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.

My two favourite piano-based pop singers, Ben Folds and Regina Spektor, will be performing together on tonight’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien.  The song, “You Don’t Know Me”, is the first single from Ben’s album Way To Normal, which came out on Tuesday.  When I saw Ben back in June, he played a fair number of songs from the new record and I’m really excited for it (yeah, I haven’t heard it yet, even though it’s up in its entirety on his MySpace page, once I get Internets at home I’ll be a much better informed blogger).  Somebody make sure to upload that one to YouTube so I can watch it later (I don’t have TV at home, either).

You Don’t Know Me by Ben Folds & Regina Spektor (MP3)

I was lucky enough to attend Redfest again this year (I missed Jack’s Mannequin last year, but saw Flogging Molly in ‘06) and it was fantastic.  The lineup was Kalai, Brother Ali, and Matisyahu.  I was bummed about missing Matis on the Unity Tour with 311 last summer, so there was no way I was missing this one.  Unfortunate transport issues mean I missed the bulk of Kalai’s set, only realizing towards the end that they closed with a cover of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” so I can’t comment on them.

I did catch all of Brother Ali’s set, though.  Since everybody’s favourite Hasidic Jewish reggae mic master headlined, I guess it’s worth noting that Ali is Muslim.  He’s also white and from Minnesota, if you must know.  I only mention these details because he did, otherwise I’d only feel obligated to tell you that he is ably-tongued and amiable, and that he put on an enjoyable hip hop set and got us pumped for Matisyahu.

Matis, for his part, did not disappoint, but a lot of credit has to go to the backing band.  It didn’t seem like there was any kind of setlist, rather, as my bandmate Dave pointed out, “They just played, and sometimes songs happened.”  Like the opening song: jam for a bit, do some of a new song, jam some more, do a slowed-down verse of “Dispatch the Troops” over whatever the band is playing at the time.  A lot of the show was like that, with portions of other songs showing up when it feels right.  The encore featured a new song, and based on that I’m super excited about the release of Light later this year.

Sorry if this review feels a little weak, I’ve been away for too long.  I’m hoping to be sharper for the next Matisyahu show, Nov 26 at Harry O’s.

So, I’m a sorry entertainer and waited a few days to post about my Ben Folds show. Also, I completely failed to mention that I saw Shiny Toy Guns again a few weeks back, but that’s neither here nor there. The important thing is I’ve now seen Ben Folds, who, I’m delighted to say, “just finished up the new album. We just have to put our friend Regina Spektor on there and it’s set.” Is this exciting? Yes this is.

So, Ben Folds is good at what he do. He does it on his own terms, too, which I like. If he’s tired of playing a song, he won’t do it anymore. Didn’t play “Brick.” Didn’t play “Rock this Bitch.” Didn’t play “Philosophy.” And you know what? I’m okay with that. The audience was still involved. We still sang the horn section on “Army.” We were still the choir on “Not the Same.” There were still songs made up on the spot (about how Ben never gets to play in Salt Lake, which is true). There were maracas and synthesizers and a mysterious tambourine man. There was a beautiful vibe and there was singing along. So Ben was great, but you should have known that already. So what do you need to know?

Well, as usual, it’s about the opening acts. To be brief, you don’t need to know about the opening acts. Except for Australian popster Ben Lee. After sitting through three (thankfully short) opening acts already, I was a little bummed when yet another took the stage. However, when I heard him say, “Hi, my name is Ben Lee,” I perked right up. See, Ben Lee is one third of The Bens (the other two being Folds and Kweller), so I was excited to here what pop mastery made him worthy of the group. Well, Ben Lee is an excellent performer, which I think is something that was lacking in the other openers. Sure, his songs were catchier, but that’s not all that matters. Ben made us all a part of his show by having us sing along bits, and he made the best of technical guitar difficulties by (first) jumping to a song with the music on an iPod while they fixed things, then (when that still didn’t work) unplugging his guitar and lowering his microphone to so it would pick up the guitar. So open-mic of him, but it made the set seem much more intimate. There were improvised bits on a few songs, notably on a song I’ve included for you here, “Catch My Disease.” I also really enjoyed the song American Television, so I’ve got that for you, too. Ben Lee sang songs that I could sing the chorus of after one or two times through, but more importantly, I wanted to sing along.

So that was my Ben Folds show. The complete setlist is up on my personal blog. Enjoy some, eh?

 Ben Folds Five - Underground [4:11m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Ben Lee - Catch My Disease [4:15m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Ben Lee - American Television [3:41m]: Play in Popup | Download

• "State of Love and Trust" from the Singles soundtrack
• "Crown of Thorns" originally by Mother Love Bone, also from the Singles soundtrack
• Covers of songs by the Who, the Ramones, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Jimi Hendrix, and probably a few other I don't recognize by title
• Old material, new material, rare material.

All this for about $35 bucks, really isn't bad, but I'm so broke right now that this is kinda killing me.  So, I may as well say it, I've got a birthday coming up, if any of you love me enough.  In the mean time, enjoy "State of Love and Trush" and imagine this mess live and up in your grill.

Pearl Jam Official Website // MySpace // Buy Live at the Gorge 05/06 for THIRTY bucks @ Amazon 

Pearl Jam - State of Love and Trust

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/stateofloveandtrust.mp3]