Karl's Corner - 12/06/2001

...holy cow, do they like to go nuts here in Kalamazoo. The response that all three bands got tonight was intense! Whichever way you looked, someone was crowdsurfing, and the mass singalongs and jumping up and down stuff was amazing. Everyone in weezer reported feeling great up on stage and that this had to be one of their best shows of the tour. I'd have to agree, they were on to something tonight. 
...some fans' "p.o.v.'s"...
::: "Hey! I just got back from the k-zoo show. It was a beautiful experience. I
::: was extremely excited to hear that weezer were going to play in kalamazoo
::: because wings stadium is a 10 minute drive from my house. Let me just start
::: by saying that Tenacious D was bad ass! They were pure entertainment. Then
::: when weezer came on the crowd went crazy. I was smashed into tons of sweaty
::: tall guys (which kinda sucked). I managed to get out of the pit 3 songs
::: into their set which I was happy about because I could see much better from
::: the stairs. I know everyone has commented on Only In Dreams so far, but it
::: was amazing. Seeing the band's silhouettes in the blue smoke almost brought
::: tears to my eyes. This was my third time seeing the weezer this year and i
::: had an awesome time as always. Thank you weezer for giving me another
::: amazing concert experience." --Liz
:::"I saw weezer in September at Cobo and I think that this time they totally rocked harder. They were once again amazing. Jimmy Eat World and The D were awesome as well. Weezer's new songs are really good. There are actually no words I can use to describe this concert. You know it was a great concert when even my dad (a 42 year old) enjoyed it. I can't wait to see weezer again." --Emily
:::"First of all, the show (albeit quite painful at times) was pretty rockin. I skipped my final class of my 2D Design course to come (I'll probably get a D for absences) and it was definitely WELL worth it.
:::My friend Cassidi and I arrived at 10:00 in the morning to camp out by the main entrance to wings. We held out there for three hours before being asked to leave the premises, as no one was allowed to line up before 4:00. Apparently, Insane Clown Posse had played Wings, and their extremely intelligent, world wary fans thought it would be pretty sweet to get into a Faygo fight (granted, that does sound pretty sweet, but they should have known security was going to crack down on them for it). This proves once again that Insane Clown Posse ruins EVERYTHING. We were told to move anywhere off of the Wings property, so we went across the street to the bowling alley. We thought we were safe until security decided to tell us that the lanes were going to call the cops if we didn't leave there. So we forged onward, this time securing a spot in the Days Inn parking lot. Again, we were met with opposition by the security, telling us the same thing they said before. At this point, this atrocity recieved the title "The Lock Down Drag Out".
:::We were fed up, so we decided to actually become free-thinkers and go ask the desk clerk if we could park there. "Yeh...umm, I really don't see why not?" Was her only reply.
:::It turns out, the security was trying to force us out of there with some pretty spineless lying tactics. Sure, bro. Tell 14 Weezer fans that arrived at 10 in the morning to leave until 4:00 PM, possibly forfeiting their spot in line to fresh arrivals. Weezer puts it best, "Only in Dreams."
:::The frustration of all of this melted away as soon as Weezer struck the first chord of "The Dawn." Weezer has been my favorite band since the first time I heard "Undone" on the radio, so their mere presence on stage brought about a smile so big that I started tearing up. I've never been a mosher, I think it's ridiculous, so I danced the night away to all of my old favorites, while pausing to take in the rock of all of the new songs. Those were decent, but I couldn't quite get into them as much, even when I knew all of the words to them. No offense! When Pat counted off Tired of Sex on the hi-hat, I knew I was in for something. It was amazing. Iggy and the Stooges Amazing. As my friend Katy Shay said "Chargers Street Gang Amazing," (If you don't know about them already, The Chargers Street Gang bring the rock, and bring it HARD). I'm pretty sure that there is no word in the English dictionary to describe the raw emotion that emerged while the band hammered out Only In Dreams. The fog, the confetti, the lighting, all of it gave me chills. That song has meant a lot to me, and it has a really special association. So there I was in the crowd, secretly (maybe not-so-secretly) bawling my eyes out.
