By: Laura Molinaro (@Laura_Molinaro5) –
The first time Rivers Cuomo and company hit the stage at Downsview Park last night was for brief tune-ups before their set in what was the most nonchalant entrance ever, almost creating the antithesis of anticipation which seemed to suit the humble rockstars. A while later Weezer took to the stage officially as the nerd rock legends performed the classic The Blue Album in its entirety along with dozens of hits for the Toronto stop of their “Memories Tour.”
This was a move that brought out a very specific age demographic but for the generational stragglers, the band began the first half of the show by performing all their hits in retrospect starting with “I Want You To” from 2009’s Hurley to “El Scorcho” from 1996’s Pinkerton. This 13-year stretch covered all of their biggest hits including: “Pork and Beans”, “Troublemaker”, “Beverly Hills” and “Island in the Sun”. After a brief intermission, Weezer returned to the stage to perform their 1994 self-titled debut album (aka The Blue Album) in its entirety. With songs like “My Name is Jonas”, “Buddy Holly”, “The Sweater Song”, “Say it Ain’t So” and “Holiday”, it was as if the band had simply continued on the hit streak. The crowd passionately sang every word and flashed the “=W=” hand sign in appreciation throughout the set. However, despite the smoke machine, light show and the extensive soloing, ending with album closer “Only in Dreams” just felt a little too inconsistent with the hit-packed set. The time-machine aspect of the show was clever however, when the band exited the stage, there was no encore material left to meet the crowd’s desperate cries for more Weezer.
In complete contrast with the instinctual and bare-boned trio METZ, five-piece Passion Pit filled out the stage and offered shiny, synthesised, danceable goodness. After opening with “The Reeling” followed by “Carried Away”, the crowd was sucked in and at the beck and call of vocalist Michael Angelakos. A few mumbles around the crowd made it known that they actually came out just to see Passion Pit. A fact apparent; especially when the Boston-based quintet played their best known tracks “Cry like a Ghost” and “Little Secrets” to the crowd chanting every line back at them.
Toronto’s very own Sub-Pop signees METZ opened the night with their fuzzed out and thrashing noise rock. Despite being a three-piece, the band managed to sound colossal when playing through songs like, “Get Off”, “The Mule” and “Wet Blanket” from their self-titled debut album which came out last year. They are soon becoming our city’s worst kept secret as they continually tear their way from buzzed band to hype machine extraordinaire. That being said, METZ exuded more aggression than Weezer fans were ready for; and the open-field, daylight setting was a strange transplant for the gritty, basement band.
Guitarist/vocalist Alex Edkins forced tons of reverb, distortion and squeals out of his amps on “Wasted”, as he fed his guitar into the white noise feedback. With their tongue-in-cheek dedication of their performance to controversial Toronto mayor Rob Ford, the highlight of their set was new single “Can’t Understand”, which featured back and forth vocals between Edkins and bassist Chris Slorach.
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Weezer
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Passion Pit
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METZ
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