 Weezer, Foo Fighters whip Meadowlands into frenzy
Geeks rock. But grunge rocks harder.
That's what the Weezer/Foo Fighters matchup proved Friday night.
Weezer's cool-geek frontman Rivers Cuomo had the crowd at Continental Arena standing and hand-signaling his band's signature “W.”
But from the moment the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl took the stage and sang, “Can you hear me screaming?” the crowd was in a shouting, gyrating frenzy.
Grohl promised to give the sold-out stadium a “rock-and-roll enema” And although it is hard to define what that is, no one could sit down for the band's 80-minute set.
Several songs into their set, security was struggling to catch a sea of crowd surfers. When Grohl sang the Foo Fighters' hit, “Times Like These,” a mosh pit formed in the front rows, growing bigger as the show went on and the music grew more intense.
But the lack of a mosh pit during Weezer's set didn't mean Cuomo and his glasses-wearing band mates can't rock.
Cuomo, clad in a red sweater, definitely delivered for fans of his tortured-nerd brand of alternative rock. He jammed on new hits, such as “Beverly Hills,” a top single from the band's 2005 album “Make Believe.”
He also performed classic favorites such as “Buddy Holly” and “Undone - The Sweater Song” off the band's self-titled debut album, released in 1994. The crowd loved “Hash Pipe,” as well, a hit off 2001's The Green Album. Cuomo engaged the audience, even bringing a female fan onstage for a brief guitar lesson after she volunteered to play “Undone.” (She was apparently unaware that the band really expected her to know how to play the instrument.)
Grohl, however, did more than engage the crowd. He had it transfixed.
All eyes were on the Foo Fighters singer as he jumped offstage, ran through the crowd, leapt onto the first row of elevated seats, and wailed on his guitar.
Grohl's was a muscled firebrand of rock energy. To get fans riled up, he dedicated songs to sections of the packed stadium. He screamed, spoke, cursed, and sometimes burped in between songs, ensuring the crowd's energy never wavered.
He never stopped lighting up the stage, which was almost as action-packed as the band.
Television screens cut to resemble upside-down steps flashed delayed video of the rockers. Lights bearing the band's name beamed on the upper deck. Green and red lights shone on the crowd.
But Grohl was the concert's best special effect.
He switched instruments, trading places with his drummer, Taylor Hawkins, for a performance of “Cold Day in the Sun” - showing off the skills he perfected as the drummer for Nirvana and, recently, while on tour with Queens of the Stone Age.
For the Foo Fighters' encore, Grohl sang a Queen cover as Queen's drummer, Roger Taylor, took over the set.
After Grohl ended the night with “Monkey Wrench,” off the 1997 release “The Colour and the Shape,” it took the crowd a while before they began to move toward the exits. It seemed as though Grohl might be joking. There was so much energy in him, it didn't seem as though the concert could end. |
