Two of modern rock’s most prominent bands delivered a solid show of more than three hours of rock carnage on Oct. 11 at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport. The “Foozer/Wee Fighters” tour included performances by openers Hot Hot Heat, Weezer and the Foo Fighters.
Hot Hot Heat hit the stage first and opened with “Talk to Me, Dance with Me,” a single off their “Make Up the Breakdown” album. The sound was immaculate, with a searing cowbell in the song’s background to coincide with singer Steve Bays’ vocals. “Bandages” was another high in the set list, the song perhaps being the most recognizable of the band’s short career.
After these goodies from the former album, Hot Hot Heat dug into tracks from their latest release, “Elevator,” including singles “Middle of Nowhere” and “You Owe Me an IOU.”
Their music was on target: a dance-influenced craze of zinging keyboards and catchy pop-rock melodies. However, half of their show had fallen by the wayside. The band’s stage presence was somehow lost since I had last seen them. The usually energetic Bays seemed refined and self-conscious, possibly due to the larger venue Hot Hot Heat is not used to playing in.
Weezer opened their set with “Hash Pipe,” which highlighted the stunning guitar skills of Brian Bell. The overall set list was both surprising and expected, as it comprehensively covered music from Weezer’s entire career. Each album was represented by at least one song, even the classic sophomore release “Pinkerton,” which is rumored to be despised by singer Rivers Cuomo.
The surprises lay in the excitement of songs such as “My Name Is Jonas,” “Surf Wax America,” and “Say It Ain’t So.” The band rocked out with positive energy and worked the crowd throughout each track.
Bell later teased the crowd by playing riffs from “El Scorcho,” to which Cuomo added, “That’s just background music!” After Cuomo told a story, we were treated with the amazing track as Cuomo set down his guitar to focus on vocals. After coming down from the high of “El Scorcho,” Weezer still had many tricks up their sleeve. Cuomo stood in the middle of the general admission pit to play a solo, acoustic version of “Island in the Sun” which served as a great crowd sing along with the catchy “hip-hip” line of the song.
The latest album, “Make Believe,” was far from ignored, as the band played the neo-drug anthem cleverly titled “We Are All on Drugs” as well as the 80s-reminiscent “This is Such a Pity.” The pre-encore song was, of course, “Beverly Hills.”
Upon returning to the stage after a few-minute break, Weezer pulled a kid from the crowd on stage to play the acoustic guitar parts of “Undone (The Sweater Song).” It was another crowd pleaser, and everyone sang along with Cuomo and cheered for the random lucky soul on stage playing with the band. And yes, lastly, they played that “Buddy Holly” song, too.
The Foo Fighters finished off the night with their crude, vulgar, earsplitting and adrenaline-pumping set. Led by former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighters simply shocked the hell out of me.
Opening with the title track of their latest CD, the Foo Fighters rocked “In Your Honor,” as Grohl thrashed his guitar around and sang, “Can you hear me? Hear me screaming?” I can assure Grohl that yes, yes we did.
Grohl’s energy was unreal. He pushed the crowd to its extreme, so much so that every person in the venue was screaming the lyrics along with him or just screaming, period. From this point on, the crowd could tell it was going to be one invigorating and edgy show.
Shortly after, the band kicked it into high gear with “All My Life,” one of my all-time Foo favorites. The silver screens on both sides of the band displayed them in all their glory, as the screen above their heads showcased the band’s name in all different fonts and colors.
“My Hero” followed shortly after, along with a plethora of other hits such as “Times Like These,” “D.O.A.” and the radio-friendly “Best of You.” The band’s energy never faltered or failed.
Amidst all the pure and chaotic anarchy, a disappointment approached. It was the pre-encore, too acoustic “Everlong.” Grohl began laying down the melody of the popular song alone on stage and sang the first verse, chorus and second verse. By the time the band came out to electrify the track, there was only one chorus left and it ended way too abruptly. I know they must be sick of playing it after all these years, but I still felt saddened by the lack of rock in the song.
Also notable was the sheer enjoyment of watching drummer Taylor Hawkins bang away on his drum kit. Hawkins accentuated every single song in the set list with his rapid and energizing bass drum pounding and cymbal crashing. Hawkins also sang a track off of “In Your Honor’s” second acoustic disc as Grohl sat down to take his spot behind the drums.
The Foo Fighters ended with an encore of two songs, “Breakout” and “Monkey Wrench,” and went out with a bang. If it had not been for touring with Weezer, I might not have seen them, but I am ecstatic that I got the opportunity to spend a night with them.
The best part about the show was that I did not have to travel hours to see it. Instead, I drove 10 minutes down I-95 to The Arena and saw three bands I truly love. You simply cannot beat that. The Arena should house more contemporary bands, as I am sure the turnout would be just as positive as it was for the “Foozer and Wee Fighters.”
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