 Foo Fighters, Weezer teach crowd how to 'Fly' in Worcester
Some will argue that the best surfing is in California - unless, of course, your kind of surfing is crowd surfing. In that case, there was no better place to catch a wave this past weekend than the DCU Center (formerly the Centrum) in Worcester, as the Weezer and Foo Fighters co-headlining tour rolled in.
When the two acts announced that they would be co-headlining a tour together this fall, it was a dream come true for some fans of modern rock. And to top it off, Hot Hot Heat was selected as an opening act, a band that has been garnering increasing attention on the airwaves with their album "Elevators."
Weezer made their grand entrance into the DCU Center with the Disney classic "When You Wish Upon a Star," perhaps as a way of acknowledging this dream. The crowd of 12,000 was spattered with fans sporting vintage Ramones, Led Zeppelin and The Who t-shirts, and the backdrop featured album art from Weezer's latest, "Make Believe."
Weezer was out to please fans new and old - the set included hits such as "My Name is Jonas," which featured a crowd sing-along, "El Scorcho," "Undone (The Sweater Song)," and "Beverly Hills," where beach balls began to fly around the arena.
The band didn't limit themselves to their assigned instruments or songs from their catalog. At varying points during the show, Rivers Cuomo found himself playing set while Patrick Wilson picked up the lead guitar, eventually leading to a cover of Blur's "Song 2." The track pumped up the crowd, as the mass of people in the general admission pit soon become airborne.
"This is show number 18 in the Foo-Weezer headlining tour," Cuomo announced to the crowd at one point. "It's been pretty darn great."
"Big Me" was also covered, which proved to be an interesting contrast for the show as they played a hit of the other headlining act.
For the encore set, fans were treated to a special rendition of "Island in the Sun" where Cuomo walked to the back of DCU Center to play acoustically on a small platform. A bigger treat for fans of the "Blue" and "Green" albums were the closers - "Hash Pipe," with its heavy metal guitar feel, and "Buddy Holly," perhaps the best track of the night and the perfect ending with Brian Bell's Frampton-esque singing guitar.
After a brief 30-minute interlude, the stage was set for Foo Fighters. At this point, fans were jam-packed throughout the building, waiting in anticipation for another set of pure rock.
With a blaring guitar solo, Dave Grohl launched Foo with the title track off of their fifth album, "In Your Honor." With fists pumping into the air and a small mosh pit forming, the crowd felt the adrenaline rush as much as the band.
Foo Fighters were quick to play their hits and classics, with "All My Life," "My Hero," featuring Taylor Hawkins' incredible showmanship on the drums, "Times Like These," a shout-fest with "Breakout" and calm again with "Learn to Fly."
"DOA," the latest single off "In Your Honor," was performed masterfully, as Grohl acknowledged the crowd several times by running up to the ends of the stage and several crowd surfers landed into the hands of security.
Foo Fighters, like their counterparts, mixed the set well with a bit of old and new, including a switch off drums for Hawkins to sing and for Dave to do what he does best - play drums. They teased the crowd with a brief introduction to U2's acclaimed war anthem, "Sunday Bloody Sunday."
After much shouting and acting like a tough rock star, Grohl let his softer side out, announcing to the crowd and crowd surfers alike that his wife was in the audience, along with her side of the family. Dedicating "Everlong" to his mother-in-law, Grohl proved why he earned the title "the nicest guy in rock." The song was a mix of the acoustic and the electric - something for the women and the men - starting off as a slow, Grohl-only ballad, but building into the rock chart-topper the fans knew best.
To end the night, Foo Fighters reverted to their self-titled album for a headbanger's ball version of "This is a Call" followed by "Monkey Wrench" off of "The Colour and the Shape."
The show proved that a band doesn't need to put on a tough-guy mentality to rock or to be cool, but rather that being true to your fans and to your style is the best of all worlds. Maybe that's why these shows are sold out in less than five minutes - Weezer and Foo may have created the best tour of 2005.
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