an evening with weezer. 12.6.2014

As you can guess from the title of the blog, I went to yet another concert this year. Mike and I are on a roll. The kicker to this concert was that it was a total surprise for me. I had NO CLUE they were coming to Atlanta (way to keep up with your 2nd favorite band Kelly), and Mike secretly purchased tickets for us, and reserved a room at a quaint little in located in the Highlands area of Atlanta (read: the really HIPster part of town!)  When I opened his gifts on my birthday (12/1/2014) I was so shocked, and excited and floored!!!

We headed out of town on Saturday morning - arriving in ATL just in time to check into the awesome little Highland Inn and get our room. The best I can describe the place is that it's much like a boutique hotel, or almost like a bed and breakfast with your own private bathroom. And without all that awkward bed and breakfast feel (If you watch Gilmore Girls you get what I mean).

We didn't waste anytime, we checked into our room, dropped off our bags and headed out into the street. We had about 20 minutes until the SEC Championship game started! We walked quickly down to the local pub, Manuel's. It was literally less than 2 blocks from our hotel. We settled into a booth close to the bar TV and prepared ourselves for the big game. We shared sandwiches and beers and cheered and chatted during the entire game. Those of you that realize, we were in "DAWG" territory, so I'm sure most of the patrons were cheering for Missouri to whoop our asses, sadly for them, happily for us, that didn't happen. It was a hell of a game, and thankfully we had one more Bama fan in the room with us. Air fives were exchanged, a lot that afternoon!  We celebrated Bama's victory (RAMMER JAMMER YELLOW HAMMER GIVE 'EM HELL ALABAMA!), gave a hearty ROLL TIDE, finished off our beers and headed back to the hotel, in time to freshen up, and hop in the Jeep and head downtown.

Can I just tell you how much I love Google Maps and directions given through your phone!!! I always scoffed at the idea, but now I'm like WE NEED THAT! It's great for last minute choices to go to dinner, or just to find out where the hell you are.

The ride to the Tabernacle in downtown ATL was a short and pleasant drive. And we scored a parking spot RIGHT outside the venue. Perfect!

This venue, is awesome. If you ever get a chance to see an act there go. It's standing room only, and mostly general admission, minus the balcony upstairs, but it's amazing!!!

I thought I'd give you a recap of the show, but instead of my normal run down, I will share with you the email I sent to my bestie J, all about the show. He and I went to many a weezer show together ages ago. Mike and I made sure to text during the show to share some of it with him.

EMAIL TO BESTIE J: 
[This hasn't been edited, so I might ramble, but pretend it was an email I sent to you!]
Items in RED I added for you!

DUDE!
So the show was legit awesome.

We went to ATL's Tabernacle - small venue, much like 9:30 club, maybe a bit wider. It used to be a church years ago, I believe, so it has the really nice balcony up top, and the back drop for the stage is a HUGE set of pipes for an organ. (Covered mostly by Weezer's back drop).

When you walk in there is a whole down stairs for the merch, and bathrooms and bars, then in the main hall there are three bars (only one was open) - I had 1 beer... at the price of $10.00 HOLY EFF... so yeah, I was like pass - I figured I'd only want water after it started anyway. I was not impressed by the t-shirts. None were special to the show, and all are available on the website so I passed on getting anything - I did the same thing when they played Music Midtown. I didn't LOVE any of the shirts, and none were specific to the tour or the date.

We got to the place, not really late, but most people had already filtered into the front of the stage so we hung back - I feared I'd have to pee and didn't want to fight to get to the front again - like I said in my text I had two total douches behind me that talked the entire effing time!

While in line outside there were a few people behind us talking and one was like... "I hope they play their old stuff, like Island in the Sun!" and I thought... here it is my 38th birthday.. KILL ME NOW if you think that's the "OLD STUFF". [FYI Weezer has been together since the early 90's, nothing released with a 00, 01, 02 etc is old stuff kids!!!]  Needless to say, I turned to Mike before it started and I said my only expectation or hope is that they will play at least 3 Pinkerton songs.... AND maybe do Only In Dreams to close out the show with confetti.

When the show started I got really giddy when I saw some bit of confetti falling by accident from the ceiling... EEEE! Sadly it wasn't for Only In Dreams - I think that was a once in a lifetime thing [Wish I could remember the year we went to that show, but the Final song being Only In Dreams, with the ceiling raining down confetti after the biggest part of the song, was pretty awesome].

