Background and development
Weezer officially announced a concert tour for mid-2023 on February 27 of that year. [1] It would be their first tour since the Hella Mega Tour in mid-2022, which Weezer co-headlined alongside Fall Out Boy and Green Day. [2] Following that tour, the band had initially planned for a concert residency on Broadway, though this never came to fruition, with the band citing "low ticket sales and unbelievably high expenses". [3] The 2023 tour would support the band's SZNZ project, which involved four EPs released the previous year— Spring , Summer , Autumn , and Winter . [4]
The tour was scheduled to begin on June 4 in Huntsville, Alabama, and conclude on September 3 in San Diego, [2] [4] with a total of 30 shows. [1] Supporting acts for the tour included Future Islands, Joyce Manor, Modest Mouse, Momma, Spoon, and White Reaper. [2] [4] Almost every show would include two of these bands, with Future Islands performing with Joyce Manor, Modest Mouse performing with Momma, and Spoon performing with White Reaper. [4] The sole exception to this was the July 9 performance in Gary, Indiana, which would not feature Future Islands. [4] Tickets, which could be purchased via Ticketmaster, [1] became available on Mach 3, [2] [4] with a presale on March 2. [1]
In addition to the tour, Weezer planned to perform at several music festivals throughout 2023. [3] On April 24, the band performed at the Glass House in Pomona, California, which David Brendan Hall of Uproxx called a "warm-up" for the tour. [5] For about a week prior to their first performance, the band rehearsed at the Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, which would also be the first location on their tour. [6] On June 3, the day prior to their first show, they performed a set at the Railbird Festival in Lexington, Kentucky. [6]
Concert synopsis
Following the opening acts, an instrumental version of "Africa" by Toto played to announce the beginning of Weezer's performance. [7] [8] Following this, a large curtain dropped to reveal their stage, which was decorated to resemble the dashboard of a station wagon as part of the "road trip" theme for the tour. [9] This included a structure bearing a steering wheel and large knobs for a car radio. [9] During their performance, members of the band sometimes interacted with the structure in a comedic way. [10] Patrick Wilson, the band's drummer, played from atop this structure while the rest of the band played on the stage below it. [9] Behind the "dashboard" was a large screen resembling a car's windshield. [8] [11] While the screen mostly showed cartoonish illustrations of road trip scenes, it sometimes aired live footage of the crowd. [9]
The band opened their performance by playing "My Name Is Jonas", [8] the first song from their debut album. [11] Following this, their next several songs were primarily ones that they had first released in the 1990s, with several from their debut album and follow-up album, Pinkerton . [8] [11] This included some of their most well-known songs, such as "El Scorcho" and "Undone – The Sweater Song". [11] About a third of the way into their performance, lead singer Rivers Cuomo told the crowd they would be performing some of their less well-known songs. [11] Throughout the tour, the band tried to play one unique and lesser-known song from their discography at each venue. [10] At their Pittsburgh performance, Cuomo justified this by telling the crowd, "We’ve put out 401 songs since we started and we don’t get to do a lot of them." [11] This interlude also included some acoustic renditions of their songs, such as "Endless Bummer", [7] [11] and included personal recollections from Cuomo regarding the background for the songs. [10] Following this part, the final stretch of songs included more well-known hits, [8] such as "Say It Ain't So", "Hash Pipe", and "Island in the Sun". [11] In total, their performance lasted about 90 minutes. [7] [9] [10]
While a total of nine albums were represented in the band's set, [7] many of the songs played came from their earlier albums. [8] [9] Only one song was from the band's SZNZ EPs—"Thank You and Good Night". [8] For several of the songs, the band changed the lyrics slightly. [7] [9] For instance, during their performance of "Susanne", Cuomo used the line "even Kurt Cobain and Axl Rose" (which had been the line in the original lyrics) instead of "even Izzy, Slash and Axl Rose" (the lyrics used in the released version of the song). [7] Additionally, in "El Scorcho", Cuomo replaced a reference to Green Day with a self-deprecating reference to themselves. [7] The tour also saw several musicians provide additional support. [7] [8] For instance, in Pittsburgh, Barry Johnson of Joyce Manor provided additional guitar and vocals during "You Gave Your Love to Me Softly", [7] while Serena Ryder provided vocals during the band's performance of "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" during their Toronto show. [8] Additionally, while he did not perform with the band, Jack White of The White Stripes was present during the band's Huntsville performance. [6]
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