And all this just to have a glimpse of Rivers Cuomo’s jacket, not even the sweater of the song … the jacket was yellow, I think, although I did not see much of it..
But Rivers, you were wearing a yellow jacket at the top of a black striped polo-sweater at the top of a long sleeve t-shirt!! Come on, it was the beach, on a very sunny and hot day, people around you were in bathing suits, what’s wrong with you?
It was insane, I read somewhere they expected 500,000 people over the weekend attending the US open of surfing, and if I had read this in advance I may have reconsidered going. Free concerts with a large crowd are only enjoyable if you arrived hours and hours in advance to have a decent place otherwise it’s crap! You end up being behind 10,000 people or more and you don’t see a thing; it was my case this time, despite taking the road like 4 hours in advance…
The place was over packed with a young white crowd, the Huntington Beach surfer crowd, with a smell of marijuana in the air mixed with the fresh Pacific air and the sand dust. The police and guards were omnipresent, they did not want a riot, a white riot, which had happened before at this beach.
When I saw that the bleachers on both sides of the stage were only reserved for some VIP card holders (what a shame!), I had given up hoping to see anything happening on stage. On the side, between some security guards that were always chasing the crowd desperate for a sighting, I managed to see a few times part of Mr. Cuomo… at least I could listen.
They started with ‘Hash Pipe’ after some kind of long intro, but the sound was kind of messy (not Weezer’s fault) and the progression of the guitar riff kind of aggressive, then I recognized ‘Troublemaker’, Rivers seemed to be walking along the stage and people were doing that crazy round dance pushing themselves against each other.
During the intro of ‘Undone’, Rivers got talkative with the crowd:
‘Give me a guitar, get out of my way’, ‘There are three cords to learn, when you go to the school of rock, what I’m talking about, this school of rock,… talking about California,.. sunshine, surfing and alternative rock’.
I’m not sure it made sense and what was the purpose of this rant but he had a joyous tone. Then he continued, seeing people were reacting to the the sweater song:
‘I see you got the blue album, That’s a good album, I have got it too’
People were screaming so much and were singing so loudly during that song it was hard to listen to it.
‘I see an enormous orange football and I’d really like to play with the football’
Talking about the ball the crowd was playing with, Rivers sang ‘Surf Wax’, then ‘Dope Nose’ with these woo-ooo, woo-oo-oo-oo, then ‘Perfect situation’, with some other woo-ooo in the chorus, Weezer gets away with too many woo-ooo in the chorus.
‘Thank you Weezer fans!’
The band was unstoppable, adrenaline driven, enchaining song after song, with no break at all but at least Rivers had removed his jacket at that point (I saw another glimpse between two guards and an amp).
‘So it ain’t so’ had some distorted guitars and a slow sing-along with the crowd.
Calming a little bit the crowd with ‘Island In The Sun’, then they got super excited again during the chorus and the famous ‘hip hip’… being at the front must have been quite a workout.
‘Let’s get dirty’… I’m pretty sure Rivers said this several times during the show, and I probably missed a lot, not able to see the stage because I know he dived in the crowd, probably during ‘Beverly Hills’.
I think there was an encore, I could not tell if they have left the stage, but it seems they did.
1. Hash Pipe
2. Troublemaker
3. Undone – The Sweater Song
4. Surf Wax America
5. Perfect Situation
6. Dope Nose
7. Say It Ain’t So
8. Can’t Stop Partying
9. Island in the Sun
10. El Scorcho
11. My Name Is Jonas
12. Beverly Hills
I’m not sure if they left the stage at this time (could not see), but there was a sort of break
13. Pork and Beans
14. Kids (MGMT cover) apparently they also put some Lady Gaga’s Poker Face into it, and this had escaped me,… oh well!
15. I Want You To
16. Buddy Holly
So no new songs? Not at least one? They have completed a new album, ‘Hurley’ that will be out September 14 on Epitaph Records, and they did not even give a preview of a song live, or mention something about it. Unusual!
Wait a minute, Hurley is also a label, a sponsor of the event, the US open of surfing as a matter of fact, it was printed all over the place, on
the tents, the beach balls, the stage, Rivers must have done some kind of allusion along the way, at least he must have pointed a ball… what a weird coincidence, or was it calculated?
the tents, the beach balls, the stage, Rivers must have done some kind of allusion along the way, at least he must have pointed a ball… what a weird coincidence, or was it calculated?