Weezer

eezer has returned to Canada, the brotherly land north of the border. Tonights show at the Air Canada Centre was regarded as pretty excellent by most accounts, though I noticed that in the home of the Maple Leafs there was a good deal less body checking than the other day in Detroit, despite what was clearly an extremely loud and stoked audience. My theory is that the Canadian Rocking Party Style (CRPS) involves allowing the professional hockey player to do the moshing, whilst observing from a short distance. As there were no professional hockey players actually in attendance (so far as I know), the moshing was ergo on the light side. Plus people are naturally (and refreshingly) polite up here. Well anyway, the end result was still rock and roll, no matter how it was sliced. As a matter of fact, at least one band member was heard to say post show that this was by far the most fun night of the tour so far. We are deep in the groove now, and theres no stopping the soul train!

Another aspect that many agreed was the best yet was today's backstage catering. Kudos to Capers!

Before the show, the band did an interview with MuchMusic, waaaaay up past the nosebleed section, on the fabled "6th floor" where apparently you need a special card (or membership in the Hockey Hall Of Fame?) to get up to. It was a bit dizzying up there. And there were a lot of nice vintage hockey pictures everywhere, showing the helmetless young hockey players of yore who looked far older than they really were due to hard livin'.

Here are some pix from tonight's show (click on them to see them bigger)



RIVERS NEEDS YOUR STICKERS! Rivers needs to decorate his drum kit (the one on the side of the stage, not Pat's in the middle), and he wants stickers to do it. Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars; now - er, wait - I mean, years ago, Rivers asked for stickers for his guitar, and hundreds of you tossed envelopes loaded with crazy stickers onstage for days - his Stratocasters were quickly plastered! Can we count on you guys to come thru again? However you can get them to us works - if you see me, pass em over - if youre close to the stage, toss em up! Just write "Stickers for Rivers" on the envelope! Thanks people!

Reminder: Fuse TV!

RIVERS CUOMO
on NO. 1 COUNTDOWN ALTERNATIVE
Premieres 9/29 @ 8pm ET/PT on FUSE
Repeats:
Thurs, 10/1 @ 3pm
Fri, 10/2 @ 2am
Fri, 10/2 @ 5pm
Mon, 10/6 @ 3am

After a day off for travel and recharging in a quiet leafy suburb, we proceeded to the Palace of Auburn Hills for another dose of rock. Detroit brought out some serious pit action, the most crowdsurfing we've seen on this tour yet. These shows are getting better and better! Detroit also brought out none other than Scott Shriner's talented dad, who joined the hootenanny on saxophone and laid down the tastiest 'Beverly Hills' solo I think I or anyone in the band has ever heard! Nice!

Here are some pix from tonight's show (click on them to see them bigger)



RIVERS NEEDS YOUR STICKERS! Rivers needs to decorate his drum kit (the one on the side of the stage, not Pat's in the middle), and he wants stickers to do it. Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars; now - er, wait - I mean, years ago, Rivers asked for stickers for his guitar, and hundreds of you tossed envelopes loaded with crazy stickers onstage for days - his Stratocasters were quickly plastered! Can we count on you guys to come thru again? However you can get them to us works - if you see me, pass em over - if youre close to the stage, toss em up! Just write "Stickers for Rivers" on the envelope! Thanks people!

Special announcement! Fuse TV!

Don't Miss
WEEZER
on STEVEN's UNTITLED ROCK SHOW
Premieres TODAY, 9/29 @ 2pm ET/PT on FUSE
Repeats:
Tues, 9/30 @ 3am

+ Check out
RIVERS CUOMO
on NO. 1 COUNTDOWN ALTERNATIVE
Premieres TODAY @ 8pm ET/PT on FUSE
Repeats:
Thurs, 10/1 @ 3pm
Fri, 10/2 @ 2am
Fri, 10/2 @ 5pm
Mon, 10/6 @ 3am

Philadelphia (which Camden NJ is in the sphere of, of course) has always been good to Weezer. From the earliest days when the fans would lie down around the tour bus, their bodies spelling out "WEEZER", to the incredible support of the dearly departed Y100 radio station (kudos to Jim Mcguinn for his continued support via Y-Rock On XPN), to the insane shows at the Electric Ballroom, Philly (as Spinal Tap put it best) is a real rock n roll town. Tonights show at the Susquehanna Center proved this true once again! Packed to the gills with party people, this summer shed turned winter arena was loud, steamy and rather raucous. Good times!

