Karl's Corner - 12/13/2001

...well, today's show was very unusual, in that I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it! The "MGD Blind Date" series of Canadian concerts operates as a contest via radio stations and, uh, beer purchases. The way it works, none of the winners know who they are going to go see, and in fact they are bussed in so that they dont even know where the gig is until they get there. For this show, as many as 200 winners were flown in from all over Canada, and the rest were from the southern Ontario area as far as I could tell.
So anyway, 12/12 got no Karls Corner entry, so as not to tip anyone off that we were in Toronto! I made up for it with some extra end-of-tour large size pix (just click on the bordered thumbnails below).
While this was a weezer solo show (we said goodbye to the D and J.E.W. in Portland), some members of J.E.W. including Rachel Haden were in attendance as they were in town for their own headlining gig on the 14th! so it was a mini reunion of sorts as all sorts of freinds and business folk were in attendance. All in all a neat end to the tour. The venue, The Kool Haus (aka the Guvernment, the RPM, and the Wherehouse in days past) is waay smaller than the venues on the past 2 midget tours, so it felt really small and intimate, despite being packed with 2000 people.
We were really wondering how the crowd would react, as not everyone who randomly won the contest would necessarily be a weezer fan. Canada is very weez-freindly, but it was kind of a crap shoot. Well, I can report that if they didn't enter the "Kool Haus" a weezer fan, they likely left as one! The crowd was a bit mixed at first, some people freaking out as the "=w=" lit up in the fog, others looking around wondering if theyd just won tickets to a Winger concert. But the weez did their best to rock the Haus, and most folks (possibly with the help of all the free beer and pizza on hand) looked like they were having a blast by evening's end.
Dan the Lighting Man must have had a surplus of leftover fog juice, because he smoked the place out during "Only In Dreams" See below for the 'misty mountain hop' the place turned into.
...tour wrap up coming shortly...(so is "so, whats next?")
...yes that is "The Creed Building"...
...beer, beer, beer...man, they sure like beer here!
...some fans' "p.o.v.'s" ...
::: "So, yesterday I flew out of Halifax Nova Scotia to Toronto Ontario for my
::: christmas vacation. On the plane I met some fellows and we went drink for
::: drink for the 2 hour flight. All in all, the flight was fairly enjoyable. I
::: got off the plane and went to get my bags. They came out, then I went to
::: meet my dad.
::: being a little bit intoxicated and having been out partying every night
::: since my last exam I was pretty tired. i mentioned this and he says "so
::: you're too tired eh? that's too bad. i guess you just want to go home and
::: sleep eh?" (we're canadian, we say "eh" a lot, eh?)
::: so i say "huh? why, whats going on?"
::: so he says "who's your favorite band?"
::: and i say "weezer, why?"
::: so he says "they're playing tonight. here."
::: and i say "i wasn't aware of that. odd, considering i am the guru of all
::: things weezer."
::: he says "no one knows. its a surprise thing, that molson blind date
::: business. and i can get us in, full vip. i know the owner."
::: at which point i pooped my pants.
::: so next my sister's flight finally arrives and i prance around getting
::: rather stoked. eventually her bag comes through the doo-hickey and we take
::: off to The Guvernment. we arrive, meet the bouncers and the owners and get
::: escorted in. we then hit the FREE BAR (greatest thing ever!) and got some
::: beer.
::: as it turns out, i was priveledged with information no one else had, as i
::: found out walking through the crowd. the rumour was, it was either weezer or
::: limp bizkit playing the show. (limp bizkit?!? wtf) so i laughed and walked
::: off being thankful i knew it wasn't limp bizkit. my sister and i made our
::: way up to the front on the crowd and spent the show there. i have to say,
::: seeing weezer drunk is was better than seeing them sober. the crowd was
::: amazingly fun, mostly because most of them weren't even really big weezer
::: fans. most people were giving the thumb, index, pinkie salute, so i started
::: doing the double handed flying =w= to see if it would catch on. by the end
::: of the show i looked around and most people had graduated to the double hand
::: W salute. for that, if nothing else, i feel special.
::: so i sung along, made some friends, and enjoyed the crowd. with all those
::: people knowing few songs more than the singles, hearing the newer songs was
::: a cool experience because people were really rocking out to them.
::: so anyway, the show ended, and all in all it was far, far better than the
::: last time i saw them in summer 2k. the free beer was awesome.
::: i decided not to take advantage of the full vip business and just head home,
::: happy and deaf and drenched in sweat.
::: i yelled at [karl] when [he was] in front taking pictures to say hey, but [he]
::: didn't hear me. no worries. everyone looked at me like i was strange for
::: yelling [his] name...
::: anyway, this will likley be the highlight of my christmas vacation. it was
::: damned cool.
::: --Chris [reppin' the A.M.W.! right on Chris!]
::: "Weezer is one of my favorite bands and I just about passed out when I found out it was gonna be them. I'm from Calgary, Alberta and had flown into Toronto for the first time to go on the Blind Date. Just to let you know there were actually around 200 people from out-of-town - not 20, I met a crazy ton of them during the before concert dinner, it was wicked to meet so many different types of people from around my country. If you could pass along a personal thank you to the band from me for a once in a lifetime experience, I would greatly appreciate it. One of the reasons Weezer is so important in my life, is my boyfriend and I hooked up because of a conversation we had about Pinkerton. Last night I got one of the Weezer guitar picks - he's going to wet himself when I give it to him." --JL
::: "my name is j and i'm a bouncer at the guvernment/kool haus where weezer played a molson canadian blind date gig last night. the show was incredible. only a handful of people in the crowd knew who was playing - but when the curtains opened to the big sparkly w lit up the crowd was definitely pleasantly surprised. i saw weezer play in september at the cavernous arrow hall, and although this show was shorter, it definitely seemed more laid back and the band seemed to enjoy themselves a lot more. they also played a bunch of songs that were'nt from any of there albums which was a nice change. after the show b-bell didn't mind me interrupting him to get him to sign the playlist - but rivers doled out the coldest of cold shoulders which was a pretty big disappointment. i've heard he's testy with his fans but i really didn't expect that. all in all, it was an incredible show - the open bar got the crowd real rowdy and then weezer came out and blew everyone away. even a few guys who were sure they were about to see sepultura or metallica couldn't help but dig the music. great show..." 
Category:Karl's Corner - December 2001