Pills and I spent the Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend at Pittsburgh's newest concert venue, Stage AE located on the North Shore for the Weezer concert. We were very impressed with Stage AE. It had three different areas to watch the concert from: a general admission standing room pit, a VIP picnic table and chairs area in the middle, and a GA lawn area in the rear. We decided to stand in the front near the stage. The facility is fantastic for concerts, this is a place that Pittsburgh has been sorely missing over the years. It is more intimate than Station Square's IC Light Amphitheatre, which I estimate would hold the same number of people. Permanent luxury Porta Johns and concessions stands lined the perimeter of the complex and the lines seemed reasonable.
The crowd was pretty diverse, a mix of late 20's/early 30's and teens ready to rock. A hippie with hair down his back stood near us and was whipping his hair around hitting us on the back of the neck throughout the show which got pretty annoying after awhile.
On to the show. A local band named Triggers opened for Weezer. The band consisted of a keyboardist, guitar, bass player, and drummer. They were alright they were going for a Black Keys sound. The bassist reminded me of an old college friend who was a computer science major (he also coincidentally played bass). They played for about 45 minutes which may have been a little too long.
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| Weezer's Rivers Cuomo |
Weezer hit the stage at approximately 9:05pm and tore through 19 songs without much talk between songs. They played seven songs from their 1994 classic "Blue" album and mixed in some of the newer hits. In the middle of the set Weezer decided to cover Radiohead's "Paranoid Android." This seems like it would be a difficult song to cover and they struggled with it.
The PG's music critic, Scott Mervis, had a similar opinion. The crowd didn't respond well to it and it may have been because some were too young for the classic from OK Computer. Pills and I were critiquing the song like the old Muppet characters Statler and Waldorf who opine from the balcony and some pimply-faced teen turned around and asked us if Radiohead was any good. What a fool. The show ended around 10:30pm. I was satisfied with the set list, however it was surprising that Weezer didn't play anything from the critically acclaimed "Pinkerton" album.
Overall it was a great show and I loved Stage AE, it is the perfect place for bands of a similar size following of Weezer. It has been a long time since Weezer last played in Pittsburgh, hopefully they won't wait another nine years to make their return.
| Set List | |
1 | Memories | Hurley |
2 | Hash Pipe | Green Album |
3 | Undone - The Sweater Song | Blue Album |
4 | Perfect Situation | Make Believe |
5 | Say It Ain't So | Blue Album |
6 | Trouble Maker | Red Album |
7 | Dope Nose | Maladroit |
8 | Paranoid Android | Radiohead Cover |
9 | My Name is Jonas | Blue Album |
10 | Island in the Sun | Green Album |
11 | Surf Wax America | Blue Album |
12 | Photograph | Green Album |
13 | Keep' Fishin' | Maladroit |
14 | In the Garage | Blue Album |
15 | Beverly Hills | Make Believe |
16 | Pork and Beans | Red Album |
17 | Only in Dreams | Blue Album |
| Encore | |
18 | (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To | Raditude |
19 | Buddy Holly | Blue Album |
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| Statler and Waldorf aka Pills and RKorn |
I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with the Weezer concert. I like Weezer and enjoy all of their songs. Even newer songs such as "Hashpipe" and "Beverly Hills", which are looked down upon by both music snobs and Weezer fans, are enjoyable to me, but I rarely classify Weezer as one of my favorite bands. Leading up to the concert I found myself listening more and more to Weezer and I went in to the show not sure of what to expect from a Weezer concert. I left very happy and was surprised that I knew every song played and impressed with Weezer. They catapulted up on my list of top bands.
ReplyDeleteUsually bands attempt for cheap pops by announcing their adoration for local teams, but I feel like Weezer, especially front man Rivers Cuomo, had a genuine affinity for the Steelers as his rattled off the stars from the 70's Super Steelers and later bassist Scott Shriner asked for a Pirates t-shirt from the audience, but no one obliged. Maybe, sports is out of the realm for most Weezer fans?
Great show, but as posted the Paranoid Android cover was very weak and the vast majority of the crowd had no idea what was going on and many left for the "bad song bathroom break" at that point.
I loved Stage AE and with free parking and soft drinks at the Rivers Casino it was an ideal place to see a show.
Agreed, they are not one of my all-time favorite bands. I only own the Blue album and a few songs from each other album, but they were defintely worth seeing and didn't disappoint.
ReplyDeleteThis concert sounds great. If someone were to ask me, I wouldn't think to put Weezer as one of my top bands, but I like there earlier albums, and have never seen them in concert. I am a huge fan of Pinkerton, and am dissapointed to hear they did not play anything from that. I read recently that they had played a few shows where they played that album all the way through. I am excited to see a show at Stage AE someday.
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