Weezer’s ‘Indie Rock Road Trip’ rolled into Louisville, Kentucky on Thursday, September 21, 2023.
Rivers Cuomo and his crew parked on the Space Zebra Stage on the opening day of the Louder Than Life Music Festival.
“Are you ready for some Weezer in your life?” Cuomo asked the crowd, before being met by a thunderous applause.
The veteran pop-rockers didn’t waste any time delivering their hits, starting their set with the opening track of their 1994 debut Blue album, ‘My Name Is Jonas’.
Weezer followed up with their 2005 single ‘Beverly Hills’, however, Cuomo put a local touch on the song, altering the lyrics to say “living in Louisville, Kentucky.”
By their fourth song in, Cuomo decided it was time to crank things up.
After playing the intro to their 2021’s tune ‘1 More Hit’ from their Van Weezer album, the band paused and Cuomo gestured to the crowd, asking them if they should turn up the volume?
Following some playful back-and-forth interaction with the crowd, Cuomo turned the dial to full blast on a massive eight-track player prop, setup at the back of the stage.
An appreciative roar came from the Loudmouths, as the band started ‘Pork and Beans’ from their 2008 Red album.
Midway through their set, after performing their 2001 hit ‘Island In The Sun’ from their Green album, Cuomo expressed confidence to the crowd by turning their band’s name into a verb.
“You’ve been Weezer-ed,” Cuomo declared.
Before starting a sing-along rendition of ‘Say It Ain’t So’, Cuomo pulled out a retro polaroid camera and snapped some photos of the sea of rockers across the Highland Festival Grounds.
“It’s not a road trip until Dad takes a family photo,” the frontman said.
“Smile, kids… you guys rule.”
Here is the complete setlist from their Kentucky show:
1. My Name Is Jonas
2. Beverly Hills
3. Return to Ithaka
4. Pork and Beans (with “1 More Hit” intro)
5. Undone – The Sweater Song
6. Only in Dreams
7. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived
8. Island in the Sun
9. Perfect Situation
10. All My Favorite Songs
11. Say It Ain’t So
12. Run, Raven, Run
13. Hash Pipe
14. Thank You and Good Night
Encore:
15. The Waste Land
16. Surf Wax America
17. Buddy Holly
Here are photos from Weezer’s Louder Than Life performance by Steve Thrasher:
Weezer is Cuomo, drummer Patrick Wilson, bass guitarist Scott Shriner and guitarist Brian Bell.
Here are more details about the band:
In 1992, Weezer had their first practice session in Los Angeles. Over the course of the next year, the group played the club scene, ultimately scoring a deal with DGC from their demo cassette.
Their debut album Weezer (aka “The Blue Album”), produced by Ric Ocasek, has been certified triple platinum in the United States, and remains the band’s all-time best seller. Upon completing the record, Weezer went on hiatus temporarily as Cuomo studied at Harvard. With help from the Spike Jonze-directed video, the single “Undone (The Sweater Song)” became a hit in the fall of 1994. But by the time the album’s final single, “Say It Ain’t So,” was released in the summer of 1995, the group had gone on hiatus once again, with Cuomo returning to Harvard.
In 1996 Weezer recorded their sophomore album, Pinkerton. While it failed to become an immediate hit, it was a cult classic with fans (going gold in 2001). In 1997, distressed by the public’s reaction to Pinkerton, the band took time off to regroup and plan its next move, during which time Sharp left the group. While Rolling Stone named Pinkerton the Worst Album of 1996, they later re-reviewed it and awarded it 5 stars, adding it to the Rolling Stone Hall of Fame in 2004.
With the producer of their debut, Ric Ocasek, again at the helm, Weezer next recorded 2001’s Weezer (aka “The Green Album”), which debuted at #4 and has since sold more than one million copies in the United States. Songs like “Hash Pipe” and “Island in the Sun” became radio and MTV staples. During their tour that summer’s tour, Shriner joined the band.
The band followed that success with Maladroit, which was released in 2002, reached #3 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold. Two years later, Video Capture Device DVD featured home video footage, music videos, commercials, rehearsals, concert performances, television performances, and band commentary, and was certified “gold” following its 2004 release.
Weezer returned to the studio again to work with Rick Rubin on their fifth full-length album. Make Believe appeared in May 2005 and eventually went platinum in multiple countries. The album gave Weezer their biggest charting album peak yet, hitting #1 in Canada and #2 in the U.S. Make Believe featured the band’s first two songs to top the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, “Perfect Situation” and Top 10 single “Beverly Hills,” which earned the band their first Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song.
2008’s Weezer, (aka “The Red Album”) followed which featured a more collaborative approach toward songwriting and shared lead vocals on tracks. Lead single “Pork and Beans” topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts for 11 weeks, and its music video won a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. The Red Album debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 upon its release.
One year later, the band returned with Raditude, which debuted as the seventh best-selling album of the week on the Billboard 200 chart. It found the band collaborating with hip-hop producer Jermaine Dupri, rapper Lil Wayne and members of The All-American Rejects.
Weezer jumped from Geffen to independent label Epitaph in 2010, debuting Hurley at #6 on the Billboard 200 to make it the band’s sixth top 10 album, as well as their sixth top 10 album in a row. The new album was quickly followed by two additional releases: an expanded deluxe edition of Pinkerton and Death to False Metal. The band then took to the road to play Pinkerton & their eponymous debut “Blue Album” in their entirety, in full a tour titled “The Memories Tour,” dubbed “Blinkerton” by fans.
More details can be found on their official website https://weezer.com/.