Concert Review: Weezer / Flaming Lips (Columbus, OH)

Weezer took a sold-out Nationwide Arena on a Voyage to the Blue Planet Saturday night (09.07.24). Their eponymous debut, known colloquially as the Blue Album, was released 30 years ago, and Rivers Cuomo and company are currently on tour playing the record in its entirety. The “voyage” to get there was a setlist of one or two songs each from seven or so of their albums, followed by five songs from ‘Pinkerton,’ and, finally, the entire blue album.

The big takeaway of the evening was that the blue album holds up as one of the best rock albums ever. That’s not hyperbole (at least not for me). It’s such a solid, tight collection of 10 songs, front to back. Not a minute of fluff. I’ve been to a few of these album-in-their-entirety-style shows now, and there are usually some slow moments; not so with the blue album! From the opening guitar riff on “My Name is Jonas” to the final bass notes on “Only in Dreams,” it’s such a strong album. Hearing those songs live solidifies its greatness.

I don’t need to go on about the album itself. If you haven’t listened to it, do. But I recommend seeing them live. Even the stage production was next level. It felt like something you’d see on Broadway. The conceit of the show was a literal voyage through space, which played on a screen behind them, in order to get to the Blue Planet. It kicked off with the band emerging from a rocket ship after the top lifted off of the stage and allowed them to come out. There were spaced-themed props, and the band interacted with what was happening behind them. There was a stop at Pinkerton asteroid belt, which preceded the five songs off that album. There was a crash landing where Cuomo talked to the sentient spaceship on the screen. There was a moment when Rivers revealed that he as an alien from the Blue Planet, and there were many Weezeroids that looked just like him there.

If all that sounds complicated and a bit unnecessary, maybe, but what kept it fun was that the band wasn’t taking the whole thing too seriously. They knew it was silly and let everyone in on the silliness. Before the rocket launch, there was a pre-launch “interview” over the speaker system with the members about their upcoming mission and how each member was preparing for the voyage. They let it be known that the situation was ridiculous. But it was a great example of how Weezer, and Cuomo specifically, have always been able to walk the tightrope of brooding introverts and nonchalant goofballs.

Before Dinosaur Jr played, someone told me that after going to thousands of shows over the years, Dinosaur Jr was the loudest band they had ever seen, which had me looking forward to them as the opener. However, since they only had a six-song set, and were the first of two openers, they didn’t have the chance to showcase their full punk-roots noise onslaught. It was still a great set of straightforward crowd-pleasers, but I would have liked to have seen them get really crazy. The band was able to showcase their ability as extremely talented musicians in that brief time. Watching the bassist, Lou Barlow, play his instrument like he is on lead guitar is really something else, and Murph is such a specifically great drummer. J Mascis did his standard, slacker/genius performance on songs like “Feel the Pain,” and “Freak Scene,” and I loved every bit of it. No, they weren’t as loud as I expected, but they still rocked.

Weezer, however was loud! When standing near the front, it felt like my organs were getting rearranged.

The night was full of hits, from all three bands. The Flaming Lips, among other songs, played “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots,” “She Don’t Use Jelly,” “Do You Realize??,” and even a cover of Madonna’s “Borderline.” They had a particularly touching moment when lead singer Wayne Coyne pulled out a piece of paper and read a dedication to a song to a young boy whose mother had died in a car accident. They were only able to get in ten songs as the opener, but they still brought their big stage production with them. They had the large inflatable pink robots and the “Fuck Yeah, Columbus,” balloon they bring to every city. The efficiency of it all was impressive.  

That was another accidental theme of the night. Everything was so good, you wanted more of it all. That’s the only problem with the blue album: it’s just too short. Weezer, of course, made up for that by the first two parts of the show, but I could have just watched them play the blue album a couple of times in a row. It’s just that fun to see it live.