Karl's Corner - 01/20/2010

2010/01/20 Raditude Tour: Tallahassee, FL: FSU Leon Civic Center

Well, all I can say is wow! What a crowd, what a show. Incredible energy tonight at the T-Mobile Moto Cliq Concert. No one quite knew what to expect for tonights show, with the band off of the scene since early December, and Rivers returning to the stage for the first time since the bus accident that 86'ed the December and January tour dates. Not even Rivers knew what to expect. He knew he was still in some pain despite the doctor's green light, and wasnt sure of what his limitations were nor how hard he should push against them.

One thing we were hopeful for was a big stoked crowd, which FSU delivered in spades! The press release said: "FSU’s student body and fan base rallied together to win the T-Mobile Motorola CLIQ Challenge, beating out over 1,000 schools including rivals University of Florida and University of Central Florida. The competition allowed students, faculty, alumni and fans to vote for the four-year school or university of their choice between Nov. 2 and Nov. 30, 2009. Hundreds of thousands logged onto T-Mobile’s Facebook page to build the largest online fan base and the Seminoles emerged victorious."

Because they were the victors, they got all that Weezer could deliver, including the FSU Pep Band playing the Seminole War Chant on stage to segue into the shows opening song, Hash Pipe. From there the fun escalated, with special guests Jermaine Dupri on 'Cant Stop Partying' (fresh from the VIP lounge downstairs where he was the star DJ), and Hayley Williams from Paramore guesting on her fave Weezer track 'Say It Aint So'!. That left "(If you're wondering if I want you to), I want you to" needing a duet partner, so Rivers selected some kids from the front row to help out. It was a bit chaotic, but tons of fun (like the whole night!) Then there was DJ Aoki warming up the crowd, the toilet paper, the fake snow, the beach balls, the hand held spotlights, the high fives with the front row, The Pink Floyd, The Van Halen, The Led Zeppelin (in passing), filming footage for use in the next Weezer music video, and some only lightly scaled down feats of Raditude! Asked later if he felt he had ever pushed things too far for his healing body, Rivers said "yes, many times! But once I got out there and saw the crowd... I couldnt stop." Feats of Raditude, people.

Mtv.com: Weezer's Rivers Cuomo Talks About Returning To The Stage Tonight

...WEEZER: CONTEST OF AWESOME!

Go to http://www.barelydigital.com/weezercontest and submit your nomination for the funniest music video of 2009. The winner will get to cameo in a Weezer video! For real!

(click on any photo for a full size version)