Weezer, The Shins, and Silversun Pickups

I have seen Weezer play live 10 times and I am seeing them for the eleventh time this week. I went on both Weezer Cruises.

Weezer is one of the tightest live bands I have ever seen. They deliver an outstanding show every single time. I can not get enough and I go see them every chance I get. I believe they are one of the greatest rock bands of our time. Weezer features incredible guitar hooks, catchy lyrics and musicianship. Anyone in the band could swap instruments and they all have their own bands, as well.

Weezer's live performances have evolved with time. The biggest change from the first time I saw them in 1997 to current shows is the bassist. Original bassist Matt Sharp left the band in 1998 and was replaced by Mikey Welsh, who was then replaced by Scott Shriner in 2001. Matt is known for his work with the heavily-Moog band, The Rentals.

Scott is an incredible bassist, whose influence on recordings after the Green Album is significant. Scott also sings lead vocals at most shows. He often sings Dope Nose and on the second cruise, to everyone's delight, he sang King.

In the early days, Weezer's frontman Rivers Cuomo allowed Matt to do most of the speaking in between songs and was quite nervous on stage. Now, Rivers is much more comfortable on stage and is lively. He quite often comes into the audience with a wireless microphone and sings a song. On the first Weezer cruise, he climbed up the dry waterslide on the deck of the ship while singing Photograph.

On the current tour, the drummer Patrick Wilson is featured on lead guitar and Rivers plays drums. On the current tour, Pat sang two songs at the Myrtle Beach show, including a cover of Blur's Song 2. Brian Bell plays guitar and sings mostly backup vocals, but he often sings lead vocals on a song, too.

At almost every show, Weezer plays their hits and throws in at least one b-side, rare track and/or a cover song. This year, they are working on a new album and often include the new song, Back to the Shack. I encourage you to search Youtube for live Weezer from different time frames and get tickets to a show this year.

Over the years since their remarkable 2001 debut album, The Shins have undergone numerous personnel changes. That's OK though, as long as lead singer and songwriter James Mercer is still running the show.

While time and age have perhaps supplanted the group's original wide-eyed naivete, that's been more than adequately replaced at live shows by an expanded 7-piece lineup. The current incarnation of The Shins can not only tear through old fan favorites like “Caring Is Creepy” and “So Says I”, but also shows off layers of development on the new material Mercer has penned.

In fact, the most surprising thing for longtime fans seeing the group for the first time in a while is how muscular and filled out The Shins sound is in a live setting now. Whereas Mercer might have occasionally been something of a quiet frontman, his confidence in himself and his ace band of veteran indie rockers has him revealing a much more showman-like style on stage.

Don't worry about the current lineup overdoing things, either. When the time comes to treat a classic song like “New Slang” with the delicacy it requires, for all their newfound power, the group handles that song with great finesse.

There are few touring rock bands able to deliver as varied a trip through indie styles as The Shins, something that makes them a concert worth seeking out.

I will never miss a chance to see Silversun Pickups live!! Not just because I have a major crush on their singer, Brian Aubert, but because they just rock out on stage!! Nikki, their bassist, looked elegant as always. She always seems to wear such a stylish dress but I love how she's always jumping around on stage while still maintaining that girlish charm. Their drummer, Chris, has shiny, long black hair that thrashes around as he smashes on his drum set. Joe, their keyboardist, just looks like a laid back guy with his plaid shirt and his fancy fedora. Brian exudes the indie rocker look with his skinny jeans, boots, and leather jacket. His hair swoops across to the right side of his face, until mid set where it's dripping off sweat. He never stays on one area of the stage for long, unless he is on the mic. His vocals range from soft and a bit raspy to him bellowing his heart out. A good example of this would be their song "Lazy Eye," which is their song I first fell in love with. Brian has a bit of a feminine quality to his voice but that's just one of the things that really drew me to them! "Panic Switch" was the song that got the audience really going! It's intense and just gets you moving along with them on stage! Nikki's backup vocals is so beautifully haunting in it! I get chills just thinking about it now! Not only are they fantastic musicians, but they are so much fun to hang out with after their show! Nikki was super nice, Joe is as laid back as he seems on stage, Chris was a pleasure to talk to, and getting to spend time with Brian was the highlight of it all!! He saw my purse that said "I <3 NERDS" and said to me "I'm a nerd." So we had a long talk about his time at Harry Potter world and we sang songs from the movie Labyrinth together! It was just a few days prior to my birthday and nothing will top this birthday experience for me! Not to mention it's the second time he gave me a kiss on the cheek for my birthday!