Weezer's LA Hootenanny
Monday Weezer taped their Nissan Live Set for Yahoo and LAist was there. The Weezer Hootenanny performance included "Pork and Beans", "Say It Ain't So", "El Scorcho", "Island In The Sun", "Automatic", Radiohead's "Creep", and "Beverly Hills". More than 200 fans played along on guitars, horns, accordions, and percussion. Everyone clapped, stomped, sang, and had an amazing time being 'in' Weezer.
As we entered the Nissan Live Sets set at Fox, we watched the band set up with the crew. Rivers Cuomo was easy to spot in his hiked up knee-high athletic socks with brown suede kicks, long shorts, red Weezer shirt, navy Weezer wind-breaker, Weezer Trucker hat, and a Magnum P.I. style mustache. (Story continued below photo gallery)
Each member of the band had a small platform on the audience floor, so that the fan/musicians could sit around them. Usually for these tapings the band plays on the specially designed stage. It was clear that this new format was a challenge foe the production staff. After some more set up, the fan/musicians were brought in with guitars placed on the floor around Rivers Cuomo, more guitars and an accordion near Brian Bell, percussion and horn section around drummer Pat Wilson, and more assorted instruments near Scott Shriner.
They opened the show with a few notes about playing "Pork and Beans". Several times the guitar players were asked if they had tuned down a half-step. The song was remarkably in tune for such a large group. Next up Scott Shriner led the giant group in a version of Radiohead's "Creep". Between songs the fans often launched into songs not in their play-list songbook, like "Jamie" and "Troublemaker". The hootenanny ended with a rousing rendition of "Beverly Hills". You got the feeling that everyone would have been happy to stay and play for hours.
It was easy to see that the for many fans the chance to play with their favorite band was a life changing experience. The performance was taped for Yahoo Music and will go live in a few weeks.
In the meantime enjoy Brian Bell and Tay Zonday's version of "Pork and Beans".