WEEZER
Review by: Jules Dean | Photos: Brad Stevens
Outside Amerant Bank Arena on a Tuesday night in October, a melange of anticipation and humidity flowed through the crowd culled to the The Gathering, Weezer’s current arena tour. When Jimmy Fallon asked whether the tours name was a hat tip to Magic: The Gathering, Cuomo admitted he’d never played the card game but said the idea was the same: “summoning sorcerers from all corners of the world,” in this case every kind of Weezer fan. The show runs the metaphor with runic symbols, spells, and a portal in the living room.
The tone for the night was set by a pair of indie-rock legends. Silversun Pickups kicked things off with a heavy dose of fuzz, their driving bass lines and abrasive guitar textures vibrating through the concrete floor before the room was even half-filled. The Shins followed with a pristine, melody-driven set. James Mercer’s vocals cut clean through the arena, delivering crisp, nostalgic indie pop that perfectly primed the crowd’s energy for the headliners.
When the house lights dropped, the screens rolled a short film. A neighborhood kid, cornered by bullies, blurts out that Weezer are playing a concert at his house. He calls the band’s agent with a 98-cent offer and gets hung up on, so he makes flyers instead, covered in hypnotic runic sigils that look lifted from a Magic card. Rivers Cuomo reads the letter, his eyes flare a supernatural orange, initiating a series of events that lured the band toward the kid’s front yard. Then the film ended and the band walked through the picket fence and onto the stage which is completely transformed into a realistic suburban residence, featuring a house facade, a white picket fence, power lines with shoes strung over them, a picnic table, and a fire pit.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered today to celebrate a thing called.... Weezer” Rivers said to the crowd before opening the show “Shine Again”, their first release from their latest album. They immediately transitioned to “Surf Wax America” to the delight of the crowd. Setlist classics like “Hash Pipe” got the expected pop (and pyrotechnics), but they also found ways to keep things fresh. For “Pork and Beans,” the band underwent a switch up when Rivers got behind the drums and Pat put on his guitar. What followed was a short drum solo from Rivers and then Pat played a little bit of “Eruption” to the delight of the fans. At one point they feigned a power outage to segue into the firepit for a campfire acoustic song called “Longtime Sunshine” from River’s Cuomo’s solo work.
Then came the most Magic: The Gathering moment of the night: a summoning, played completely straight. Silversun Pickups bassist Nikki Monninger emerged from a glowing portal in the house for 3 songs(“We Might as Well Be Strangers,” “Go Away” and “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams”). Her voice and quirky aura was the ideal feminine counterpoint to River.
“Undone – The Sweater Song” kicked the door back open, and from there the set went full throttle. “El Scorcho” notched up the temperature. “Say It Ain’t So” had the entire arena singing along. The penultimate songs, the massive hit “Buddy Holly”, got the crowd into a fevered pitch. The night culminated with “Island in the Sun” accompanied with beach props bouncing above the pit.
