Homie concert: 11/05/1997

Rivers Cuomo performed as Homie on November 5, 1997 at The Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Save Central Square benefit. This performance was the first "Homie" show and was organized as a fundraiser to oppose "a plan to demolish a building at Massachusetts Avenue and Magazine Street in order to build a $20 million, multi-use complex.". In addition to Cuomo, Kevin Stevenson of the Shods is known to have played guitar, Fred Eltringham of Gigolo Aunts played drums, and Drew Parsons of Tracy Bonham's band played bass.https://web.archive.org/web/19981201190241/http://weezerfanclub.com/rivers2.htm World Wide Weezer page on the 1997 and 1998 Rivers Cuomo shows. Archived on 1 December 1998. Internet Archive.
This concert is most likely where Cuomo met his future wife, Kyoko Ito.Mister Rivers' Neighborhood. Archived by Wayback Machine 6 August 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210806142025/https://books-r-fun.herokuapp.com/wiki/Kyoko from the original: https://books-r-fun.herokuapp.com/wiki/Kyoko
==Setlist==
==Recording History==
==Fan reactions==
*These fan reactions were posted on weezerfanclub.com:
last night was so cool; i must tell you about it and share my blissful state. i went to a concert for $10 at a small club in cambridge called the "middle east" for one reason: to see rivers cuomo of weezer, the man behind the magic. it started at 7:30 p.m., but there were nine bands on before him, so he didn't come on until 12:30 a.m. but it was so worth the wait. he came out to a full crowd totally psyched to see him. my friends and i were all the way up front, basically touching the stage, mere feet away from him. his backup band was made up of members of tracy bonham's band and the gigolo aunts. he played nine songs in total. seven of them were on an acoustic guitar, two were on on electric guitar. I'll try to tell what i remember about some of them. they were:
* autumn jane
* hey m' darlin'
* sheila can do [it]
[rivers said he was sure that they were going to mess this song up. then he said the title, and some girl in the crowd screams, "i'm sheila." and rivers is like, "no way!" and then the other guitar player, kevin, says, "if she (sheila) can do it, we can definitely do this song." and they did, and it sounded great.]
* think about
[a great song about how even though rivers has broken up with a girl and has gone on with his life, he still thinks about the girl.]
* no one else
[from the blue album; an oldie, but definitely still a goodie.]
* wanda
rivers introduced this song as, "this song is from the "angus" soundtrack." the crowd went nuts, expecting "you gave your love to me softly." but rivers immediately stepped in, saying, "but not that song. they decided not to use this one. it's called "wanda", and the it's written from the point.of.view of the main character in the movie, so the lyrics may be kind of wierd." it was very good.]
* sunshine o.
[rivers introduced this song as, "this song sounds like the theme song to sesame street." it kind.of did.]
* stay there
[rivers called this song "a bit goofy."]
* hot tub
[rivers closed out his set with this great song, which he felt was "very goofy."]
they were all brand new, never played before in concert anywhere, except of course for "no one else". my prediction: weezer's third album will sell big. the sound is so great: so upbeat, so pop, so rock, so cool. like a return to the style of the blue album. rivers must really have been in good moods while writing these songs. and from the lyrics that i could make out, they still contain the meanings and depth that mark all of rivers' songs. he was having a great time playing them; the next tour should be a lot of fun. but the magic did not stop with the music! after he was done, the lights came on, the stagehands started cleaning up, but nobody in the crowd went anywhere. they cheered for rivers to come back out, and after a few minutes, he did. he sat on the edge of the stage, right in the middle of the crowd, and signed autographs, shook hands, and talked to people. i tried during this time to get a copy of the set list, but some one beat me to it. i missed that opportunity, but i had to meet rivers. so i pushed closer toward him through the crowd. i was sitting on the stage, a few people away from him. i saw some papers on the stage, and started sifting through them for a set list. what i found instead was one of rivers' guitar picks! now had matt's [from a concert in january] and rivers'! my friend handed him a paper and got an autograph for me [which is now hanging in my dorm]. then, he was getting up to leave, so i put out my hand, and he shook it! by now, the crowd had emptied out, and there were only a few people left. he was about to go, but i asked him if he still had his marker, could he autograph my pick? and he did! there were some japanese girls around [whom he really does have a thing for] , so he started talking to them. rivers knows some japanese! one girl was shy, so he stepped off the stage and started talking to her. a stagehand said we had to clear out, so we did. as we were leaving, this was my big chance. i went up to rivers, told him i was a huge fan, and asked him if i could ask him some questions. he said sure. i asked him what wepeel means in "my name is jonas". he said he couldn't tell, that it was his secret, and that the only way he'd tell was if you guessed correctly, which only one person had ever done. then i asked him why in "say it ain't so" and "why bother?" he pronounced "hear" and "here" with a "ch" sound. he was like "really?" and i said, "yeah, listen to your album, you'll definitely hear it." then he sang the last line to "why bother?", "...crack it open let me out of here." he's like "i really say it that way, with a "ch" sound?" and i said, "yeah." and he said "no way. i'll have to listen for that."by now, we had reached the stairs. i thanked rivers for talking to me, for weezer, and for a great show, and i shook his hand again. what a night! rivers is a great guy. he's human: he talks to his fans, he takes the time to make people's days. my friends and i left, totally amazed at what we had just been a part of. but it's not over! rivers said he'll be in concert again on friday, november 21st, at t.t. bears. i am there! he was asked what his plans were for harvard. he said, and i quote, "i'm taking a semester off." which i guess means he'll be going back in the spring 
- Rob C.
"there werent many people there at all, ive been to many shows at the middle east and i could not beleive how few people were there. then again it was a wednesday night, but the reveiwer did say "full" crowd. there were probably 90-100 or so people there, but if you saw the club then you'd understand what i mean. anyway, the main thing that he didnt say in the article was that this music was extremely country-based rock. When i had spoken to rivers before the performance i asked him if he was going to play "fun time" [a great song from his first 'solo' gig in cambridge] he said "no, tonight is all new stuff. acoustic, really country too" and sure enough, when he came on stage the first thing he said was "welcome to my country band" it was funny. The show was really good though, but i think you should say something on your page about how his new songs are very "country like"
- Nicholas Lavallee
==Gallery==
Image:WillemDaFlow-11051997a.jpg
Image:WillemDaFlow-11051997b.jpg
Image:WillemDaFlow-11051997c.jpg
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==See also==
*Homie
*List of Rivers Cuomo concerts
*Recording History - Page 10
==Footnotes==
==External links==
*Bootleg on Archive.org
*Bootleg on Archive.org (alternate recording)
==References==
Category:Rivers Cuomo concerts
Category:Homie concerts