Line-up

Venue

Utilita Arena Birmingham

King Edward's Road, B1 2AA, Birmingham, UK

www.arenabham.co.uk/

Capacity: 15,800

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Additional details

Doors open: 18:00

Concert in your area for Rock and Indie & Alt.

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Weezer biography

Weezer is an American alternative rock, power pop band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1992. The band has released nine albums and sold over 10 million albums in the US.

Formed of members Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Brian Bell, and Scott Shriner, Weezer have been heavy weights on the alternative scene since day one, with their style being described as everything from emo to power pop.

Every album Weezer has released since 1994 has placed in the top 20 of the US album charts, with the majority of Weezer’s albums charting somewhere in the top 10. Three of Weezer’s nine studio albums have been self-titled and are respectively known as the “Blue Album”, the “Red Album” and “The Green Album”.

Despite the band’s popularity and the generally good reviews each of their albums have received, the only Weezer single to have made it into the top ten of the US singles chart was the 2005 single “Beverley Hills”. Nonetheless, Weezer has a strong following cultivated by their extensive touring over the years.

Weezer’s second album “Pinkerton” has achieved somewhat of a cult status among fans, and is considered to be a collection of the band’s greatest and most influential work. Indeed, multiple bands including The Fall of Troy and Real Estate list Weezer as being a vital influence to their work. The band themselves attribute a lot of their creative inspiration to Kiss, Oasis, Nirvana and The Beach Boys.

Weezer has been recognized for their work since their earliest days with one of their debut singles. “Buddy Holly”, winning the band an MTV Video Music Award. The band’s 2008 single “Pork and Beans” also won the band a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.

Weezer’s creativity and work ethic have certainly paid dividends so far in their musical journey, and, will continue to do so, I’m certain, for many years to come.

Taking Back Sunday biography

Taking Back Sunday (formed in 1999) is an American post-hardcore and alternative rock band from Amityville, New York, in the U.S.

Prior to forming Taking Back Sunday, rhythm guitarist Eddie Reyes played in a number of seminal post-hardcore bands including Mind Over Matter and the Movielife. With the band recording their debut self-titled EP, original bass player Jesse Lacey left the group to form Brand New. Guitarist John Nolan invited his North Carolinian friend Adam Lazzara to play bass, but he ended up on lead vocals and Shaun Cooper came in on bass. After the release of their EP Taking Back Sunday began to tour relentlessly alongside the likes of Brand New and The Reunion Show, which would set the scene for their future touring endeavours.

The band’s full-length debut arrived in 2002 with the tongue-in-cheek and highly transparent name “Tell All Your Friends” released through Victory Records. It was the band’s first taste of commercial and critical success aided by the singles “Cute Without the ‘E’ (Cut from the Team)”, “Great Romances of the 20th Century” and “You’re So Last Summer”.

Following the departure of John Nolan and Shaun Cooper in 2003, replaced by Fred Mascherino and Matt Rubano, Taking Back Sunday opened for Blink-182 and appeared on the 2004 Vans Warped Tour. Soon after came the band’s sophomore release “Where You Want To Be” on July 27, 2004. The album debuted at No.3 on the Billboard 200 and following high-profile appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the Spider-Man 2 soundtracks, cemented the band as a forerunner among melodic hardcore and commercial emo bands. The release was followed again by an extensive and exhaustive tour schedule including stops on the Warped Tour and several North American festivals.

Taking Back Sunday made their major label debut in 2006 with their third full-length “Louder Now” which attempted to capture some of the energy of their distinctive live show. Released through Warner Bros. the album was led by the single “What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?” and resulted in appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

In 2007 Fred Mascherino left the group to focus on his solo album with The Color Fred, citing many the band’s problems regarding writing songs. Taking Back Sunday has subsequently release the albums “New Again” in 2009, “Taking Back Sunday” in 2011 and “Happiness Is” in 2014, along with an EP entitled “Faith (When I Let You Down)” in 2011. Since 2011 the original Taking Back Sunday line-up has returned, playing both on subsequent releases and at live shows.

Live reviews

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.

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Emo stalwarts Taking Back Sunday are titans of the live circuit. Hailing from Long Island, NYC, the five-piece rockers built a veritable platoon of fans through the energy, dedication and enthusiasm of Adam Lazzara & Co. – and that's a facet of the band, fifteen years deep into their career, that isn't showing any cracks, or any signs of waning in the slightest.
Peppered with bona fide tunes like “Cute Without The E (Cut From The Team)”, “Great Romances Of The 20th Century”, “MakeDamnSure”, “A Decade Under The Influence” and “Timberwolves At New Jersey”, their sets are eclectic masterclasses in pop-punk and emo-rock. Sodden with emotion – obviously a steadfast hallmark – they bound and leap and gallop and screech across the stage, with Lazzara whipping his mic (he famously knocked out their former guitarist a few years ago), and jumping into the crowd with vigour. They're surprisingly down-to-earth fellas, which, for a band renowned for being white-hot sex symbols, is a commodity indeed. If you're looking for a frenetic, sweat-inducing two hours of shoutalong entertainment, Taking Back Sunday will deliver on all fronts. These aren't shows for sitting at the back or standing and doing the awkward head-bob foot shuffle combo.

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