When I first found out about these tickets, I bought them right away. Well, at least my dad did, and he bought one for me, and one for him. I had no idea what the seating/standing arrangement in the Tsongas Arena was like, so I asked if we could go really early to get right up front. He said sure, so I was really excited.
The day before the concert came, and I had to work on a math project with a friend. As soon as my dad got home from work, I asked him what time we could leave at. He said he'd be home from work at 6. That was not good with me. 5:30? No. I compromised at 5. Even thought I wanted to leave at 3. But oh well.
We left at 5, and it only took about 45 minutes to drive there, but then we got stuck in a little traffic jam getting to the actual arena. It didn't take too long, and we parked, and we got in line. I have no idea what time it was at.
I saw the line and I wanted to cry. There were thousands and thousands of people in it. All those people were going to be in front of me! I wasn't wearing a jacket, but it wasn't too cold, so I was alright. I just really really wanted to get inside.
The line started moving, a lot of people would go, and then it would just stop. They were doing security checks, and the guys line moved a lot, LOT faster than the girls line. I understand how they needed to check everyone, but I was pretty pissed that my dad got inside 10 minutes before I did and the only things I had on me were my ticket, my glasses, and some chapstick.
I got inside and my dad was waiting for me. We gave our tickets to the lady, and she like, ripped mine in half. I have now stolen my dad's because it's not like there are seat numbers on them or anything. We went up the stairs and there was all the merchendise. I ignored it and ran straight for the stairs leading down to the... place where people sat or stood. Where the stage was.
I ran across the floor into the pit, and I saw where my dad sat. I told him I'd meet him there at the end of the show, and I would have brought him into the pit, but I don't really think that's his style. And in the end it's a pretty good thing I didn't.
I started out on the side of the stage where Brian plays, but I didn't see Jon or someone that could be Chrissy. So I went to the other side. I didn't see them there either. But I wiggled between groups of friends talking, and I managed to get into about the 12th row or so of people. I talked to this really cool kid who looked a hell of a lot like Jason Schwartzman. He said his brother bought him the tickets for his birthday and asked me if I came alone. I told him I came with my dad because my dad likes Weezer, and he thought that was really, really cool.
We talked until the lights went down for Ozma. I knew that people would rush the stage as soon as something happened, and I was right. I was only one person, and I am pretty short, so I managed to wiggle through about 10 rows of people really easily and I ended up in the third row. It sucked that I was right behind this huge guy who was standing right behind his girlfriend and making a one foot box around her with his arms. His group of friends were to his left, and so was I, and he kept telling me not to try to get in there. This guy was a total, total ass the entire time, which I will touch upon later, probably. So I wiggled around his other side and there was this girl there about my height who got separated from her friends. I bet she thought I was trying to take her place, but I was really just sort of trying to switch places with her so she would be near her friends.
Anyway, so Ozma came on, and they were cool. Because at that point I was still standing behind huge Box Man, I could really only see the singer. They played Rocks and I sang along, because I do not know any other songs by them. Actually, I used to know one more, but I don't know if they played it. (I bet they did.) Everyone was rocking out, even though nobody knew who they were. It was going fucking crazy, and the Box Man kept squishing me, so I could not enjoy it as thoroughly as I would have liked. I wanted to buy an Ozma CD at the end, but they only had shirts, that I saw. I much would have rather had a CD. I wish I could say more about Ozma, but since I don't know much about them and I couldn't see them very well, I really can't.
Ozma got off and the bouncer guys came by with the water like I hoped they would. I got a lot (compared to some people) because I was right in the front, female, alone, short, and squished. They kept asking me if I was alright, and I would smile and say "YES!" because there was no way that they were going to take me out of that thing. Although during Saves the Day, I sort of contemplated it.
When Saves the Day finally came on... oh man. The crowd went as wild as they did for Ozma, but a lot of people knew the songs, so it was a lot crazier. I got so beat up during this. I cannot tell you how many peoples' elbows, shoulders, etc. crushed me. A bouncer hit the girl Box Man was making a box around in the head with one of their elbows trying to get a crowdsurfer off of us, and she was like, freaking out so they got her an ice pack. I don't think this girl even broke a sweat the entire time she was there, and she was in the front row. That just doesn't seem right to me. Even if I had a dumb, preppy boyfriend to keep people away from me, I wouldn't want him too because where's the fun in that? I don't see any.
Saves the Day were awesome. They played a lot of songs from Stay What You Are, so I knew them. I only know one Saves the Day song that is not on that CD, and I think they played it too. A guy a row ahead of me and about three people away who was friends with Box Man got a setlist. Not me. But if they had given it to me, it would have been totally ripped up by the time it actually got to me. Box Man and his girlfriend and some of the girls, and definitely the setlist guy were pretty big Saves the Day fans. They jumped and sang and all that stuff you do when your favorite band comes on.
