Weezer, Flaming Lips, Dinosaur Jr. Blasted Houston Back To The ’90s Last Night

Before Weezer came out onstage Saturday night they were already getting the crowd at the Toyota Center excited by playing a few loud guitar licks behind the curtains. Or was that one of their guitar techs?

Regardless of who that was, the fans really got loud when a short video intro was played of a faux TV news journalist interviewing the band as astronauts about to go on a space mission; a “Journey to the Blue Planet” to be exact.

After the interview, a five minute countdown clock began ticking for the blast off of a spaceship prop onstage. When the countdown ended the spaceship lifted off revealing the band underneath as sparks of fire trailed down toward the stage.

Weezer came out in matching astronaut outfits and launched into the song “Anonymous” from their 2014 album Everything Will Be Alright in the End. Behind the band on a giant LED screen a video showing the view outside of the spaceship began, it was a view of what it would be like to look out the window of the spaceship as it was leaving earth’s atmosphere and on up into space.

The crowd, not unexpectedly, really got loud and sang along with Weezer’s popular songs “Hash Pipe,” “Island in the Sun” and “Beverly Hills.” They changed some of the lyrics on to name drop Houston and some of the sights and places in town.

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Rivers Cuomo led his band through the “Pinkerton Asteroid Belt,” performing four songs from the band’s 1996 sophomore album Pinkerton, which was critically panned upon its initial release but in recent years has been reassessed and has achieved new acclaim.

After that came the part of the concert everyone was most anticipating; Weezer performed their debut and best album, 1994’s Weezer (Blue Album) in its entirety.

Cuomo wore a yellow shirt similar to Captain Kirk’s from the original Star Trek TV show, with the Starfleet Federation insignia replaced with a Weezer logo; Cuomo announced to the crowd that the Earth had turned gray so they had to play the entire Blue Album to bring the planet back to life.

The crowd erupted at this announcement as Weezer played the opening song from the album, My Name Is Jonas, and blue confetti dropped onto the crowd in front of the stage. As it was, the vast majority of people stood during the entire Weezer concert.

The people in attendance loved singing along loudly to the whole Blue Album part of the show, especially during Weezer’s biggest hit song ever, “Buddy Holly.”

After the last song of the night, “Only in Dreams” was played, Cuomo told the crowd, “I can’t believe it’s been 30 years, thanks for sticking with us.”

Then a nice purple strobe light started throbbing and more blue confetti filled the arena as Cuomo held his guitar up over his head from the bottom with one hand, then put it down and gave the crowd the band’s famous W hand gesture before raising and shaking both of his fists up in the air in a moment of triumph; Weezer the band then gathered together and took a bow for the audience.

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips has amazing stage presence and hair.

Photo by Jennifer Lake

Wayne Coyne, lead singer and primary songwriter of the opening act Flaming Lips came out and started shining a light on people in the audience while screaming like professional wrestler Ric Flair before the band even started playing.

The band played a very laidback opening song, while bright red and pink lights onstage flashed along with beautiful green lasers; it was a Pink Floyd meets Neil Young kind of vibe.

Coyne wore a great looking black suit and along with his thick mop of graying hair he kind of looked like Beatlejuice under the lights for a bit, he also acted at times as both a cheerleader and televangelist.

He instructed the crowd on when and how loud to cheer and gave a history lesson about every single venue in Houston Flaming Lips ever played,

The band had many stage props to go along with their music, like giant inflatable pink robots during “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1.”

They also had huge balloon letters that spelled out, “Fuck Yeah Houston” on them that Coyne threw into the crowd which they played with like beach balls, bouncing them around during the remainder of the band’s set.

When Flaming Lips played their breakthrough semi-hit song “She Don’t Use Jelly,” Coyne wore a green robe with Wonder Woman’s body on it.

Dinosaur Jr. bassist Lou Barlow is yet another guy with great hair and great talent.

Photo by Jennifer Lake

The other opening act, Dinosaur Jr., may have been the heaviest and hardest rocking band of the night, emerging onstage with ripping, squealing guitar work vibrating through the crowd as many people were still finding their way to their seats carrying their food and beverage purchases.

The proto-grunge band played their biggest hit single, “Feel the Pain,” from 1994’s Without a Sound album, which got a fair amount of radio airplay back then as well as MTV exposure.

Drummer Emmett Jefferson Murphy III, professionally credited as both Patrick Murphy and Murph, was  very hard hitting along with J Mascis on vocals and guitar and Lou Barlow on bass..

Sounding better and heavier live than on their records, Dinosaur Jr. performed an impressive cover of The Cure’s “Just like Heaven.”