Karl's Corner - 08/09/2002

...special Side Stage note for tomorrow's Concord show: we've just learned that The Special Goodness has been added to the side stage, as the very first act of the day. Doors are at 6pm, and they will probably be starting things off at 6:15, so if you want the full 7 band Enlightenment experience, come early! preshow fan meet-up note! Due to the SGs added presence, the [curlyhare1 and panteleggs led] fan meet-up, scheduled for 6:30 in the parking lot, has been rescheduled back to 5:30!
Enlightenment Tour Day 35: Irvine, CA; Verizon Amphitheater
Main Stage: Sparta, Dashboard Confessional, Weezer
Second Stage: Third Grade Teacher, Rooney, Home Town Hero, Am Radio
Well, there we were, headlining at the same place where I saw the '92 Lollapalooza, and the '96 Weenie Roast where KISS put on their first original line-up + full makeup gig since 1979. Could the weez dominate such a massive venue? Hell yeah, as it turned out! This was the biggest headlining weezer show ever, with over 15,000 peeps in attendance! This show put the recent record setting Philly show [14,500] into second place, and the Chicago United Center show from last fall [13,000] into 3rd place. What a blast! Tonight the documentation dept [me] was supplemented with Rod and his 16mm film movie cameras. Assuming the footage comes out good, this should yield some really cool looking stuff for future use. It was pretty hectic for Rod up there, as film isnt something you can rush and bounce around with like my videocameras. But Rod is a pro. Speaking of pro's, All the bands tonight rocked it out STRONG. Tonight the Second Stage was joined by Third Grade Teacher, a firey and fun rock outfit who previously opened for the weeez at the Troubador back in 2000. 
"Weezer World Cup" Foosball Challenge #13: Los Angeles- KROQ
Foosball Challenge #13! Today before the show there was another fan vs. weez foosball challenge. In many cities on the Enlightenment Tour, the local radio station chose winning fans who got to come backstage before the show and challenge the band to a mini-foosball tournament! There are usually 6 winners per show, and they divide up into 3 teams who face off vs weezer for one game each. Today there were 2 teams, and the games were played on a different table than usual which was all weird and pounded on. Sorta like playing an 'away' game for the weez.
Todays match results:
Round 1: Team Weezer (Cuomo/Wilson) V. Max Fischer Players (Lauren Calavan and Jonathan Zeitlin) : Winner: Team Weezer. Score: 10-0. [ouch. the Max Fischer Players struggled to put things together, and couldnt penetrate the tuff weez 'd'.]
Round 2: Team Weezer (Cuomo/Wilson) V. The Avant Guards (Grace Kim and Colleen Monaco) : Winner: Team Weezer. Score: 10-1. [The Avant Guards drew first blood with a beautiful shot at the outset, but then were put on the ropes by the weez. a wild struggle.] 
...pic #28, L to R: RockAnne, UCSB drew, almondstick[?], [unknown add'l bboard brohiem #1], johnny5alex, [unknown add'l bboard brohiem #2], Rivers, [unknown add'l bboard brohiem #3], Wrawk[?], Cleave23[?]...
 
...the first batch of Irvine fans' show tales that came in...
