By: Peter B. Counter November 1, 2013
(photo by Emma Dawn)
Sheezer hosted a Halloween bash at Lee’s Palace last night, bringing out the ’90s in everyone: Enzo from Reboot, Wayne, Garth, Daria, and five velociraptors – all showing their support for some good, old-fashioned Weezer worship.
The all-female tribute act has been on hiatus for a year, and still, with that time off, they haven’t forgotten how to please a crowd. They started with “Buddy Holly” and so did the audience, singing along to a set largely comprised from the Blue Album, peppered with the rare Pinkerton treat (“Good Life” was dedicated to our silly mayor). The mostly-costumed audience even serenaded alongside the guitar solos, played note for note – Brian Bell style – by the exceptional Alysha Haugen (dressed as Wonder Woman) on lead guitar.
Due to fan demand, the first two singles from the Green Album were included into their encore. This minor heresy is definitely a preferred move to shoehorning-in, say, Weezer’s “Viva La Vida” cover from Hurley, but the shallow simplicity of “Hashpipe” and “Island in the Sun” is underlined in bold when early Weezer super-fans are still waiting to hear nerd rock masterpieces like “Across the Sea.”
And yet, the crowd danced and sang just as frantically for the Green tracks as they did for Blue, ultimately proving why we need band’s like this. They epitomize what it means to appreciate Weezer: to publicly express emotions you think you share with Rivers Cuomo but, in actuality, share with each other. To be a Weezer fan means going to a tribute concert, and singing along.
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