Arena rock lives on

Lasers, but sadly no pyro
I'm still recovering this morning (er, afternoon?) from the Foo Fighters/Weezer show last night at Pepsi Center. It rocked hard — that melt-your-face-off kind of hard. And it was loud. Very loud. I know now that I'm getting old because I wish I'd brought some earplugs. Though it was kinda billed as a co-headlined tour, it really in the end seemed like a Foo Fighters show. I personally felt a fleeting disappointment for Weezer, but Rivers, et al., didn't seem to mind whatsoever.

The show started out with the Kaiser Chiefs. They were fun. I haven't been able to get into their music too much before last night, but they were working hard up there. Especially the front man, whoever he is — running around, jumping off shit. Pretty great. Definitely good enough that I'm giving them another listen right now.

Then Weezer came on after a stage change. Unlike probably most of the fans there that night, I was equally excited for them and the Foo. I'd seen Weezer once before in Indy with Dashboard Confessional and some other forgettable band, and frankly I was a little unerwhelmeed then. That set was pretty good, but way short and thus disappointing (despite the flames shooting from the tips of the giant "W" on stage — more on that later). Last night, however, was really great and meaty — like an hour and a half long, I think. Weezer seemed much more "on" and high-energy (did I mention loud before?) than the last time I saw them. And they must have played like eight songs from the blue album, which was definitely big fun. Also fun was a surprise acoustic solo version of "Island in the Sun" played by Rivers from the sound board area on the floor, only about 20 yard or so from our seats on the railing directly across the long end of the arena from the main stage.

Adam was all about predictions last night, and Weezer opening with "My Name is Jonas" was one he got right. He tried to get me to go over/under on how many Pinkerton songs they'd play (he said two, which is how many they did, so I guess it was a push). And, on the way down to Denver, he was so psyched for a "big rock show," complete with pyrotechnics. The closest we came to that was confetti canons at the end of the Weezer set — which is no replacement for a flaming "W" — but everything else about the night was definitely big rock show.

I can't imagine how Dave Grohl doesn't shred his vocal cords every night — I shredded mine just trying to keep up with him, but I guess that's why he's the rock star and I'm not. He screamed his head off and hammered on his guitar for a straight hour plus set of one of the hardest shows I've ever seen. It was fantastic. And it had lasers. And big video boards. And all the complicated light cues you could handle. At one point, Dave even talked about that, asking the crowd who had seen them at the Fillmore the last time they were there, and saying that he was really getting to like this "arena rock shit." He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself. They played a lot from their new album, which I like but don't love. There were plenty of the old favorites too, though. And, I was very psyched to see Dave behind the drums after trading places with a blond, shaggy-headed Taylor Hawkins for "Cold Day in the Sun". If I squinted, I could just imagine for a second what it must have been like. Except back then, I wouldn't have complained about how loud it was.

Your little hoodrat friend
I guess this post is all about music, so staying on topic, I've gotta mention The Hold Steady. I've been listening to them non-stop (mostly Separation Sunday) for the last week or two, and recently heard that they will be playing a special concert for a class of freshmen at Littleton High School:

One of the Freshman Academy instructors, Thom Uhl, heard about the Hold Steady on NPR's All Things Considered, and thought that the band's music and message would fit right in on Mental Health Mondays, a segment of the program directed at tackling various teen and social issues. Uhl contacted the Hold Steady and, well, the rest is history...or upcoming...or something!

The class is currently studying the band's music and using the lyrics to fuel class discussion. In preparation for the big day, the kids are participating in an invitation-design contest, constructing a Hold Steady Advent calendar and...wait for it...staging a Hold Steady look-alike contest.

Check out the whole story here. Oh, and how damn cool is that? Maybe someday.

Misc.
As predicted, this has been tough to keep up with. What, a month between posts? I feel like a blogging failure, though since I'm comparing myself to Kenney, maybe that's unfair. Anyway, at the request of Michelle, I'm going to try and redouble my efforts to post more often and less boringly. I'm not yet sure which request is more challenging, but I'll soon find out.