This past Wednesday, Weezer appeared in Colorado Springs alongside “Special Guests.” The show was thoroughly enjoyable, even to rock listeners who aren’t hardcore fans.
The show began with AM Radio, a newcomer on the scene hailing from Los Angeles. It was hard to get into their sound, but I found myself enjoying this group after they broke out “I Just Wanna Be Loved.”
The lead singer, Kevin Ridel, had a wonderfully unique voice, which helped get the crowd’s energy flowing quickly. In fact, he even came down into the crowd during one of the songs.
The next warm-up act was Pete Yorn. Being the non-rocker that I am, I thought he sounded familiar. But after hearing him, I knew it couldn’t be from his music.
My date and I decided to take the opportunity to visit the paraphernalia stand during his act. Then we counted down the songs until he was done. I found myself chastising my fellow fans that if you clap louder, he will stay longer and not shorter.
After visiting the shop, we decided to join the pit of frenzy, and thus my favorite part of the evening. As I stopped by the outskirts of the crowd I backed up against a wall. It was here that an angry mother cautioned me that, “It’s a little crowded back here,” as if that was the only place in the entire auditorium that had people near each other!
So we instead chose to join the mosh pit, more aptly titled the “death trap.” I was able to take the pressure for about half an hour. But not being a large person, I found it uncomfortable to be restricted to under one square foot of space. That, coupled with not being able to see, breathe or even stay conscious, I decided to move away from the crowd.
Fortunately, Weezer had started to play after two hours of waiting. By now the crowd was really excited, and the smoking in the auditorium continued strong as ever; and the crowd surfing got really crazy.
They played all of their more popular songs as well as some new tunes. Typically I don’t enjoy live concerts because the group decides to change the sound of all the songs. They decide that what is on their album, the version that has sold thousands if not millions, needs to be tweaked for a live performance. Luckily, they stayed true to the sound of their songs, just making them a little more “rock.”
They finished off with “Only in Dreams,” featuring stunning guitar solos. As the audience held up lighters in a show of support, Weezer left the stage.
Five to 10 minutes later, after a multitude of cheering, the band came back for the all-too-certain encore performance. They even let down the big lighted flyin’ dubya for their encore song, “Buddy Holly.”
The time was awesome. And some members of AM Radio even mingled with commoners after the performance. After leaving, although sad it was over, I could finally breathe again. Not only that, but I found that I-25 is not packed after midnight! This concert was a must see, hardcore Weezer fan or not.
