Road Trip to a Road Trip

Yesterday, my buddy (her name is Buddy) and I took a little road trip down to Merriweather Post Pavilion. This was fun for many reasons:

1. Buddy had never seen Weezer in concert before, and that's who we were seeing.

2. Buddy had never been to Merriweather Post Pavilion before, and that's where we were going.

3. I was going to get to see Weezer for the second time and we were right in front of the stage!

We started out doing what everyone is meant to do before a show: grabbing drinks and food before heading to the venue. Buddy got a sandwich of some sort and I had the fish 'n' chips. It was raining, so we took our time at the restaurant, not eager to walk through the rain to reach our destination.

Fortunately, the weather cleared up and we made our way to the venue.

The opening act was called Joyce Manor and they sounded a lot like Weezer. Needless to say, Buddy and I enjoyed them. If you're attending a Weezer show and the opening act sounds like Weezer, what's not to like?

The second opening act was called Future Islands and they did not sound like Weezer. Future Island sounded like German men who'd been possessed by demons and were in need of an exorcism. Buddy and I enjoyed the performance because it was uncomfortable to watch and made us laugh a lot. My friends Alex and Chad LOVE Future Island, though, so I sent them a video of a song and Alex wrote back and said it was a great song. She also wondered if I was enjoying the band. I said I was, but not as much as Weezer.

I enjoyed Weezer for very different reasons than I enjoyed Future Island. For one, I actually like Weezer's music. As I kid, Weezer's Blue Album was the first album I bought with my own money. (Technically, I bought Green Day's Dookie at the same time.) "Buddy Holly" will always be near and dear to my heart, as will just about every other song the band sings.

The guys in Weezer haven't aged at all! They look great, they sound great, they ARE great! And their stage setup was super fun! There was a giant, inflatable dashboard and different things were projected through the front window for each song. The images were mostly cartoons and whoever designed it did so with the band in mind. It was clever from a lot of different perspectives and I found myself constantly torn between watching the band and watching the cartoons because the art was so fun!

While in the pit, Buddy and I almost got knocked down twice. It wasn't supposed to be a mosh pit, but this one guy wanted it to be a mosh pit and started shoving people. And then another guy got mad at him because the first guy put his hands on the second guy's girlfriend. And then security came down and the first guy got escorted out and everything was fine after that.

Weezer fans are apparently avid readers. I passed out quite a few business cards last night! A lot of the folks who were there were teachers like Buddy and I.

All in all, it was a very fun show and I hope to see Weezer at least another time or two in my life because they really are just so much fun!