| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| peter radiator |
Posted - 06/25/2018 : 07:07:38
Very strong show last night, if a bit of an unusual vibe.
I got to the venue about 45 minutes before the opening band was set to start, and nearly bumped into FBF and Paz walking into the tour bus. He looked really fit and healthy, which was great to see.
The venue itself is one of my favorites. Very up close and fairly intimate for holding 1,900 people. Smallish stage, great sight lines, above average acoustics.
I was 7th row back on the floor in between FBF and Paz. The crowd was respectful and appreciative, but there was noticeably less applause for most of the 2.0 material. They just seemed not to know it as much.
I was surprised by how few young people were in the crowd this time around. It mostly skewed older, including a lot of folks in their 50s and even 60s.
Makes me think that a lot of the young folks who were turned onto the band recently and have been attending their shows are either opting to go see the Weezer package tour, or have gotten over the novelty of seeing a legendary group in the flesh and it's now settling back to devoted longterm followers.
This of course may have just been an anomaly at this particular gig, and I certainly saw some young people there, just not in the numbers I had on previous U.S. post-reunion tours.
FBF was in really great voice, and seemed to be enjoying himself overall.
Joey played very well, other than a couple of small flubs that he clearly recognized and gave himself shit for.
David played solidly, too, but he seemed to be winded much of the time and putting forth a lot more effort than in the past. Hopefully he was just tired and not having any ongoing difficulties.
Paz smiled throughout the show and seemed to be at a new comfort level onstage and within the dynamic of the group. Her vocals were HIGH in the mix, often louder than FBF's, and for the most part she sang powerfully, on-pitch and with a lot of confidence.
There were literally no special props, set dressing or any design elements on the stage at all other than their gear. I assume whatever stage decorations and/or special effects lights are all loaded up with the Weezer stuff, so for these few headlining shows of their own in between the big gigs, they are going totally stripped-down and basic, which was kinda cool for a change.
Just four people on stage making music with a bit of hazer in the air to make the lights stand out. Nice, busy-but-basic light show throughout the 105-minute set.
First song was the U.K. Surf version of Wave of Mutilation, which set a tone for the night. There were plenty of surfy tunes in the set. Maybe because it's Florida?
Second song was Ana, and about 15 seconds after I thought to myself, "That's weird... Did Joey miss the first key change or did FBF?" FBF stops the song and says "Hold on, hold on, hold on. Stop, guys."
Then he looks at Joey and says something like "Ok, was it you, or was it me? I think it was you."
And Joey smiles and shrugs and says, "Yeah, it was me."
FBF smiles and looks at the rest of the band and says to the crowd, "Sorry, but he missed that key change... Man, we just went over that on the bus! Ok, let's move on."
At which point, Joey protests and suggests they just start the song over or start from where they stopped." Paz and Dave seemed to be cool with whatever option was chosen, but I think Paz wanted to start over.
FBF kinda hems and haws about it, and then says, "No, we're just moving on. But don't worry, Joe - we're coming back to THIS one!"
So they kind of chuckle and move on. Those were virtually the only words spoken all night.
Sure enough, for the very final song, FBF calls out Ana in the silent onstage mic and Joey kind of nods in agreement. Then they try it again and he NAILS it.
The band took an extended bow while the sold-out crowd went nuts, and then after the little pantomime "Do your hands hurt too much to play one more song, Dave?" routine, they return to their instruments to play Gigantic, and Paz nailed that one as well. The crowd went nuts once they realized what was happening.
As soon as that song ended, Paz launched immediately into the intro to Debaser, and it seemed like that may have been a surprise to the rest of the band. Not sure, but it would be funny if she just took it upon herself to add an extra song to the show without asking first.
Overall, it was a solid and fun show that seemed much more like they were up there "playing Pixies songs" instead of "being the Pixies."
FBF only screamed occasionally, but when he did he made it count. His voice overall was strong and smooth.
You can tell that he is pacing himself vocally, and as far as I'm concerned that's wise and appreciated. I wouldn't care if he never screamed again to be honest, if that meant he could continue to sing and perform without discomfort.
I should also mention that they burned through many of the songs at a noticeably quicker pace than usual. Not sure if this was nerves or accidental or planned. Some sounded better or different that way, others (like Oona and Um Chagga Lagga for instance) just felt a little rushed.
Highlights for me were Classic Masher, Havalina (which was rushed, but featured that lovely extended vocal coda), Snakes, Winterlong, Oona, Brick Is Red, and Bel Esprit.
It was also nice to see them play Vamos and Joey NOT do a super-long, self-indulgent noise solo. He played a tiny bit of one that worked well, and then nodded at Dave and FBF to simply head back into the arrangement.
And, oh yeah, The Wombats SUCKED.
I had never heard of them before, and seriously, that's got to be the biggest bunch of boring-ass, faux-sincere, electro-dancefloor, post-punk. emo BULLSHIT I have ever had the displeasure to hear and witness onstage.
I went ahead and looked them up after their set and was sadly not surprised to see their combined albums have sold over one million copies worldwide.
Then I looked up their management company because I was convinced they had to share a manager with Pixies. I mean, why else would they be on this tour?
Well, they are represented by a different firm, but either somebody owed somebody else a favor or some money changed hands, because I find it very hard to believe that either Weezer or Pixies are into this band at all.
