Karl's Corner - 08/03/2002

08/03/02 the drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm

Enlightenment Tour Day 29: Dallas, TX; Smirnoff Amphitheater

Main Stage: Sparta, Dashboard Confessional, Weezer
Second Stage: The Special Goodness, Rooney, Home Town Hero, Am Radio

An epic night!! Over 10,000 Dallas area peeps [and quite a few who flew in from out of town!] poured into the well appointed Smirnoff Ampitheater for a raging experience. I for one was taken aback by the sheer volume and power of the crowd.

Pat: "we got nuthin', but Dallas had sumthin'."
Atom: "it was hot."
Pat: "Yeah! but its a wet heat!"
Atom: "Where's the pool?"
Pat: "you thought it was gonna be hot. But Lemme tell ya, It was Hot."
both [singing]: "well the stars at night are big n' bright..."

Sparta continued their trumphant return to home state Texas. Murph had to go home, so the Special Goodness had Scott fill in for a very sucessful sound. The side stage concluded with the now standard multi band AM Radio sing-a-long. All the bands laid out another set of deep cuts tonight.

"Weezer World Cup" Foosball Challenge #11: Dallas- KDGE
Foosball Challenge #11! Today before the show there was another fan vs. weez foosball challenge. In many cities on the Enlightenment Tour, the local radio station will be choosing winning fans who get to come backstage before the show and challenge the band to a mini-foosball tournament! [your local radio station should be talking about the contest, if theyre not, then its not likely to be happening in your area]. There are usually 6 winners per show, and they divide up into 3 teams who face off vs weezer for one game each.

Todays match results:
Round 1: Team Weezer (Wilson/Shriner) V. The Foosball Junkies (Sharif Riad and Kelly Tonti) : Winner: The Foosball Junkies. Score: 4-10. [FIRST TEAM TO DEFEAT TEAM WEEZER in regulation play! Foosball Junkie Sharif had ALL the moves down! Team Weezer got ahead at first but when The Foosball Junkies switched positions they pulled away. the most furious game yet!]
Round 2: Team Weezer (Wilson/Shriner) V. Undecided (Julianne Voight and Tiffany Tillman) : Winner: Team Weezer. Score: 10-3. [Undecided claimed ignorance of the game but managed to hold their own for a while]
Round 3: Team Weezer (Wilson/Shriner) V. Mo' Beets (Jay Hennig and Kel Sanders) : Winner: Team Weezer. Score: 10-4. [the fresh faced Mo' Beets team slipped 4 goals by the weez in a chaotic battle]

...pic # 27, L to R: damn name stealers Ben Allen, (2 random background heads), pongshow, Rivers, AshMCox, dorkandahalf, BrianMojoDog, not pictured: illyandra...

...the first batch of Dallas fans' stories that came in...

• "...wow. thats seriously the only word i can think of to describe the show. after seeing the special goodness, and getting to slap scott's hand, and seeing how hard they rocked, i couldnt wait for the weez to play. i caught a few of the other acts, Sparta was amazing, Dashboard was cool, but the second Weezer took the stage... wow. Starting out the show with Tired of Sex, possibly the best idea ever. rivers looked like he had a great time, just shredding away, and made me laugh when he started saying bless you brothas and sistas.. reminded me of a preacher. hahaha. and after they played Across the Sea, and rivers said "i've got your email, you've got my mp3"... classic. My favorite moment of the show though, was when you played Only in Dreams, my favorite song. it was so powerful, and i almost cried when i looked around and saw all those people holding up their flying w's. it was amazing...thank you all for making that the most memorable moment of my life. i'm going to be in awe for months now. (and i got a special goodness shirt! yeah buddy!)" ---Sarah

• "...All I can say is BEST SET EVER!!!! Man, they sure got it all in there...and even though they didn't play undone, I heard some guys singing it on the way out so I am totally and completely satisfied with everything! I mean, they could have played the first 3 notes to one song and I'd be happy, but this set was waaaaaay too sweet. Sparta sure rocked my socks, and the special goodness was awesome...especially with the rockin' pink hat! But Weezer, ah sweet Weezer...how I love thee." ---S.

