So, last night’s Weezer show was my fourth, and it was definitely the most unique.  The other three shows, two in support of Maladroit, one for the Green Album, were pretty straightforward.  Everybody stood in front of their mic, Rivers occasional muttered something funny between songs, they left the stage then came back for one or two more.  Simple.  The last show had flame spurts on a couple of songs, that was different, but otherwise it was a pretty basic show by a band that rocks really hard.
I’d always known Rivers was kind of goofy (consider that the first words you likely heard him sing were “What’s with these homies dissin’ my Girl?”), but he seemed pretty reserved on stage.  This made sense on the Extended Midget Tour (supporting Green), because everything about the Green Album seemed like a back-to-basics exercise, Rivers testing himself to see if he could still write pop songs.  On the Enlightenment Tour (I think I caught the European leg of it in Birmingham, it was in support of Maladroit, at least) things were beginning to loosen up a bit.  More songs from Pinkerton (at the Salt Lake show there were more from Pinkerton than from Maladroit), full renditions of “Only in Dreams,” covers, and pyrotechnics, but, like I said, pretty basic stuff.
Then there was last night’s show.  I missed out on most of the promotion for Make Believe, but I caught some AOL Sessions and I knew that if I ever saw the Weez again, it would be a distinct thing from previous shows.  I expected keyboards, and I’d heard that Rivers had a little drum kit that he occasionally played.  I didn’t expect a mini trampoline, or that both Scott (bass) and Brian (guitar) would have keyboard rigs.  To keep me from rambling too much, we’ll do a list.  You kids like bulleted lists, right?

• Rivers didn’t sing lead on every song.  Much like the new album, vocals were shared by various band members.
• This allowed Rivers to become untethered from his microphone and wander the stage as he pleased.  This is why there was a trampoline.  It also meant thatRivers got to play harmonica on “My Name is Jonas,” every other time I’ve seen them it’s just been done on guitar.
• Rivers has often been compared to Brian Wilson because he’s a little eccentric and obsessed with writing the perfect pop song (I guess if he stops singing altogether the comparison can be pushed further), but last night he reminded me more of Andy Kaufman, or, more specifically, Tony Clifton, with the way he shuffled around the stage and made bizarre shaking motions with is hands.
• Tom DeLonge and Atom Willard performed on “Undone - the Sweater Song”, Tom singing and Atom on drums so Pat could play guitar.  Rivers also utilized his drum kit for the build up of this one.
• I’m a sucker for cover songs, and we got two last night. Pat surprised us all by singing and playing guitar on a cover of Oasis’s “Morning Glory.”  Well, he surprised me, at least.  I don’t know how many other people even knew the song.  The other song will be discussed in conjunction with the encore.
• Lots of audience participation.  We were instructed to start of “Dope Nose.”  I felt so important.
• The Hootenanny: you’ve probably heard all about it.  A group of lucky fans get to take the stage with whatever instrument they play and join the band and the audience in a couple of songs.  Lemme tell you, “Beverly Hills” sounds like it was meant to have a saxophone solo.
• After the Hootenanny, which served as the first encore, Weezer’s fifth man Karl Koch (who, earlier, had played Moog on the song “King”) set up a Weezer-styled phonograph, took out a red vinyl copy of the new album and played “Heartsongs.”  During the verse about Nevermind the band came back out (Scott dressed like the Italian Stallion) and played a cover of Nirvana’s “Sliver” before ending the set with “Buddy Holly.”
• As usual, full setlist available at my personal blog.

If you’ve never seen Weezer before, there’s never been a better time (except maybe early ‘97).  Do it do it do it.  I’m tired of writing, any questions you have, though, will be answered.  Ask away!!  Pictures later.
Regarding the opening acts, Tolchok Trio were pretty good and Angels and Airwaves sound like your copies of The Joshua Tree and Disintegration had sex and cried themselves to sleep afterward.

An interesting thing has come to my attention regarding my band, Birds Without, playing at the Avalon on Saturday.  It was an exciting prospect from the beginning, playing at a venue where I’d actually been to see a band I’d actually heard of before (I saw Love You Long Time, Dave also saw Eisley there, but I missed that one) and having people in the crowd who didn’t ride there with somebody playing that night, but it just got more exciting.  Turns out the show will be taped and available on ComCast’s On Demand Presents Band Wagon LIVE.  This is copy/pasted from the Avalon website:

ComCasts On Demand Presents Band Wagon LIVE. They will be filming live tonight at this show! Come show your local music support tonight on ComCast!

Tickets are ten bucks, doors at 6:30, show at 7:00.  The lineup will be Going Second, Uncomfortable Silence, Birds Without, The Desert, and our friends in Arienette, with whom we’ve played a few times.
I’m really excited to play this show, guys.  We’ve got a few new songs* that we’ve worked out, Dave got a drum kit, so this will be his first show on that instead of the bongos, and we haven’t played in a few weeks, I’m getting the itch (or maybe it’s just this Mountain Dew I had for breakfast).

Anyhow, come out and support us and Arienette and these other fine bands.  You can even do it without going to the Avalon (3605 South State Street)!  You can watch us at home (at least that’s my understanding of how On Demand works, I’m simple in the ways of cable and satellite teevee).

*”New” here meaning new to me.  Ned put a band together so he could play some of his newer, more experimental songs live, and then Dave (Ned’s brother) and Mick (who went to high school with Ned and played bass for him occasionally back then) got Ned interested in all these old songs he wrote in high school.  We’re working on rounding out the set, and even with all this old material, we’ve written one song since the band formed as such.