It was almost the antithesis of what Pixies are and do and how they present themselves, and I thought their approach was almost embarrassing (despite the fact that all the three members of the Wombats are clearly excellent musicians).
They received a great amount of applause at the end of their set, which only served to solidify to me that if someone jumps around high enough, hard enough or long enough onstage then an awful lot of people will think something important and/or worthwhile is taking place.
--
"Real music is out there and real people are making it." ~ Webb Wilder |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Discoking |
Posted - 06/28/2018 : 23:41:34
hahahaha
 it's educational |
| peter radiator |
Posted - 06/28/2018 : 13:11:31
Nope!
--
"Real music is out there and real people are making it." ~ Webb Wilder |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 06/28/2018 : 07:20:15
quote:
Originally posted by peter radiator
picpic, this was one of the theatre shows booked around the Weezer stadium dates. No Weezer at this show, just Pixies and Wombats.
Here's the deal with The Wombats:
THEY SOUND EXACTLY LIKE EMF, IF THE GUYS IN EMF WENT TO THE BERKLEE SCHOOL OF MUSIC.
Just let that soak in for a minute.
I'll wait.
The drummer was wearing a backwards baseball cap, a floppy white t-shirt, long khaki shorts and big, expensive basketball sneakers.
The guitarist / frontman was wearing tight black jeans/pants, a dark puple-ish long-sleeved paisley shirt that was tucked-in tight and what looked like Capezio dance shoes. His rhythm guitar tone was all pinched and chankety-chankety. This miniscule tone was run through TWO large Orange cabinets with a total of four speakers, THREE of which were miked?!
The Norwegian bassist had ridiculously swoopy and clearly fawned-over "early Justin Bieber" hair, super-tight fake-Christian emo jeans and an oversized white t-shirt. He spent the ENTIRE show running around the stage, jumping into the air while playing, thrashing his bass around like a weapon and squatting down and popping up again as though he was delivering some sort of thrash-metal explosion. Generally, he made a complete ass out of himself for 35 minutes straight.
They all had keyboards in front of them (or next to them, in the case of the drummer) and would each regularly stop playing their main instrument to toss some synth lines into the songs.
Several of the tunes were played along to sequenced "sound effects" or percussion tracks. They went on forever and had no nuance or dynamics. Toward the end of the show, the bassist and guitarist put down their instruments and roamed the stage, bumping into each other "by accident" while repeatedly shouting something like "Everything will be alright!" for something like two minutes while the drummer just played a beat.
All the while they were demanding that the crowd clap and sing along with them.
Seriously, it was like watching a shitty teenage metalcore band's all-ages church basement show mixed with a pathetic Happy Mondays set from Glastonbury back in the day.
Wretched.
--
"Real music is out there and real people are making it." ~ Webb Wilder
Sounds brutal.
But maybe it was so bad it was good? |
| peter radiator |
Posted - 06/26/2018 : 14:09:23
picpic, this was one of the theatre shows booked around the Weezer stadium dates. No Weezer at this show, just Pixies and Wombats.
Here's the deal with The Wombats:
THEY SOUND EXACTLY LIKE EMF, IF THE GUYS IN EMF WENT TO THE BERKLEE SCHOOL OF MUSIC.
Just let that soak in for a minute.
I'll wait.
The drummer was wearing a backwards baseball cap, a floppy white t-shirt, long khaki shorts and big, expensive basketball sneakers.
The guitarist / frontman was wearing tight black jeans/pants, a dark puple-ish long-sleeved paisley shirt that was tucked-in tight and what looked like Capezio dance shoes. His rhythm guitar tone was all pinched and chankety-chankety. This miniscule tone was run through TWO large Orange cabinets with a total of four speakers, THREE of which were miked?!
The Norwegian bassist had ridiculously swoopy and clearly fawned-over "early Justin Bieber" hair, super-tight fake-Christian emo jeans and an oversized white t-shirt. He spent the ENTIRE show running around the stage, jumping into the air while playing, thrashing his bass around like a weapon and squatting down and popping up again as though he was delivering some sort of thrash-metal explosion. Generally, he made a complete ass out of himself for 35 minutes straight.
They all had keyboards in front of them (or next to them, in the case of the drummer) and would each regularly stop playing their main instrument to toss some synth lines into the songs.
Several of the tunes were played along to sequenced "sound effects" or percussion tracks. They went on forever and had no nuance or dynamics. Toward the end of the show, the bassist and guitarist put down their instruments and roamed the stage, bumping into each other "by accident" while repeatedly shouting something like "Everything will be alright!" for something like two minutes while the drummer just played a beat.
All the while they were demanding that the crowd clap and sing along with them.
Seriously, it was like watching a shitty teenage metalcore band's all-ages church basement show mixed with a pathetic Happy Mondays set from Glastonbury back in the day.
Wretched.
--
"Real music is out there and real people are making it." ~ Webb Wilder |
| Sprite |
Posted - 06/25/2018 : 12:21:27
I enjoyed your review of the Pixies, I frickin love your review of The Wombats :) Any chance you can go see some more crap bands for us!? |
| picpic |
Posted - 06/25/2018 : 08:06:05
Thanks Peter !
I don't remember Joey not screwing up his part on Ana ! Is this a stage gimmick or something ?
Did the band played before or after Weezer ? Any interaction between the two bands on stage ? |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 06/25/2018 : 08:00:09
Terrific review Peter Radiator, thank you. Always love reading these detailed reviews. |
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