality, but “O-Girl” was superb! It featured some classy three-part harmony, in a way that struck me as slightly different. The concert was terrific, on the whole, but i was less then impressed with the behavior of the fans. There was an unecessary push for the stage when Weezer took the stage that left a few people fleeing for the back of the venu, and there was a very violent mosh continuously errupting behind me. I understand jumping around, and even crowd surfing, but i do not understand moshing. Anyhow, the show was great but quick, with the band slamming through just about everything a fan could hope for except for “The Good Life” and “Pink Triangle.” I usually bitch about bands who play songs that sound a bit too much like their album incarnations (At the TLA: Fiona Apple, Lisa Loeb, Meredith Brooks), but Weezer didn’t present this issue: they played songs in album form but it was a result of how tight they are as a band rather than a lack of ingenuity on their part. I think the show ended with “Surf Wax America” around 10:30, which is earlier than some main acts have taken the stage at the TLA. We exited to the resumed tunes of the Beatles, and my swearing that “I’ll be crowd surfing at Elastica.”

For the first time ever, a band took the TLA stage promptly. The opening band was fun, though they veered too far in the “pound on that bass, squeaky-singing boy” direction for my liking. After the opening band, we stood around and mocked the people who thought Weezer was going to come on every time a song played over the PA system ended. As musicians and avid concert fans, Gina and I are pessimistic about set-up times in between sets. Our waiting was interrupted by really obnoxious tall people pushing past us to get closer to the stage. I didn’t let anyone else past me except for a random cute girl who was shorter than me. (“Well, if you can’t see over their heads, how am i supposed to?” “Good point. Go for it.”). Suddenly, the song on the PA was cut short and the crowd went wild, only to find that it just meant the CD had been changed. The new CD began with a very familiar riff that was immediately recognized as none other than “Daytripper.” In a surreal moment, the entire crowd began to sing along (rather well) to one Beatles song after another. Gina was having a blast.

Meanwhile, Gina and I were practically the oldsters in the crowd. The cool people behind us were Freshmen in college, and the slightly dumb girls in front of us were in high school. So much for my prediction about the ages of Weezer fans. We eventually got into the venu, and for the first time ever i wasn’t able to reach out and touch the stage. This slightly pissed me off, but seeing as my clavicle is still decidedly broken and i am not the hugest fan of Weezer in the world, i decided to be okay with the the situation. Some adorable looking kid in front of us informed his also adorable friends that he saw Weezer in 7th grade at the same concert where we saw them in 10th grade. So yes, i am surely headed towards senility. The crowd seemed pretty friendly, and Gina and I chatted idly about our past concert experiences while counting down to opening band. I hadn’t been to a General Admittance concert for nearly two years, and she hadn’t been to one for over three. Agreeing that our lives were sad, we checked my watch again.

My fortune quite aptly read: “You never hesitate to tackle the most difficult problems.

So, Gina and I attended a Weezer concert last night. Weezer is one of the few bands left from the mid-90’s who still garner mad respect, despite releasing their last album more than four years ago. So, i wasn’t sure what to expect from the show. My expectations were a lot of new songs, a slightly older audience than i run into at most other shows in Philly, and some fun. Well, i was only right in one respect, but i’ll get to that. Fresh from the coffee shop, i arrived at chez Gina, and we decided to grab some takeout and then sprint for line outside the TLA. We did just that, and found (much to our surprise) that the line to get into this tiny venu extended around the side of the block and down an alley. Along the way, we were offered money, sex, larger amounts of money, and forks for our tickets. I’ll explain that last bit in a second. Apparently, Weezer sold out a lot fast than even Gina had thought, and in the process had left a lot of fans out in the cold. As for the forks, it turned out that our chinese takeout food came with nothing that even resembled utensils other than fortune cookies, which i quickly proceeded to eat with. We stood there eating from paper cartons with cookies for quite a while.