(Speaking of Y-Rock On XPN , listen this Thurs as Rivers and Brian take over the station!)

Weezer played this place twice before, first on July 25, 2001 for a radio show. Amongst the many bands that fateful day were Tenacious D, one of their earliest appearances outside of L.A.. And in 2002, the Enlightenment Tour rolled thru in more warm temperatures and rocked the whole joint, lawn included!

Big ups to Greg from weerez.com for making it down for the show!

Here are some pictures from the show (click on a picture to see it bigger):



RIVERS NEEDS YOUR STICKERS! Rivers needs to decorate his drum kit (the one on the side of the stage, not Pat's in the middle), and he wants stickers to do it. Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars; now - er, wait - I mean, years ago, Rivers asked for stickers for his guitar, and hundreds of you tossed envelopes loaded with crazy stickers onstage for days - his Stratocasters were quickly plastered! Can we count on you guys to come thru again? However you can get them to us works - if you see me, pass em over - if youre close to the stage, toss em up! Just write "Stickers for Rivers" on the envelope! Thanks people!

Special announcement! Fuse TV!

Don't Miss
WEEZER
on STEVEN's UNTITLED ROCK SHOW
Premieres 9/29 @ 2pm ET/PT on FUSE
Repeats:
Tues, 9/30 @ 3am

+ Check out
RIVERS CUOMO
on NO. 1 COUNTDOWN ALTERNATIVE
Premieres 9/29 @ 8pm ET/PT on FUSE
Repeats:
Thurs, 10/1 @ 3pm
Fri, 10/2 @ 2am
Fri, 10/2 @ 5pm
Mon, 10/6 @ 3am

Boston.com review of the Lowell show here. Pitchfork review of the NYC show here.

After a much appreciated day off in New York City, We headed down the New Jersey Turnpike to Atlantic City, home of a lot of casinos and boardwalks. And sometimes Donald Trump. The Borgata Casino may seem an unlikely place for a Weezer show, but we've been here before and it tends to successfully produce the rock, despite being out in the middle of a coastal delta and swarming with luxury party people looking for the big score at the blackjack table. W, A+A and TPC all rocked it right. Big ups to the NY/NJ/PA weez peeps who made the trek out the parkway!

Here are some pictures from the show (click on a picture to see it bigger):




...Hey, check out these great blog posts by Scott's wife Jillian, now up on Vanity Fair's website! Jillian went with her hubby on the recent Japan tour and had some interesting and funny observations... #1 "She's With The Band"; #2 "Tips For Soundcheck Shopping In Tokyo".

More show reviews:
Lowell show review on Boston.com , NYC show review on Pitchfork.

Headlining at Madison Square Garden is pretty much every band's dream, and after 15 years, Weezer achieved it tonight. While it's true that many bands can say theyve played the Garden (including Weezer, as far back as 1994), headlining the joint is a tricker task. Scott told the crowd that it was his and every musicians dream come true to do what Weezer did tonight, and speaking personally it was darn cool to see it happen and think about just how far things have come - tho the obstacles have been many.

Special guest appearences during tonights set included Tom and Atom from Angels and Airwaves, Jackknife Lee (producer of "Pork And Beans" and "Troublemaker"), and of course the massive Hootenanny gang of NYC area fans who came up and blew the Garden away with their unearthly sounds! A deep and sincere thank you to all.

Also in the house tonight was Chris Shaw, the legendary engineer of the Blue Album. Nice to see you again Chris!

Here are some pictures from the show (click on a picture to see it bigger):



Check out this Self Titled Magazine review (+more pix) from tonight's show here.

And in case you missed it - the SPIN magazine review of the Lowell show is here!

...The Troublemaker video is coming down the pike shortly. (Finally!) Heres a small teaser, using some choice footage from the making of.

After 3 days of preparing the tour at Tsongas Arena out in Lowell, today the rubber hit the road, with Angels And Airwaves and Tokyo Police Club showing up to add their stuff to the Troublemaker Tour mix. Tokyo Police Club are from Toronto and have a very cool sound, hard to pinpoint but maybe "post-modern rock"?. Whatever they were doing, many who had never heard them before were really impressed. Angels And Airwaves include ex-Blink 182 man Tom DeLonge and our old Weez & TSG buddy Atom Willard, and they bring an almost theatrical style of rock, anthemic and atmospheric at the same time, which has earned them an army of devoted fans.