The only other disappointment - this is the 2nd show that they haven't used the Light up W at all. *sad*

NOT SURE WHY THIS IS GONE FROM THE SHOW, IT'S NEEDED!

via • Charm City Baltimore Music Festival

The whole show was really really awesome. Like I said [in my text] the first whole set was just acoustic instruments - single drum, keyboard a bit (not really acoustic) and guitars.

The set began, the first song was ONLY Rivers. 2nd Song it was Rivers and Brian, 3rd Song Rivers, Brian and Scott, 4th Song Rivers, Brian, Scott and Pat - then the rest of the first set was all of them together. You could tell that quite a few of the fans were like WTF? While I was like THIS IS FREAKING AWESOME!!!! Then again this was my what? Maybe 5th time seeing them live? How many times did we see them together? Plus Music Midtown for me + this show? Music Midtown was great, they slayed it in the pouring ass rain, I feared Rivers would get electrocuted because he just didn't care about the weather... they did a great set of greatest hits to make everyone happy from day 1 until the current album.

So yeah... total acoustic set - and I got my 3 Pinkerton songs, + the B Side to El Scorcho (first song in the set). PLUS December which he said they haven't played live since 2002 - which honestly Maladroit is honestly one of my favorite albums. I know it was one that most fans really were meh about but the more I listen to it then more I loved it.

Acoustic Set Via My Instagram

The Acoustic was a great,  a little bit from each album but I was happy the Pinkerton was so heavy, maybe that was due to it being an acoustic set but even the fast pace "tired of sex" and "good life" were awesome.

The lights went down - they dropped the plain black back drop curtain - and all came out in different gear - Rivers was in a "boat captain / sea navy looking suit" All the people setting the stage were in lab coats... the lights came up and you saw the back drop being the new album cover and BAM they went right into the new album song 1 thru the end - it was awesome!

Everything Will Be Alright In The End Set Via My Instagram

I can understand some fans being miffed about it - but honestly ... if I had been touring and playing for over 20+ years I'd want to play new shit too! Pearl Jam does the same thing... very heavy on new material, but I sort of like that. If it was years ago I might be upset but honestly I love the new album so getting to hear it start to finish was awesome. The confetti came during the ending of Either Foolish Father or Wasteland I can't remember. Not ONLY IN DREAMS awesome but still so fun.

They also dropped balloons out in the audience during the 1st or 2nd song of the set. They closed the night out with Surfwax America and it was great!!! I was smiling from ear to ear, and Mike was super excited that I was so excited. I think he literally told me "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" about 10 times, and I laughed and smiled bigger EVERY time.

It was as TON of fun. I wouldn't doubt if they do more touring this winter / spring for the album. This was clearly a small venue, and it was a small show... only went from like 9 pm - 11 pm (when we saw Pearl Jam it was 8 - 11:30 ONLY pearl jam. There was no opener for Weezer and I see that most of their other dates were music festivals - short sets. And this one was for a Radio show in ATL. I noticed that Foo Fighters are doing a TON of small pop up shows like the one in DC and the one in Nashville that sell out in no time flat. I think they are all trying to not only get back to their roots but also trying to drum up excitement about the new albums which I think is great.

-Kelly

********

OFFICIAL SET LIST: WEEZER • ATL • 12/06/2014

Acoustic SET
You Gave Your Love to Me Softly
Why Bother?
King
El Scorcho
December (First performance since 2002)
The Good Life
Island in the Sun
No One Else
Buddy Holly

NEW ALBUM SET:
Everything Will Be Alright in the End
Ain't Got Nobody
Back to the Shack
Eulogy for a Rock Band
Lonely Girl
I've Had It Up to Here
The British Are Coming
Da Vinci
Go Away (with Anna Kramer)
Cleopatra
Foolish Father
The Waste Land
Anonymous
Return to Ithaka

Encore: Surf Wax America

I had an amazing time in ATL with Mike, for my birthday and with Weezer. Mike you've really outdid yourself this time... I guess I better start planning our birthday weekend 2015!!!! Thank you again, love you babe!

*** For a quick video visit my instagram: instagram.com/turnedup2eleven/