el Scorcho

Oh my, has the concert scene changed…ok the scene is probably dependant on the band(s) which are playing that evening. For instance when I saw the Nine Inch Nails concert in New York with The Dresden Dolls as the opener the crowd was predominately in their early to mid twenties Oh my how the crowd was different at the Weezer / Foo Fighters concert Wednesday September 14, 2005 at Austin’s Frank Erwin Center.

The last time I saw the Foo Fighters was back in ’97 on their Colour and the Shape tour, at the time I was 17. However the Foo Fighters aren’t making top 40 radio stations play lists, with the rare exception of Big Me or Everlong, both of which are from past albums. Weezer is the guilty party for this young crowd, and their current pop hit Beverly Hills.

Let me see if I can explain myself here, the young crowd was comprised what looked like high school kiddos, or I suppose they could have been UT freshman looking for something to do on a Wednesday night now that Mommy and Daddy aren’t there to tell them they aren’t allowed to go out on a school night (yea I know, insert old man / getting old joke here). Never the less, I was amazed at the number which they showed up – even if one of them showed up with their mother and could not make up which over priced t-shirt they wanted.

“Number 5, no number 2, no number 8. Can I get the wallet?” Mother replies “No – what t-shirt do you want?” Son continues “what about the jacket? I want the jacket.” Mother again says “no, so what shirt, number 5? Five is cool.”

This charade continued on until my partner in crime got the t-shirt for his girl friend in hand and we escaped the t-shirt stand madness.

So the show was mediocre in the end. The opening band, Mae, had their guitars turned up really loud, and the vocals were difficult to try and decipher what he was saying. The bass player stood there like a statue, while the lead guitarist did a little side step body sway number which would have to be displayed to understand fully. I cant say I liked them or not because they left such a bland after effect on me.

Weezer was on next, and despite being responsible for bringing out the young crowd they put on the best performance of the evening. Rivers Cuomo and company did a nice job of playing songs from their entire catalogue, including songs from the album Rivers once detested, Pinkerton. Such crowd pleasers included Beverly Hills, Buddy Holly, and Hash Pipe. Rivers performed Island in the Sun as a solo on an acoustic guitar on the far side of the arena configuration. For Undone (The Sweater Song) They invited up a member of the audience to play guitar – which was interesting to say the least. Mike actually knew how to play apparently.

The Foo Fighters hit the stage shortly after Weezers confetti landed, blaring In Your Honor from the album of the same name. Dave Grohl seemed to be more interested in shouting, and talking about the “blonde slut from the Real World: Austin”. His once melodic voice has taken a beating from the cigarettes and crown he is known to consume, so the only bright part of their performance were the improves they did during the songs. For instance the song Stacked Actors mutated its way into some sort of twelve minute beast of a song. They worked in flawlessly, and all came crashing back into the song in unison, I never thought of the Foos as a jam band, but they did a swell job. Unfortunately they neglected to play any of their acoustic material from the new album, and the set was filled with songs I didn’t really want to hear again anyhow. Dave Grohl took the sticks for one song which I didn’t recognize, but he showed he could still beat the skins.

So all in all, the show was entertaining, and the price was right, free. The seats weren’t very good, but hey it was a free ticket from a San Antonio radio station so, once can’t expect too much.