• "...baaaaaah!, holy jeebus! taht was the best weezer performance ever! thank you pat for playing my little yellow guitar! you guys were uber jeebus! both weezer and special goodness!" ---robbi and justin skrakowski

• "...OH my god the show was amazing. I really thought the crowd was going to be lame, but it wasn't, except for these two kids next to me who only knew the green album songs, and the other times were just making out and feeling each other... good for them, they're really in love. But back to the show, I have never been so constantly engaged at a concert. Rivers held the crowd in his hands with his quirky humor, and of course the music. Dashboard was really good, but played a weak set, I thought. And Sparta rocked hypergallactica, but the crowd wasn't diggin it too much. Didn't get a chacne to check the side stage, but either way, the concert was amazing." ---Austin

• "...This was my first weezer concert , and it kicked a$$ ( as i expected ) The band sparta has been getting a bad name here latley but all in all they were pretty good. Dashboard confessional did good as well but the stars of the show lived up to that title.They played all the good songs ( but i really wanted to hear "Say It Aint So".when they left stage the crowd went wild chanting "WEEZER , WEEZER" needless to say they came out and did an encore with Island and Buddy Holly.Most people around me looked at me funny i was singing along at the top of my lungs. This will be one of the nights i will remember for the rest of my life . Thanks weezer." ---=w= David =w=

• "...all i have to say is rock on! and come back!" ---beth

• "...hey karl! me and my sister went to the show in Dallas tonight and it was the most amazing experience ever. I went to their show before but this one was so much better, it rocked hard! I got Atom's broken drumstick and I was about to say hi to scott. Thanks to weezer for making my night awesome!!!!!" ---Vicky (myhashpipe05)

• "...This was my first concert that I've ever gone to, and I'm am soooooo happy Weezer was my first! The set was killer, Great song after great song, the pyro was insane!!! During El Scorcho when the curtain dropped showing the big =w= with the hands was great. Everyone was singing the songs only bringing more to the show, Rivers and Pat were very talkative (and at times funny!). I couldnt have asked for anything more in a show! Sparta was really good, though Dashboard left more to be desired, but oh well, I came for Weezer, and they gave me gold!! Thanks guy!!!!!" ---Mitch

• "...oh my gosh! This was undoubtedly THE best concert i've seen. I thought i liked weezer before, but now i LOVE them. Sparta and Dashboard were great openers. The lighting and sound was superb. Playlist rocked. I screamed so much my stomach was aching. Excellent EXCELLENT job. I will be seeing every future concert that comes to Dallas." ---Dylan Cleghorn

• "...just got in from the show tonight... wow! i was blown away. it was an awesome setlist... (maybe they could play the sweater song next time??) rivers was hilarious... "fly freebird.. caaaw caaaw!" i loved the comment after across the sea.. i got your e-mail, you got my mp3! ha! i kept picturing poor pat being roasted like a big over an open flame when the =w= was raised up... rad pyro!! i didn't see tsg, but i could hear from outside and they were rockin... rooney was great! i missed am radio and hometown hero but saw sparta and dashboard confessional! let's just say that even my dad, who by the way digs mozart and bach, was bobbing his head to all opening bands and side stage guys. that's how much this concert rocked!! yeah i bet my sweet ass, rivers!!! just bear with me through the corniness but.. the concert attracted people of all kinds: punks, preps, geeks, jocks- whatever, but it was cool to see how we all came together through one common love- weezer! the only downside was the heat (does anyone else have sweat glands in their nose??) and the lack of the sweater song. well then!! i've given you my little tidbit, hope everyone had a great time and rocked as hard as i did!!! rooooooooooooooock!" ---annie s. from arlington

• "...from one of the "fine-ass dallas girls": just wanted to thank the guys for bringing the ROCK tonight. just got in from the dallas show and weezer was AWESOME as usual. really enjoyed getting to sing along to the old school stuff. i've worshipped the =w= for years and it just keeps gettin' better... AWESOME job tonight. see you kids tomorrow," ---ashley

• "...Well I just want to thank the band for being the guests of honor during my Double-Weezer extravaganza. Both the Houston show and the Dallas show rocked to a ridiculously high degree and these have been the best three days of my life. The set lists bring tears to my eyes as I think of them now. Dallas fans are freakin hardcore. And I love them all ... except the girl next to me on the rail in the pit who didn't know El Scorcho. Incidently, she was half Japanese. I did a lot of dancing and booty-shaking in that pit, which I'm sure Chris Carraba, Ace and the people around me appreciated. Anyhow, I've sustained a mild pre-Weezer-show-parking-lot-four-square injury to the knee and must now nurse myself back to health, though I will never completely recover from all the rock. Thank God." ---Alyssa Armentrout

...weezerfest report: see weezerfest.com for more details, but the basics are:
-Aug. 8th; Los Angeles, Griffith Park; 12:30--?
-It's going to be a potluck so atendees have to bring food. (you can email Enid at this addy for more info on what you should bring, and other questions)
-If you have a name tag from the .com, wear it (they "need to be able to identify with some of these people")
-There will be a pinata, you should be prepared to take out their anger for bad seats you've gotten, losing cd's, and pretty much everything else.