Karl's Corner - 08/26/2002

note: additional Readings and Leeds fans tales have been added to the 8-23 and 8-24 reports, below. 
touring: London: London Arena show with Guns N Roses
...today we headed down to the Docklands area of London [at least thats where the driver guy said we were], to the 12,500 seat London Arena. Sheeny says thats where Robbie Williams played once...not that she was there to see it of course. This was an indoor arena, in fact a hockey arena [who knew they had hockey in England?], so this took us right back to the many Midget tours of last winter. The main difference of course was that weezer wasnt headlining, they were opening for the legendary Guns N Roses, albeit the somewhat different GnR of 2002. The GnR set and lights were exceedingly unruly to set up and it ended up that weezer had to squeeze in a quickie soundcheck right before they opened the doors to let the crowd in. No worries, that's rock n roll. They ran thru the new song "Turn Me Round", which would hit the setlist tonight, delighting the minority weez crowd and coming off as even more mysterious to the plastic beer bottle throwing GNR crowd. But the weez set was indeed rocking, despite the semi hostile crowd peppered with fanatic weez fans. They certainly won over some skeptics tonight! Pat later said it took him half the set to calm down and get into the groove, but you couldnt tell he was unsettled due to his raging playing. Rivers made the astute comment mid-set, that this was just like the old days in L.A., when weezer would play support to "Guns N Roses rip off bands", to crowds who were simply not having the non-big-hair-rock. And now, 10 years later, they were getting a very similar effect, only supporting the real thing! Well, while there were some rather quiet moments between songs, by the end of the set they had really warmed most people up and got the crowd stoked...About an hour later GnR hit the stage and the place exploded with rock energy. Real explosions too, courtesy the well-stocked GnR pyro department!
Tonights show was visited by label mates Puddle of Mudd [also on the road in Europe] and Jordan, our man from Geffen. Post show was farewells and best wishes, as the next few weeks are chill time for the band. 
...fans' stories from the London Arena...
*"...I had tickets for the Dashboard Confessional for today (my 2nd favourite band) and found out too later about the =w=/GNR concert because it seemed sold out on the net. On my way back from the Leeds Festival I found out at Ticketmaster/Picadilly tickets were still available for the weez. It was already 5:30 so I headed to the Arena. To my surprise, Weezer started their set at 7, as I was entering. My sixth =w= show and great as all others. 'Modern Dukes' as a great opener (just like at the whiskey) and a really nice new tune, 'Turn you around' - could be A hit single, as always. Great concert! Rivers ended the concert screaming 'Welcome to the Jungle!!!!' at 7:40 as I found out I had time left to catch Dashboard and Saves the Day at Camden, at the other side of London, and did so. Awesome!!! By the way, I'm from Brazil and it was really nice to see a Brazilian flag at the concert and even run on an old friend there. WEEZER RULES MY LIFE!!" ---Melvin, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
*"...Damn, what a gig! Best line up ive ever seen! Pretty cool venue for an arena (much nicer than wembley anyway) hope to see weezer headlining next time out :) 10th time seeing weezer! Played excellent, dont think ive ever seen them sound so tight and heavy before, pat was beating the hell out of those drums! the guys seemed to go down well dont ya reckon? I think they definatly made a few new metal friends tonight! Didnt see any =w= shirts but i sang along loud anyway and tried to represent!! Guns n Roses were amazing (weird seeing all new band tho, duff an slash def missed) how funny was that when axl pulled his trousers down during patience? Gnr was my first gig in '92 when i was 11, so that plus weezer, it was kind of emotional!...ROCK MUSIC." ---Dan 
Category:Karl's Corner - August 2002