Tonight, I rode “The El” and the Broad Street Line in solitude to get to a new concert venue. The newly renovated Metropolitan Opera House on North Broad Street in Philadelphia. Weezer was who I was on my way to see. It was the third show at The Met. The first two being Bob Dylan and John Legend. Philadelphia is a city with many excellent concert venues. The Tower Theater, The Mann Center, The Franklin Music Hall (Formerly The Electric Factory), The TLA, The Keswick, The Festival Pier, The Fillmore, The Wells Fargo Center, The Stadiums and countless other small venues and clubs sprinkled throughout the city and suburbs. Philadelphia is a rock town and in a way it almost seems cliché taking “The El” and the Broad Street Lines to get to a show for a fun night of Rock and Roll in Philadelphia. But, it was an exceptionally fun night and traveling by rail in Philly is so rad.

Sitting on “The El,” I was getting excited for the show. I knew this was going to be an exceptional night of live Rock and Roll. Weezer has albums filled with great songs. They do outstanding, fun and unexpected covers and pack it all into one solid live show that leaves the crowd feeling sweaty, good, sexy and wanting more. They are smart. They are quirky. They are eclectic. They understand Rock and Roll music and it shows in the Weezer live show. While riding “The El,” I also tripped back to my first Weezer show in 1995 at The Mammoth Events Center in Denver, Colorado. The radio station I worked at, KNRX, 92X was playing four songs off of the blue album, which made it our show. This was one of our legendary 92cent 92x shows. Rivers came by the studio the day of the 92cent show in 1995 to talk to our midday jock at the time and I ended up driving him back to The Mammoth Events Center (now The Fillmore Denver). We didn’t speak much on that ride. We listened to the new Elastica album all the way to The Mammoth Events Center. He hadn’t heard it at that point, so that’s what we did. A few words here and there. That night turned out to be a blast, and the first of at least ten Weezer shows I have seen since in my life.

I strolled off The Broad Street Line at Girard, walked up the stairs to the street and back a block to The Met. I could see the Weezer crowd outside The Met from The Girard Train Station as I was walking up. Ahhhh the smell of Philadelphia. I love it. Good, bad? Doesn’t matter. It’s Philadelphia and Philly is a special city. There’s a special energy about this city that you either tap into or you miss it. My grin grew as I walked up and saw the other Weezer people outside getting ready to walk in and see Weezer. You could feel the energy get stronger as you walk in, which was rather electric. I love when you feel the energy of the people you are at a concert with because it means the band will feed off of our energy and that type of energy transfer will make the show that much better. The people were happy and ready to rock. The outside of the newly renovated Met is gorgeous. Walking in, it had that new venue smell and feel. Yes, like a new car, there was/is a new venue smell. It felt and smelt new. Let me tell you, this place is beautiful.

When I walked in at about 8:15, Mount Joy was on stage and they sounded really nice. The acoustics/sound walking in were very pleasant to the ear. I love the Met. It’s beautiful and every seat is excellent. I walked around and took pictures. Everywhere I was in the venue, Mount Joy sounded really good. I knew this was going to be a really great show. Again, I can’t stress enough the vibe and energy of The Met. I know that Live Nation is not done with their work, but, it really has that old school European vibe as far as opera houses go. Every seat has a great view and everywhere the sound is excellent. I’ve seen an opera in the Old Opera House in Vienna.

So, after Mount Joy left the stage, the Met filled the buzz got louder, the energy built up and then, at about 9:20, the lights went down, the Arnolds intro played and Weezer came out. The place got loud. Beautifully loud. A mixture of excitement from the crowd and the sound of Weezer. They came out guns a blazin’ w/ some Buddy Holly. And, it just didn’t stop. Hash Pipe, Beverly Hills and Feels Like Summer followed. The crowd was in full swing w/ Weezer and boy was everyone having fun. Rivers then, said “Lotsa man buns.” and they went into Undone and My Name Is Jonas, which got a monstrous crowd response. So far, they have just been pounding us with fun song after fun song. So much dancing. A rock and roll concert. After My Name Is Jonas, Rivers spoke to the crowd. “Philadelphia Cream Cheese were his words and the crowd went absolutely bananas. Then he said, “This is a new song,” and the band rolled into Happy Hour. Then Perfect Situation started and the crowd really sang along loudly and clearly. The energy getting stronger and stronger at this point. The crowd is fully into the show by now and the song ends. Huge crowd applause. Rivers pops onto the mic and asks us, “What’s up home children? We’re going to take you back to the 60’s. A time of tumult. A time of change.” They begin playing Happy Together, the legendary Turtles song and my jaw dropped. They nailed it and added Green Day’s Longview to the medley mix of the song, ending it w/ Happy Together. Sounded great. Next song was sung by Brian, Keep Fishin’. And Rivers sneakily made his way to one of the opera balcony rooms up above the crowd while Brian was singing. “We are at A Weezer Show,” and Rivers sang Island In the Sun acoustic solo. It was beautiful.

Then, to mindfuck the crowd, Rivers did an acoustic solo cover of Take On Me by A-Ha. Another stunner. Then, the band rolled into Burndt Jamb which had a bunch of music including some Teen Spirit riffs and other songs. A fun little break to recoup and get ready to dance some more. El Scorcho, The Good Life and Pork & Beans were the next three songs and the energy never dipped. Not once. Stayed high the entire show. Weezer’s cover of Toto’s Africa was the final song before the encore. “Thank you children,” were Rivers words as they walked off stage. A short break and they were back for the encore w/ their version of We Wish You A Merry Christmas. “Should we do it again?” Rivers asked us. We screamed yes on a Philly dare, and they obliged w/ Rivers telling us, “It was way better that time.” Pink triangle immediately followed w/ River’s final words. “Thank you. Goodnight. Philly Rocks.” We went bananas again and Weezer rolled into Say It Ain’t So and Paranoid, their Black Sabbath cover. And, then, they were gone, the lights were up and we were standing there wanting more. Much more. What an outstanding evening of live music. Philly Rocks!