*"...I used to be a weezer fan, but after this awesome kick a** concert i am now a weezer worshipper. This was my first weezer concert but it will definetly not be my last. The set list sounded like it was made especially for me with 'say it aint so' and my pinkerton favorites 'el scorcho' and 'the good life'. Rivers was so talkitive and even cracked jokes like calling us idaho. Brian did his thing, pat was awesome, and scott rocked it out on stage. I swear i almost died when the huge =w= came out from under pat. DC was awesome and the side stage was cool but i give my full props to weezer for putting on the best concert ever of my short teenage life. Weezer deserves the title of ROCK GODS after this awesome concert. =w= RULES!!---" ---Irma, from LA :O)
*"...yo everyone, it's midnight here in california, and I thought I'd write down my little report of the weezer concert tonight (august 9th) at the Irvine Meadows amphitheatre. Coming from the small island of Kauai in Hawaii, it was really a new experience where 15,000 people were all crammed in there, since it's more than 1/4 my island's population. Heheh, plus it was hard to fight the urge to say to everyone who was wearing a weezer shirt "hey, nice shirt" as I'm so accustomed to doing when I see people on the streets. The show itself was a great one. Okay, so I was sitting in the very very upper lawn portion, but that's what you get when you buy tickets two days before the event. Seeing El Scorcho live makes me a very happy person. The pyrotechnics were great, and I was glad I got to see the Winged-W in real life. Aside from security being ultra-anal (they told me that I couldn't keep the pins on my hat. WTF is that? They're pins. Needless to say, I got in with them on. Booya.) the show was totally awesome. Rock!" ---Hunter 'piro' Morrison
*"...I must say that this is the best Weezer show I've ever been to... My sis and I got there a little late but we caught some HomeTown Hero on the side stage before heading in to watch Dashboard Confessional rock the stage. When Weezer came out the crowd went wild!!! My sis and I danced the whole night!!! And Rivers and the guys really were energetic which moved everything up to the next level. THEY ROCKED!!! I must say that everything about this concert fell into place... let me explain... I got Orchestra 3 seats the day before the concert (which if you're standing on stage is a little to the right of center)... They guys played El Scorcho which my sis and I have never heard in concert before... I got a guitar pick from a wonderful stage hand... and this other great stage hand (who looked like Scott but with shorter hair?) tossed me a set list for which I thanked him over and over again... oh my... I'm so happy right now!!! This has truly been a beautiful night... and I owe it all to the guys... THANKS SO MUCH!!! :D" ---Evelyn (sienna14), ORCH 3 seat 302
*"...Hey Karl! I just wanted to say that this concert was not only the biggest Weezer Concert ever, but the best too! They played everything, from all the albums. Rivers was on tonight, and the whole band performed great! Kick ass! The encore with Only In Dreams was fantastic, Weezer showed So-Cal tonight a great home-town show! rock on!" ---Mallory
*"...The show was awesome. It was my first Weezer show and I doubt I could have seen a better show than the one they put on tonight. The set list was epic. Great selections for albums with a slight favoring of the blue album and pinkerton. Rivers was absolutely hilarious on stage with his quips. Pyro was awesome. I knew, from reading up on weezer.com, about most of the special little things, like pyro and the "w" coming from under the drums but it all still kicked when I saw it live. The music was absolutely solid. Its always a sign of a good band when their music sounds the same live as it does on their album and I can say for sure that not only did it sound as good, it sounded 10x better. Singing along to all the songs with all the other fans was great. Just a great experience all around. The side stage was sweet too. I got to see Third Grade Teacher, Rooney, and Home Town Hero. They all were good and showed there's a good future to music. All-in-all an absolutely fantastic rock show!" ---Sam Aronoff, Irvine, CA
*"...It had to have been a dream...I just got back from teh IRVINE show and I have never experience a =w= show like this one yet. The amount of people and the energy was amazing. I truly feel enlightened!!! Thanks for such a great tour...It was an experience to remember. I can't imagine how in the world =w= can top this one. THANKS AGAIN you guys rock!!!" ---Badtzmaru
*"...Just got back from the biggest show that Weezer has ever headlined!! And what a show!! Sparta was wonderful and laid a great foundation for the =w= to build upon. Although, I was not able to see Dashboard, they did sound great! But when weezer got on stage, and started off their set......... all bets were off. With an amazing amount of songs from the blue album and pinkerton, this concert proved to be the best that I have ever seen. Plus, Rivers was speaking a bunch!! This was a total shock to me, but could only add to the being that is =w=. An overall incredible night and worth its weight in gold." ---Evan
*"...howdy karl and the rest of the weezer crew! holy hell... weezer in irvine was a mega-kick ass show. sparta rocked... dashboard exceeded comprehensio... weezer illuminated. this was my first time ever seeing dashboard confessional in person so thanks for the weez for inviting them along. all my love and respect for chris c. and the fellas. this show by far was the greatest weezer show i've ever been to. i was uber excited to meet scott and get his autograph on my ticket. i was so taken aback by his presence that i stood there like a bumbling idiot. heh. sorry if i tripped out on you scott. i think it's really cool that you were out and about, mingling with us common folk. you guys just keep getting better... and to answer rivers' question "how long will we keep this going?", as long as their is breath in my lungs to sing along with every song and strength in my arms to hold a "=w=" up to the sky. i don't know if it's elightenment or a ringing from the high decibel levels, but whatever it is, i love it. rock on!" ---kyle m. fv, ca 
Category:Karl's Corner - August 2002