Saves the Day were really rocking out, I thought. The singer was wearing a "Teachers Have Class" T-Shirt, and the guy in front of me (guitar? bass? I don't know.) was wearing a yellow "Lady Trojans" girls basketball T-shirt. That guy... was really, really hot. Sure, I spent more time looking at the singer, because he was doing more, but if my view of him was ever blocked, I was content to look at him. I really liked Saves the Day, anyway. It was cool that maybe halfway into the set the singer asked the back if they could move back a little bit, because the people in the front were getting totally crushed. He said that it probably didn't feel good to have that metal fence in front of them, but let me tell you, I would much rather be squashed against the fence where the bouncers could see me than be behind two really big guys and drowning in people with a million elbows hitting me in the head.
I really need setlists if I want this to be a real review, because I have no idea what order they played songs in. I just remember that these two really tall guys behind me came just for Saves the Day and they said they were going to play one more song. The tall guys were like "NOT AT YOUR FUNERAL! NOT AT YOUR FUNERAL!" But it was. It's alright, because I like that song. They wanted them to play one more song. But they didn't. So that's how Saves the Day ended.
Then, the bouncers ran out of water. Oh joy. They gave us some ice, and I would hand my extra back because there were girls about my height behind me at that point. I don't know where they went, but that is not my concern. People were still packing it in, so I was still really squashed. I managed to move completely to the other side of Box Man, and sort of wedge between him and the guy next to him that he wasn't with. But. This guy on the other side of him had this guy hugging him. And he had another guy hugging him. This had to be the worst setup in concert history. Not only because I somehow managed to wiggle them apart, accidently, while people were rushing the stage, but because before that, I think I got 4 of their 6 elbows in my face.
The Saves the Day guys behind me were making jokes about Weezer the whole time, but they were just really stupid "I'm-not-even-pretending-to-be-a-fan" jokes, nothing nasty. They just said things like, "Huh, should we stay for Weezer?" and "I bet Weezer are taking so long because they don't have enough material to play yet." They were funny guys though, and they kept everyone from getting in front of them, so no one would get in front of me.
I broke the chain of hugging males apart! I don't even know how it happened, but all of the sudden I was right behind the guy who was right up against the fence, and I could see over his shoulder perfectly. That was the first time the entire night I could do that. I was soooo excited! The lights went down. A guy with a beard came on.
RIVERS!
That's right, Rivers did not shave, kids. He still has the beard. But I do not care one bit.
Weezer came on and I was screaming my head off, and Box Man said, "Never do that again." I will not say I did it for the rest of the night just to spite him, but I did it for the rest of the night.
I remember they started off with "Island in the Sun." I was amazed at how calm everyone was! During Saves the Day, everyone was rocking out and yelling and screaming and singing, but when Weezer came on and played one of their best-known songs, basically no one was moving and nobody was really singing. I thought that was really weird. Did they think it was because it's sort of a mellow song or something? Because they still rocked it out anyway. I was the only one around me singing or screaming, or making the Weezer sign with my hands. I felt sort of weird, because should my behavior be out of place in the front row of a Weezer concert? I don't think so.
Then they played "In the Garage" and everyone went crazy and sang that one. No bouncing like me, or screaming or arm waving, but at least they sang. Most of the crowd seemed to know stuff from the Blue CD, and nothing else. They didn't even know fucking Hash Pipe. Now that is sad.
They played a lot of demo songs, or songs that are supposedly going to be on "Maladroit". I have all of the mp3s, but I really don't know that many of the words. That is, I know about 3 words. I expected that I would see some real, hardcore Weezer fans singing all the words to these songs, but I didn't see any. That sort of made me sad. From the impression I have got from people that have been to Weezer concerts before, there are a lot of hardcore Weezer fans that know everything about them, and all their B-sides and everything at their shows. Well, I know a lot of the B-sides, but I am sure that you are all appalled when I say this, and I mean to be modest but these people were just DEAD or something... I was the biggest Weezer fan I saw in my area. Nobody knew the words to anything. Anything.
Back to the show. They played "Keep Fishin'", "Dope Noise", "Take Control," and some other ones that I do not remember the names to. I rocked out even though I don't know the words.
At one point, Rivers put on a Patriots hat, and the whole place yelled. Funny, I didn't think Weezer fans liked football that much, but I guess I was wrong. He threw it out into the crowd, so somebody got it, obviously. I don't really care for the Patriots, or football, but the person that got that hat is very lucky.
I was right, right in front of Scott. I knew his name, but man, I had never seen a picture of him before or anything, and MAN. He is OLD. Even from the other side of the arena my dad noticed he was old and had big arms. I yelled "SCOOOOOOTT!" a lot, and I think he heard me maybe once, but he still preferred giving his picks to people who were to my right.
