Weezer played "The Blue Album" at Madison Square Garden

 

Weezer's iconic self-titled debut record, forever affectionately known as "The Blue Album," turned thirty this year and the band are celebrating the occasion by playing it in-full. The Flaming Lips and Dinosaur Jr. have joined them for support.

Opening the night was the forever powerful Dinosaur Jr. who may finally have found a room in New York City that can properly handle their sound as they wasted no time launching into their monstrous guitar juggernauts that took over the world's most famous arena. Although they played to a relatively small crowd, they rocked it as if they were playing any other sold-out venue in the city, J's towering riffs sounding even fuller with the arena's massive soundsystem and getting to hear tracks like "Little Fury Things," "Feel the Pain," and "Start Choppin'" on the city's biggest stage was such a great experience. 

After a quick twenty-five minute set from Dino, The Flaming Lips were up next and led the crowd through a rainbow swirl of cosmic lasers and countless props that made for a musical odyssey full of love and passion. Wayne Coyne's endless campaign for cheers helped fuel the band as they power blasted through their psychedelic parade of hits from across their catalogue. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt 1" broke through to the crowd had people get on their feet for the free-spirited number and the transition into part two unleashed a killer dance party that was enhanced by the giant inflatable robots that took over the stage. Breaking into '90s underground hit "She Don't Use Jelly" was, as always, a great throwback moment of some great alt-rock riffs and led to "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song," this one accompanied by inflatable lips and eyeballs as well as a gargantuan balloon message that read "FUCK YEAH MADISON SQUARE GARDEN." After waving it front of the audience to drum up more cheers, he dropped it to the floor section and let it get devoured by the fans. Smartly, people in the pit somehow managed to save the correct letters to spell out "DRUG" which they joyfully celebrated. After a psyched-out cover of Madonna's "Borderline," they closed out the middle portion of the night with a sensational rendition of "Do You Realize??," a song that will forever remain as one with some of the most reflective lyrics for an entire generation.

With the volume, hype, and expectations properly raised by the two opening acts, it was finally time for Weezer to unleash their performance of Voyage to the Blue Planet, their concept piece in form of a concert that set the stage for the band to make their way through their more recent catalogue before dumping us with the stone cold classics. The show was set to the theme of space exploration and after a news video introduction, a spaceship lifted from the stage and the band appeared before us, dressed in full jumpsuits, and fully ready to lead us through their scripted, rather prog-inspired, musical fantasy. The better than I remembered "Dope Nose" was an early hit in the set and the chugging "Hash Pipe" got the crowd pumped. Still, some hits like "Pork and Beans" and "Beverly Hills" remain cornier than anyone would care to admit and both affirmed my hot take that if Weezer never returned from their hiatus post-Pinkerton and embarked on nearly a dozen albums of rather goofy pop-rock, they'd be on the level of Nirvana as an all-time great. Obviously, however, credit to the band remains intact as they've never lost their massive following along the way and have remained prominent fixtures in the biggest venues across major markets. Continuing with the space get-up, the band's mocked stage banter was fully in on its own joke and allowed Rivers inner nerd to really have its moment in the sun. Luckily, the silly dialogue led to the band hitting the Pinkerton Asteroid belt while on their travels and they ripped into five tracks from their other landmark album. "Getchoo" and "Why Bother" raged with serious force, Cuomo leaning in with with powerchords and his stylized finger-tapping. Following a brief costume change out of their jumpsuits, the band "landed" at their destination and final leg of the show and as Rivers stuck their logo-bearing flag into the stage, they tore into "My Name is Jonas" and the roof nearly blew off the building. As one of the best albums of the '90s progressed, the nostalgia factor only escalated and the elation brought on from hearing these songs live really grabbed hold. Looking as if he hadn't aged a day since the album's release, the close-ups of Rivers, still in his classic haircut and thick-rimmed glasses made it feel like the '90s all over again. As a perfect record, every song is a 10/10, but "Buddy Holly" cranked things up to a new level, the ripping guitar lines getting almost as much cheer as the words themselves. Mimicking the opening conversation of "Undone (The Sweater Song)," rhythm guitarist Brian Bell and bassist Scott Shriner traded out some words and replaced them with an idea for after show plans at McSorley's Ale House, before Rivers delivered his rather speak-sing opening verse as things rushed towards the song's swelling breakdown and once again, a blazing solo from Cuomo. As the opening jangle riff of "Say It Ain't So" rang out, things would be elevated once again as the song built towards its thunderous chorus. As the crashing guitar hit, the band cut out and let the crowd yell out "SAY IT AIN'T SO" in a stunning acapella moment. It was without question one of the defining minutes of the night and reached a breathtaking peak. "In the Garage" was another homage to the evolution of growing up as a nerd and coming full circle to true rock star moment with some of the highest production values in the game. Of course the album comes to its epic conclusion with the blown-out "Only in Dreams," and just like it does on the record, it served as the perfect finish to a flawless album and all-time show. Lucky, this one existed beyond our fantasies and firmly in reality.