Everybody worked hard to get things right tonight. Considering how many things can go wrong on a first night, the whole show went off pretty much without a hitch. At least no major hitches anyway! Kudos to the crews for really juggling some major tech challenges in record time to make everything happen, and congrats to the bands for a great start to the tour!

One of the challenges today was an unexpected eye injury to Brian Bell, which forced him to wear dark glasses to avoid the bright lights on stage, and which restricted his movements during the show (as he couldnt see well enough to safely move around). He is expected to continue playing the shows and to make a full recovery soon, and he thanks his well wishers.

Scott the lighting man says THANK YOU to the hundreds who submitted video clips for our show. As it turns out, due to the nature of the gear he's using, he is able to use your clips directly, with no need to get the master files from you guys. There were many many cool ones and he's having fun trying different stuff out in the show. So you'll just have to come to the show to see what's being used! And you are welcome to add more to the pile for the duration of the tour!

SPIN magazine review of the Lowell show here!

Here are some pictures from the show (click on a picture to see it bigger):



...in other news...

Cool blog entry from a guy who saw Rivers perform in his earliest days... oh, about 1987!

NEW CONTEST NOTE: Folks here's a way to win tickets to see weezer - but this contest will end on 9/19, so don't take a nap now!

Place an order in the new online weezer merchandise store from now until 9/19 and be entered in a contest to win two tickets to an upcoming Weezer show and a backstage tour. Note that no transportation will be provided, your tickets will be to the venue closest to you and you get yourself there to rock out. Click here for the details.

Today was the second of the two "Weezer Festival" shows that feature opening bands who all share the Weezer spirit. Todays show at the huge gym was sold out, over 9000 people came to rock.

As today was the biggest show of the Japan Tour, it was handy that there was no travel to deal with - no trains, no planes, and only a few automobiles to go the short distance from the hotel over to the No. 1 Gymnasium at National Yoyogi Stadium. It was a relief for all to actually have time to prepare and soundcheck, and the vibe was busy but under control. After soundcheck the band did a bunch of press for various Japanese magazines and papers, while Going Under Ground and Asian Kung Fu Generation did their soundchecks.

After a walk to the nearest Mos Burger for a late lunch, it was back to the stadium. Outside things were chaotic, with some sort of holiday going on this day (Elder's Day?), meaning all sorts of parades and outdoor music events going on in the parklands all around the stadium. Mix in 9000 weezer fans converging on the area and it was quite a scene.

Once again Going Under Ground and Asian Kung Fu Generation brought the rock and the totally sold out place was going nuts. Its too bad they insist on seated floors at these big arenas in Japan, but the energy in the place was still very high.

Then it was time for weezer, led off by a comparatively big Hootenanny, with about 15 fans (plus an opening band member sans shirt, haha). Great brass and woodwind section today! And a really strong 6 man guitar team holding it down. Going into this tour, no one knew if it was possible to have a hootenanny in such a big place surrounded by an audience. So many things could go wrong. But, while things were a bit chaotic at times, the lesson learned was that its definitely doable, and not only that, its a stoker!

Here are some pictures from the show (click on a picture to see it bigger):


Post show there was a tour wrap up dinner at the delicious and famous Gonpachi restaurant, followed by a wild karaoke session at a nearby karaoke place, with Pat and Scott along with record company people and others (incl yours truly) busting out everything from "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" to "White Room", "Witchita Lineman", "Walk Like An Egyptian", "Feel Like Making Love" "Never Tear Us Apart", "Just What I Needed" and "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" (my pick).

Finally, Weezer and co. would like to send out a huge thank you to the Japan team who made the tour such a big success and a fun time to boot! Thank you and see you next time!

THANK YOU:
Naoki Shimizu
Ken Kamenoi
Aska Mizogaki
Layli Odamura
Naoto Seki
Yukihiko Soga
Mamoru Abe
Masahiko Kobayashi
Hiro "Hadja" Yoshizawa
IEC
Noritsugu Maehara
Junji Kondo (Universal)
Pelc Enterprise (merchandise)

...meanwhile...

There is a nice article with quotes from Rivers and Pat about the recording of the Red Album in the new issue of Mix Magazine, now in stores and online here.

Weezer Tribute Band Alert:
El Scorcho are playing 9/19 at Andrew's Upstairs in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, with Behind The Sun, and on 9/20 at Under The Couch on the Georgia Tech campus, where "we're bringing back the popular Weezer Karaoke set!"

