Karl's Corner - 04/23/2002

04/23/02 we've come too far to walk away

updated- pix below!

...The "new guy" (Scott) fends off any attempt to analyze the mystery of the appeal that is the magic of the rock band weezer. Queries on matters like "why does weezer sometimes play small bars under an assumed name?" or "what do the lyrics in 'hash pipe' mean?" or "are you really just a bunch of brainy nerds with guitars?" are met with basically the same answer: "i dont know and i dont care, i just wanna rock"...

"...there's been a special pizza featured at Domino's pizza (Australia) called "el scorcho"...i'm not sure if this is good or bad..." ---Jen

"...this past saturday was dress down day at work (a local grocery mart), and being the avid weezer afficionado that I am, i decided to wear one of my many weezer shirts...everything was going good, when this one customer decided to make a rude comment about my choice of rock...well, this put me over the edge...I went from nice cashier to @%$#&* cashier, and this customer decided to rat on me to my managers! i got written up for the weez!!! it was well worth it though..." ---mike, Hamburg, NY

...Dusty West Tour show #1: Agricom Arena: Edmonton, Alberta
"hello, city of champions. this song is in the key of F sharp, the key of champions." --Rivers

...i'd rather hear a frontman tell a crowd "to assume the position" and that we "need to be punished" then listen to "hello edmonton!" and "you put the rock in the roll." ---mark

• "Just back from the first show of the Dusty West Tour... and they rocked my ass off. Opener AM Radio was decent, nothing too great musically, but they put on a good show. Pete Yorn was kinda boring, but he is definitely a good songwriter. When weezer hit the stage, and my ribs crushed up against the front row railing, I knew I was in for a ride. People began throwing things on stage, including big underwear with the =w= on it and a toque that Rivers wore for the rest of the show. They ran into some tech problems and Brian's guitar stopped working in the Middle of Say it Aint So, but other than that, things were smooth. Scott and Pat really rocked out, Rivers did when he wanted, and Brian seemed a bit dejected after his guitar crapped out. After the powerful Only Dreams, Happy Together and Buddy Holly finished the show, and then Brian left looking a little mad, but Pat grabbed a guitar and Rivers and Scott and him played around making some feedback and such before leaving the stage. 6 songs from Blue, 3 from Pinkerton, 5 from Green, 2 from Maladroit, 1 from album 5, and a cover... pretty good setlist! weezer rocked Edmonton for the first of hopefully many times... I loved it." ---Ryan

• "...AM radio and Pete Yorn both but up respectable effots but there was no hiding that everyone there was there to see the Weez. The boys kicked off with a bang, dope nose. From there the concert continued to rock, especially only in dreams when then =w= lit up and the confetti fell, truly beautiful. For the encore it was happy together (extremely rocking tho not everyone knew the words) and buddy holly which evoked emotions in all attending." ---Jon B.

• "...i have to say, i've been to a lot of concerts, but this one had to have been the best show i've ever seen. am radio was great. the lead singer was a dork, but they play some good tunes. a great opening band. pete yorn. i dunno. he was allright....definitely not weezer material. but they must have seen something in him, and felt he was right to tour with them. the show. oh my god. what a blast. the only criticism i have is the volume of the vocals. they needed to be turned up. everything else was good. oh yeah. and the titles of the new songs should be introduced, i thought. but the whole concert was amazing. i've never been to a show where everyone in the crowd knew all the words and sang along to virtually every song played!!! so awesome!!! really, i'm impressed, and i dont impress easily. that's it. my year has been made. thank you for playing pinkerton songs. from what i had heard, you never played any. it was perfect. and one last thing....i've always loved only in dreams, but tonight's performance of it was the most beautiful thing i've ever heard..." ---chantal

• "...Edmontons first taste of an ass whoop from weezer was more than rad...The band played a great set. The openers, Am radio and Pete Yorn only made the crowd want weezer more. (no offense) The set seemed a bit off the cuff, but it was rad, Playing many of the songs we know and love Plus, giving us a good taste of things to come. (a yummy one) Some big ass old woman underwear was tossed on stage, (nice to see Weezer has fans of all ages!) The encore was totally cool, They played "Happy together" and an old favorite. "buddy holly". Plus we got a bonus of 5 minutes of Rivers and Pat playing with feedback, (Pat did some 80's ish tapping solo too, Long live rock!) Had good turn out by our little city and it was a damn cold day too, so Way to go Edmonton and especially way to go weezer!..." ---Lawrence F.

• "...I had never seen Weezer before because I was musically retarded. However, I will try to make up for it by going to see both the Edmonton and Calgary shows. I wasn't really sure what to expect from Weezer and could hardly believe that this band would actually be playing in my hometown. I had predicted they'd open with Photograph but it was second behind dope nose. Weezer gets virtually no publicity in our city and I've never heard anything but Hash pipe and Dope nose on the radio. Still, they were many hardcore fans that rocked out. The defining moment of the night was only in dreams when the large =w= was revealed and confetti fell from the ceiling. They came back and played a cover, which I wasn't expecting and then finished with Buddy Holly. Some fans chanted for el scorcho which was no surprise. I, however, was more disappointed that they didn't play 'In the garage.' Rivers looked rather happy and sported a touque which some fan threw on stage early in the set. Brian was mellow, Scott was rocking and Pat was both...." ---sachia l.

...Thanks to the 20 or so fast fans who sent in the first batch of show reviews...as i said, in fairness i must favor the first 5 that come in, so im sorry to those whose review i didnt quote!! Thanks to SB and Jon for the pix!

...FUTURE TOUR INFO: as some of you may have heard rumors about, there indeed is an extensive North American tour being planned out for July and August. Dashboard Confessional is in fact confirmed as one of the opening acts. More on this stuff as details are sorted out.