Weezer lands in sac and Plays Thru the Blue Album
Story and Photos by Music Fan Contributor: Jessica Kingsford
Weezer took a roaring crowd on an otherworldly adventure without ever leaving the Golden One stage in Sacramento last Tuesday on their “Voyage to the Blue Planet” tour for the 30th anniversary of their debut album.
The show opened with a face-melting 30-minute set by Dinosaur Jr, who upheld their reputation for being one of the loudest rock bands of all time. Ears were ringing all the way in the back of the stadium — and earplugs were mandatory up front — as the three rockers smashed a dark, grungy set list that included fan favorite jam “Feel the Pain” and The Cure cover “Just Like Heaven.”
Next, The Flaming Lips flipped the script and began their brilliantly weird performance with a mellow song that had the crowd swaying. Just when the stadium seemed to be lulled into harmonic submission, frontman Wayne Coyne busted out one of his signature moves and began swinging a light above his head, and the Lips show quickly escalated into the psychedelic spectacle we were anticipating.
Cue the dazzling laser show, gigantic pink inflatable robots, a set of massive dancing eyeballs and lips, and a ten-foot tall “Fuck Yeah Sacramento” sign made of latex balloons that broke apart as Coyne tossed it from the stage like a crowd-surfing alphabet. All this fabulous nonsense was accompanied by songs like “She Don’t Use Jelly” and “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” before the set finished under an inflatable rainbow with a cover of Madonna’s “Borderline” and “Do You Realize.”
Weezer’s “Voyage to the Blue Planet” began with a literal blast-off as the alt-rock headliners emerged from beneath their spacecraft in NASA-esque spacesuits. As the smoke cleared the band tore through a set of radio-popular songs. Planets and spaceships intermittently descended from above and a massive back screen played an elaborate journey through space, taking the audience on a trip not just across the universe but also through the Weezer discography. The foursome rocked in tight formation through hits like “Hash Pipe,” “Beverly Hills,” and “Island in the Sun.”
The crowd was already pumped when Weezer announced a stop in their astronomical journey — at the Pinkerton Asteroid Belt. The stadium roared as the band tore into “Why Bother,” “Pink Triangle” and several other bangers from their cult-favored but critically disdained second album, “Pinkerton.”
Finally touching down at their destination and finding a dying Blue Planet, frontman Rivers Cuomo planted the Weezer flag and declared the only way to save the planet was to play their self-titled debut album, also known as the “Blue Album,” from start to finish. Launching straight into “My Name Is Jonas,” Weezer soared through the entire lineup of hits that defined their sound way back in 1994, including “Buddy Holly,” “The Sweater Song (Undone)” and “Say It Ain’t So.”
If the show was a bit nerdy and literal at times, it was also unapologetically and authentically fun, brilliant, and produced to an absolute T. The night ended with an unnecessarily heavy blasting of blue confetti that covered the crowd as the band took an awkward bow that was oh so Weezer-ish and called it a night without returning for an encore. Mission accomplished.
Music Fan Meters:
Smoke Meter: Zero from the crowd, the smoke show was all up on stage at this one.
Fight Meter: Nothing to report, even the mosh pit looked like a lovefest.
Sing Along Meter: High, we’ve been singing along with these hits for 30 years, and tonight was no exception. “Say It Ain’t So” was the standout sing-along of the night.