I heard the new Sigur Rós song, “Gobbledigook” from the forthcoming Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, on the radio last night.  I have to admit I’m a little smug about it sounding like an actual song rather than a movement in a suite.  The guitar sounds like a normal, strummed guitar; the drumming reminds me of Animal from the Electric Mayhem; and the vocals sound like words.  I don’t care what language the song was written in, Sigur Rós songs never sound like they have lyrics so much as vocalise accompaniment.  This, ladies and gentlemen, is your precious Sigur Rós playing a rock ‘n roll song.

I will admit that my dislike for Sigur Rós is mostly irrational.  I quite enjoy “Svefn-g-englar” and “Starálfur” a fair amount, but on the whole I find the Icelandic forest nymphs pretty bland unless the music is accompanying something.  I’ll cite “Starálfur” being used in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou as a prime example of Sigur Rós being well used (that song also features a brief bit of elusive strummed guitar), but generally the whole aura of the band seems so convoluted and self-congratulatory that I’m immensely turned off by them.  So I present to you my petty victory over post-rock.

P.S. Please don’t misunderstand, I’ve nothing really against post-rock, I’ll cite certain Mogwai songs and Nine Inch Nails’ Ghosts I-IV as examples of enjoyable stuff.  I just hate Sigur Rós so much.

 Sigur Rós - Gobbledigook [3:08m]: Play in Popup | Download

I wasn’t planning on seeing Stone Temple Pilots on their reunion tour. I saw the Smashing Pumpkins last September, Meat Puppets & Built to Spill in March, and my roomate just saw the Breeders a couple weeks ago, so I figured we had our reunions shows taken care of. I mean, I love STP, they were my first proper alt rock band, I own all their albums (though Core was just taped from my friend’s copy, I’m fine with that, though), but I’ve never considered them a live band. Still, when I was presented with a chance to buy tickets for $10 a piece, I couldn’t pass that up at all.

And then it hit me that I never really thought about STP in a live setting. I know they’ve been on the Family Values Tour (though I always cringe a bit when I’m reminded of Scott Weiland’s brief association with Fred Durst). I’ve seen pictures of Scott Weiland dressed flamboyantly and brandishing a megaphone on stage. I just never stopped and pondered how great “Interstate Love Song” must be live. It hit me today that I don’t know what song to expect, or even what I really want to hear. The radio spot promoting the show uses “Dead & Bloated”, “Wicked Garden”, “Creep”, “Sex Type Thing”, “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart”, “Vaseline”, and “Interstate Love Song” but I can’t imagine the show being so Core-centric. What with the band growing and maturing beyond their pretty straighforward and oft-bland first album. I see STP as having peaked at Tiny Music… and the slumped until the break up, but still ending as a much better band than they started as. Still, the only post-Purple song on the ad is the STP song from Guitar Hero II. But then you really shouldn’t take those spots too seriously.

So I decided to put my mind to it and present you with a bunch of songs I want to hear at Tuesday’s show. I wanted to do this with the Pumpkins show, but those would have been total longshots given the depth of the Pumpkins’ catalog. STP only had five albums, and they aren’t promoting new material and they aren’t known for prolific B-sides, so I feel good about this. My biggest trial coming up with this list is trying not to simply put up all thirteen tracks from Tiny Music… I mean all of ‘em, too, even the simple instrumental segues “Press Play” and “Daisy.”

Anyhow, here are some STP songs I’d love to hear (except “Christmas Time is Here”, but it was too cool to pass up). But doing a little research before the show, looks like I’m in to be disappointed. But hey! Artie Fufkin promised that if (when) Weiland gets put back into rehab and has to cancel the concert, then we’re having a Stone Temple Pilots Singalong at his house.

 Stone Temple Pilots - Adhesive [5:35m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Art School Girlfriend [3:35m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Christmas Time is Here (live) [3:33m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Ride the Cliché: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Too Cool Queenie [2:48m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Kitchenware & Candybars/The Second Album [8:06m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Pop's Love Suicide: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Meat Plow [3:37m]: Play in Popup | Download

Last night, in the space of maybe 30 minutes, I had four people (including a man on the radio) tell me about the new Weezer video, “Pork and Beans”.  Dave picked up his laptop & watched it, asked if I had.  Deven says he saw it on Boing Boing.  Taryn texts me and tells me it’s got the “Shoes” guy.  Then Corey O’Brien plays the song and invites us to go to YouTube right now and check out the video.  After that, I got the idea and watched it as soon as I was at a computer with speakers.  Then, this morning, my dad called to tell me there’s a new Weezer video.  And now I bring it to you, though it’s fairly obvious that I don’t have to.  I’m sure you already know.  Or know somebody who knows and is all, “OMG it’s got the Numa Numa Guys/Diet Coke & Mentos thing/that “Chocolate Rain” weirdo/K-Fed/that dreamboat Scott Shriner!”  And now you’ve heard it from your friendly neighbourhood spider-blog.

P.S. I’m a little embarrassed at how many of these I knew.  And also how many I now know because I looked things up on Wikipedia afterwards.

Well, I finally have all the pictures together. I took a crapload of pictures at Bonnaroo on my camera, and I also stole my mates’ cameras to take pictures for them when they were otherwise “occupied” and/or I felt like snatching their camera anyway. So, all these pictures are owned by myself, and my friends Sean and Eric. Please don’t snatch them.

Also, I have a Picasa Web Album up and running so everyone can access them at their leisure. Be nice, please.

Here a few to sample, and since there’s over 300 pictures, you’ll have to look at the rest over at the web album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/do.you.lovethemusic