[ATTENDED: December 3, 2016] Weezer
Comedian Hari Kondabolu has a funny bit called “How Weezer Broke My Heart.” He says that he was a huge fan in the late 1990s but when he went to the show a few years ago he discovered that their fanbase is still fourteen years old and that he was the creepy old dude–at 28! But he rejects that and says that Weezer are the creepy old dudes–forty-year old men singing songs that teenagers can relate to is really creepy.
Well, my show was full of college students (and at least one dad who brought his daughter who was either too young to drive or maybe they bond over Weezer–I didn’t ask–but more on them later). I may have been the creepy old dude, but since Rivers Cuomo and I are basically the same age, we’re both the creepy old dudes.
It was cool to like Weezer for about two years (circa 1996). But before and after it decidedly wasn’t. Nevertheless, I’ve always enjoyed them. I often wish that Rivers Cuomo would write more substantial songs (musically and lyrically since he studied classical composition and graduated with a B.A. in English from Harvard) but it’s hard to deny how much fun his dumb songs are.
I thought about seeing them this summer, but decided against it. However, when they announced they were playing in Bethlehem, a close venue that I like, I decided it was time to see them. I’d been checking their recent setlists (to see what albums they were laying songs from–I try to never look at actual songs), and I was bummed to see that they weren’t playing anything from Pinkerton, the cool person’s favorite Weezer album. In fact it seemed like the sets came mostly from their self titled albums (blue, green, red and white).
But whatever, because even if they weren’t playing my favorite album, I knew that they’d be playing a bunch of songs that I knew and liked, right? (more…)
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