At the beginning I thought, "Huh, this stage is strangely devoid of any Weezer pyrotechnics." After the first or second song, they dropped the black curtain behind them and it had all these lighting-up squares, which was good enough for me. I just needed something to brighten it up. A few songs later, maybe, the metal stand Pat's drumset was on's front went down, and there was a =W= (woo, yeah, =W=) made up of little lightbulbs. It was cool. At the end they they had this big one behind them, but I did not even see where that one came from. Was it behind the boxes? Was it in front of the boxes? The world may never know.
They played most of their songs from the Blue and Green CDs, but only played "Tired of Sex" from Pinkerton. Some guy next to me yelled, "WHY BOTHER?" and I was like, "YOU ROCK, MAN!" because nobody near me had any idea what "Tired of Sex" was. And even though they managed to play most of the Blue/Green CDs, they managed to skip over 3 ones I really like, "Holiday" (which is probably my favorite Weezer song, period), Crab, and Smile. At least they played Photograph. If they had to play anything from the Green album at all, I wouldn't have been too happy if they had skipped that one.
I think that maybe "Say It Ain't So" got the biggest response. It was just awesome how everyone knew the words (OK, so I know what the words sound like but have no idea what they actually are) and they were yelling and everything was cool and we were all "one" in our Weezer-fandom for at least that one song.
I would have to say, and probably anyone that was at the show would say, that "Only in Dreams" was the highlight of the show. It was near the end and they had the smoke machines going with the colored lights, so the smoke was blue and purple and all these cool, dreamy colors. They did a great job playing it, and they didn't kill it - it was still a really beautiful song, even live. Then all these pieces of paper came down from the ceiling and everyone was trying to catch them. I couldn't get any, so this really tall guy behind me easily got one and gave it to me. Maybe it was my reward for accidently grinding up against him for the entire set.
They left, and I was sad, but the roadies came out to check the equipment, so I knew they'd be coming back out. The chanting there was sickeningly weak. Nobody was into it! First it was "We want more! We want more!" that lasted for a good 15 seconds. Then there was "Weezer! Weezer!" and that one went for maybe 30 seconds. Since we were right in front of Scott, someone started "Mikey! Mikey!" and I thought that was funny, so I did it. I miss Mikey more than I ever imagined. It is weird.
They came back out and played "Buddy Holly" and "Surf Wax America", which everyone sang along to because everyone only owned the Blue album, or something. Brian left and I yelled "BRIIIIAN!" and everyone around me was confused as to who Brian was. Pat left his drumset and went over to Brian's guitar and was playing (I couldn't see him very well) and I yelled "PAT!" I was sad though, because I didn't notice when he left. There were a lot of crowdsurfers trying to get out at this point. I yelled "RIVERSSSS!" when he left, and I might have yelled "SCOTT!" when Scott left, but I am not sure because I yelled his name about 30 times that night. He was giving away a lot of picks at the end, and the kid I was pressed right up against got one off the ground. I told him that was awesome and he said, "I'm going to give it to whoever finds my wallet!" Poor guy.
I waited around while everyone was clearing out to see if I could get a setlist or something, but apparently they were all gone, or there were none, or something. I couldn't see any on stage, and I didn't see any bouncers giving them away. So I left to find my dad.
He said he knew I was going to get right up front, because I am small, a girl, and alone. He managed to find a place where they served beer and had one while Ozma was on. And he said he was watching the Olympic torch or something, but missed who lit it (?) I am not hip with this "Olympics" stuff.
Apparently he had really, really good seats. For seats that is. The seating was like it always is in a basketball/hockey arena, and he was only 3 rows away from the middle of the pit. And he got a SEAT, so he wasn't crushed, and could see perfectly. If I were not so young and stupid, I would have sat there.
We left and we were sitting in the parking lot trying to get out and listening to the Blue album and rocking out (I forgot Pinkerton at home). When we were pulling out, I saw these two freshmen from my school. I did not say anything, but I think they saw me because I was rocking out with the music full blast and the windows down. And I swear to God I saw Jer. I thought I would see him, because he lives in Lowell (where the concert was) and he is pretty emo. I wanted to yell at him out the window, but I was afraid he wouldn't remember me. So I didn't.
And I didn't see Jon or Chrissy all night, so that sucked. I am going to get a cell phone for the next one, so I can actually find these people.
I am writing this the morning after, and I am still really stiff in the neck, my shoulders hurt like no other, and my feet will hurt for weeks. I am ok with this.
Overheard Quotes:
"Who sits down at a concert like this? Look they're not even moving, they're just sitting
there!"
"It's emo, man!"
"That's past emo... I don't even know what that is!"
- The Saves the Day guys behind me
"Don't touch my shirt! Don't try to get in here! Your wrist is hurting me! You have hurty wrists!"
- Box Man
"Look at all those KIDS down there! That's not cool!"
- Older guys that have been following Weezer around since 1995 (according to my dad)
"Are you here for Saves the Day or Weezer?"
- Various people to my dad
Images:
Second row completely stolen from weezer.com
