Weezer
One of the hottest summer tours is the odd mash-up of two alternative rock bands that have somehow managed to sell oodles of tickets after decades in the business. Weezer and Pixies are those two bands and they hit up Mountain View, California’s Shoreline Amphitheatre on a balmy Tuesday night with Sleigh Bells in tow.
Pixies frontman Black Francis stepped onto the stage while sipping from a blue mug, gloriously unimpressed with the massive crowd in front of him. The band was set up by the backline and glowered at the crowd as “Gouge Away” thumped on. Spartan and raw yet incredibly polished, the Pixies focused on the rock and laid it all out there during their 60+ minute set. Sure they played before Weezer but they no doubt were worthy of that co-headlining slot.
Pixies
Where the Pixies kept things bare-boned, Weezer swung the pendulum to the other end of the spectrum with maximum camp value. The black curtain which had been hoisted across the stage as the crew went about swapping the set dropped during the Happy Days intro to find the band queued and ready to rock in a mockup of Arnold’s Drive-in. Not surprisingly, the set kicked off with “Buddy Holly.”
From there, the band rolled through familiar territory for anyone who owns a device that plays music. Those catchy Weezer tunes are hard to ignore, even if you’re not a fan, and it’s when one actually sees them live that you realize how many mainstream hits they’ve had. “Beverly Hills,” “Pork and Beans,” “The Sweater Song,” and “Hash Pipe” are instantly recognizable even if you don’t own a single Weezer record. And that was just the start.
A set change transformed Arnold’s Drive-in to a garage and a tugboat that carried Captain Rivers Cuomo around the amphitheater for an acoustic set, capped off by a cover of Toto’s “Africa” (as if there was any way the band was going to get out of there without playing it). After all that, the encore, which ended with the uber sing-along “Say It Ain’t So,” was almost unneeded. A Cuomo mic drop could have ended things right there and folks would have walked away happy.
On paper a Pixies/Weezer pairing looks odd, but in practice the contrast miraculously made a ton of sense.
WEEZER
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PIXIES
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SLEIGH BELLS
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PIXIES SETLIST
Gouge Away
Wave of Mutilation
River Euphrates
Um Chagga Lagga
Caribou
Cactus
Bone Machine
Crackity Jones
Isla de Encanta
Hey
Mr. Grieves
No. 13 Baby
Monkey Gone to Heaven
All I Think About Now
Debaser
Gigantic
Bel Esprit
Here Comes Your Man
Where Is My Mind?
Wave of Mutilation
Vamos
WEEZER SETLIST
Buddy Holly
Beverly Hills
Pork and Beans
Undone – The Sweater Song
Hash Pipe
Perfect Situation
My Name Is Jonas
El Scorcho
The Good Life
In the Garage
Happy Together (The Turtles cover)
Keep Fishin’
Island in the Sun
Take On Me (a‐ha cover)
Burndt Jamb
(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
Feels Like Summer
Africa (Toto cover)
ENCORE
Surf Wax America
Play Video
Say It Ain’t So
