September 25th, 2008 5:11am
No More Words Will Critics Have To Speak
Weezer @ Madison Square Garden, 9/24/2008
My Name Is Jonas *@ / Pink Triangle / Perfect Situation @/ Say It Ain’t So / Susanne #/ Keep Fishin’ / King @ / Undone – The Sweater Song (with Tom DeLonge from Angels & Airwaves and Blink 182) / Pork and Beans / Dreamin’ / Dope Nose @ / Troublemaker / Automatic */ Hash Pipe / El Scorcho # / Morning Glory (Oasis cover) * / The Greatest Man That Ever Lived // Island In The Sun (with hootenanny players) / Beverly Hills (with hootenanny players) /// (Rivers comes out and dropkicks a turntable that is playing “Heart Songs”) / Sliver (Nirvana cover) / Buddy Holly
lead vocals: * = Pat, # = Brian, @ = Scott, all others Rivers
As you can tell from reading the legend on the above setlist, Rivers Cuomo handed over lead vocals on a number of his songs to other members of his band. This might seem like a terrible thing, but the truth is, you don’t really notice it all that much because a) they are competent singers with voices not tremendously different from the general timbre and range of Cuomo and b) everyone is singing along, so it doesn’t matter all that much who happens to be on mic so long as they didn’t totally screw up. The only time the relative inadequacies of the non-Rivers members became apparent was when they sang their own compositions, and the enthusiasm level in the room flatlined. (Fair enough — Pat Wilson’s “Automatic” may be pleasant yet generally unremarkable, but Scott Shriner’s “King” can be most charitably described as being like a very good Nickelback tune.)
It seems that Weezer’s big project in 2008 is about emphasizing inclusiveness. This isn’t limited to Rivers opening up the songwriting and singing to his band mates or making ridiculously populist music videos with YouTube stars, but in making the concert as much like karaoke as possible, right on down to the choice of cover tunes and the seemingly arbitrary and generic visuals projected behind them as they performed. In the first encore, the band went all the way and had an army of fans join them on stage for “hootenanny” versions of two hits, raising the bar for audience interaction to an absurd extreme, and yielding a horn-driven version of “Beverly Hills” that had a sort of New Orleans funeral vibe. Even when Rivers was acting goofy and/or playing a guitar solo while hopping on a trampoline, he was always playing second fiddle to the real star of the show: The songs, and the audience’s intense affection for the songs.
Weezer “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” – When you consider the deliberately inclusive nature of Weezer’s current schtick, it’s rather amusing and ironic that the best and most popular songs from their new album are the numbers that are all about ego, self-image, and individuality. “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” is the most extreme example: It’s an over-the-top parody of rock star megalomania, done up as, of course, a multi-part pop epic that paraphrases Shakespeare and uses the melody of the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts,” perhaps the most famous expression of humility in all of music, as the basis for rock song about ridiculous hubris. It’s hilarious and awesome, and I don’t know how anyone could not love it. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)
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