Weezer at Ascend Ampitheater in Nashville, TN – 28th July, 2018
The lights dimmed, the voice-over announced ‘Happy days is recorded before a live studio audience …’ the blackout curtain dropped and Weezer (with a stage set representing Al’s Diner in Kenosha, Wisconsin) launched straight into ‘Buddy Holly‘.
‘Beverly Hills’, ‘Pork and Beans‘ followed swiftly by ‘Undone – The Sweater Song‘, the crowd, well into it by this point, helping on vocals. For a band with as many well-known hits as Weezer there was no need to ‘save’ any songs for the encore.
The Diner stage set changed to represent the Garage as they charged on through ‘Hash Pipe’, ‘Perfect Situation’, ‘My name is Jonas‘, ‘El Sorcho‘ and ‘In the Garage‘ before launching into a cover of the Turtles’ ‘Happy Together‘ (with a snippet of Green Day’s ‘Longview‘).
Frontman Rivers Cuomo donned his captain’s hat and shirt, headed into the crowd by way of a rig resembling a boat, and played two acoustic solos, ‘Island in the Sun‘ and ‘Take on Me ‘ (A-ha cover) before returning to the stage and another stage set change.
Weezer rounded out the night with their ‘new’ song’ an uncannily close-sounding version of Toto’s ‘Africa’, before ‘Say it Ain’t So‘ (with a Black Sabbath snippet of ‘Paranoid‘) closed out the set. There wasn’t really much point the crowd yelling for more, they’d just about heard it all, loved every minute and went home feeling happy. That’s Weezer.
Full setlist:
1. Buddy Holly
2. Beverly Hills
3. Pork and Beans
4. Undone – The Sweater Song
5. Hash Pipe
6. Perfect Situation
7. My Name Is Jonas
8. El Scorcho
9. In the Garage
10. Why Bother?
11. Happy Together (The Turtles cover) (Green Day – ‘Longview’ snippet)
12. Keep Fishin’ (Brian Bell on vocals)
13. Island in the Sun (Solo Acoustic)
14. Take On Me (a‐ha cover) (Solo Acoustic)
15. Burndt Jamb (Brian Bell on vocals)
16. (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
17. Feels Like Summer
18. Africa (Toto cover)
Encore:
19. Susanne
20. Say It Ain’t So (Black Sabbath – ‘Paranoid’ snippet)