:::Bring it back to Kalamazoo soon, Weezer. Only this time, I think I'll get my dance on in the balcony.
:::P.S.: Rivers said " Old school", how cool is that?" --P.
:::"I'm not trying to complain or anything, because weezer is my favorite band in the world, but their concert was the worst experience of my entire life. I was at the Kalamazoo show, and everyone was pushing to the front, where I was. I couldn't breathe and had to resort to crowd surfing to get out of there, but after one of the security gaurds finally got me out, I got kicked out for crowd surfing, and couldn't watch weezer, who I came to see. I know it was mostly my fault, but I felt like had to tell someone that had anything to do with the tour, because the concert wasn't how I thought it was going to be. It was seriously the roughest concert I've ever gone to, and I think it could have been organized a lot better." --K.
:::" as for the show -- it was beyond awesome. It marked the last day of fall semester at Western Michigan University here in Kalamazoo, and it was the BEST way to end it. We started out the night down on the floor, in the middle, teasingly close to the front. Jimmy Eat World came out, and I swear to God I didn't hear a single song -- the pit was that bad. I was kind of smaller than ... well ... most of the people on the floor, but I fought valiantly through JEW until I could fight no more. So we got pulled out of there, and found some seats in the front row on the side/back of the stage. Right before the D came on, I glanced around myself and had just enough time to see a row of five people right behind me with VIP =W= stickers.... "Hmmmm," I did think, and then the D came on and were amazing. After that, sure enough, the five decidedly middle-aged kids with the stickers went backstage. We drooled. After a while, one guy came back to sit and struck up a conversation with us -- and we were way surprised to find out that we were sitting right in front of the parents of Scott Shriner!! When his parents came back to sit, we heard them talking about Pat riding his scooter around backstage, popping wheelies, and Scott not wanting to ride. THEN, we were introduced and his Dad started telling us about Scott -- the whole trumpet to bass story...He also told us that Scott was getting tired of the business...and then he joined up with Weezer, and he loves every second. His parents were SUCH nice people, and when Weezer came on I think they rocked out just as hard as we did. And Weezer -- they were awesome. They were so unbelievably awesome, and they rocked every single person in the house. All the new songs are sweet, and I loved the way they changed up "Don't Let Go". And "Only In Dreams" -- everyone in Wings was dying when the Weez started that one. It was beautiful -- it was absolute musical euphoria!! The perfect end to the night, at risk of sounding weird and fanish, was a tiny nod from Rivers as he walked off, and the Karl spotting. We also shook hands with Scott's parents again and told them that their son more or less kicked ass in Weezer. It was an incredible night -- Weezer reigns. Thanks so much for bringing the Rock to Kzoo!"-- Nicole
:::"It's the day after Weezer's Kalamazoo show and I'm still thinking "wow!" Last night was superawesome.. Jimmy Eat World came out and ROCKED IT! They did extremely well, they have so much energy, it's awesome.. Jim gets into his guitar hardcore! Tenacious D was hilarious, Jack and Kyle are the best.. They're funny as hell and had everyone laughing. We waiting a while and worked our way closer the the middle and front, and then waited for Weezer to come on. I was blown away by the new songs, they perform them superwell.. Weezer kicked some hardcore ass. The crowd went crazy for "Tired Of Sex", it rocked. The crowd was totally cool altogether, not too much pushing and shoving where I was, just a lot of jumping up and down, and some 'mad energy'! All in all, the show rocked. We waited outside by where the buses supposedly were but the security guys absolutely wouldn't let anyone in for about 45 minutes, so we finally left.. and I still have all the awesome moments running through my head." --F.
(...as always, these and many many more fan's stories will be up in the "weezer fans" section, as soon as i dig out from the months-old backlog of great stories and get them all posted!)
Category:Karl's Corner - December 2001