Today the band took the Shinkansen from Tokyo down to Osaka, where we loaded into the ubiquitous van coaches and were ferried over to the Intex hall. Intex is part of the massive Osaka World Trade Center complex, and is the very same site as where the Summersonic Festival is held. But todays show, while really big, was not held in the unbelievably massive outdoor area, but rather the merely massive indoor hall.

This was the first of two "Weezer Festival" shows that feature 3 opening bands who all share some Weezer spirit. About 5-6000 people came to see a terrific bill consisting of Sakanaction, who were sort of an electronica act, pop rockers Going Under Ground, the tremendous Asian Kung Fu Generation (who killed it), and finally Weezer.

Weezer had quite a challenge today. Despite being the headliner, travel and press schedules prevented them from being able to soundcheck at all. They were able to have a little meet up with the Hootenanny people (finally a trombone!) so they could prepare for that a bit. But the electric part of the show had been amended with two more songs today, neither of which there was any chance to rehearse except backstage in the dressing rooms. Well, weezer's ability to pull the fat out of the fire and nail it when it counts came through again, and aside from a handful of minor glitches, the set was powerful and full of energy. The crowd was stoked! So many people came up to me after the show and expressed really positive reactions, and I can see why - that show had a power.

Here are some pictures from the show (click on a picture to see it bigger):



Tomorrow is a day off - first the bullet train back to Tokyo, then an afternoon to do the Shibuya/Harajuku/Roppongi thing (and rest!)

After a day off which involved a flight from Fukuoka to Tokyo (which we were on when the earthquake hit Northern Japan, so we didn't know it had happened till we landed), and a lot of walking around Shibuya marvelling at the sheer quantity of people, stores, sounds, lights, and vehicles (enhanced with a Mos Burger visit, naturally), today was the 1st of 2 Tokyo shows. The show is at the biggest of all Club Zepps. Zepp Club are fun to do - the staff is really pro and the venue just feels right for rock - and sounds awesome. More venues should be run like these places.

Man, people were packed into the Zepp - some serious steam in the air, and super high energy all around. Things are really sounding and looking better every night. Tonights Hootenanny was the best yet as well. The band and crew are working very hard to whip the show into shape, and the many suggestions and opinions of the fans are being listened to and taken seriously. It's a little tricky making major adjustments on the fly, but Weezer is a band who can buckle down and reanoint, call an audible. Dont let them play football.

Here are some pictures from tonights wicked rock show (click on a picture to see it bigger):


...Also:

Now were cooking with gas! Very cool show at the excellent Zepp club in Fukuoka, involving everything from a childrens song sing along led by Rivers for his baby daughter (who loved it), to a small but successful Hootenanny, to sweaty crowdsurfing as the band brought the rock. Pretty much every aspect of the show was improved over last night, and in the words of Pat, "it's just going to keep getting better".

Opening band Holidays Of Seventeen had a good show too, and their lead man joined the hootenanny as well. For some reason there are rarely if ever opening acts in Japan, but on this tour we are bucking the trend. The two "big" shows coming up in Osaka and Tokyo are actually being billed as "Weezer Festivals", with Japan bands Asian Kung-Fu Generation and Going Under Ground) opening. Both bands are reportedly big fans of weezer, and are very happy to be part of the shows. Asian Kung-Fu Generation is actually huge here, and certainly doesnt need to be an opening act anymore. But they are stoked on playing the Weezer Festival, and of course weezer is stoked to be playing with both these bands. It can be lonely being the only band at the gig!

Heres some pictures from the show:



Japan Hootenanny People: Watch this instructional video! (how to play the 3 songs - Island In The Sun, El Scorcho, Beverly Hills):


Tomorrow is a day off - we fly to Tokyo and then proceed to walk around Shibuya district slack jawed, staring at the pretty lights.

So far I'm averaging one visit to Mos Burger per day in Japan. Many thanks to Rie for the fancy Mos T-shirt! Also have discovered the "Coolish" brand frozen milkshake(?) in a foil squeeze pouch. Mmm.

...other stuff:

Fuse TV contest - win tickets, airfare and spending $ to the Weezer show in San Diego! Check it out.

Cover Band Alert: 'Our Name Is Jonas' is playing Friday 9/12 at the Wintergarden in Livonia, MI. "Come check out all the great Weezer Rarities and Hits!"

The top 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever as compiled by MTV2: Weezer - Buddy Holly #9, Weezer - Island in the Sun #90.

The top 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever as compiled by VH1: Weezer - Buddy Holly #26

The MTV greatest video ever competition is still going on as well -  'Buddy Holly' is in the running!