Weezer (Pinkerton Album Show) | Roseland Ballroom, NYC | 12.18.2010

After many years of eliminating Pinkerton songs from their set list Weezer finally decided to jump on the album show bandwagon to perform album shows for both Pinkerton and The Blue Album. I opted to go to the Pinkerton show as Blue tracks have always been sprinkled throughout their set lists. Even after seeing album shows for The Pixies and Jimmy Eat World among others, I would hands down say this was my favorite. The band started the night starting with their current album Hurly and going backward through their career. Though the newer songs are a not their finest moment, I think you would find even the most elitist classic Weezer hipster purist hard pressed not to smile as Rivers jumped off trampolines and ran around the VIP area belting out the tracks like “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived.”

A surprise and highlight of the night came when Rivers shouted “1995 – B-sides!” and they broke into the Angus soundtrack jam “You Gave Your Love To Me Softly” into “Susanne” and “Jaime.” It was a rare treat to hear these songs played right into “Only In Dreams” before an intermission in which longtime roadie, webmaster etc. Karl showed off some of his favorite Pinkteron era photographs, several taken by Spike Jonze. After the intermission the backdropped changed to the snowy scene of the Pinkerton cover and the band took their normal positions (Drummer Patrick Wilson now plays guitar on the newer tracks live). The band’s energy on stage toned down a bit to appropriately fit the songs, but the energy in the room was stronger than ever as the fans sang along to every word and the band masterfully played every nuance of the songs down to perfectly matching the guitar tone. One of my friends summed it up nicely by saying “I would go see this show once a year for the rest of my life.”

Read on for the full set list.
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