Weezer: 7 January 11 – Chicago

Rarely will a band take its fans on a historical rendezvous, most opting to tour with a focus on their most-recently released material. Weezer often defy expectations, as they recently have with their recent Memories tour through a select number of cities, including sold-out stops at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom. The premise of the tour is that over a course of two days, the band performs their debut The Blue Album, as well as the revered Pinkerton in their entirety.

The band kicked off the show with the aptly-selected “Memories” off their latest album, Hurley, and continued to take the audience along a non-chronological sampling of some of their greatest hits over the years, including “Beverly Hills”, “Hash Pipe”, and “Falling For You”. Following this run of hits was a fairly lengthy intermission that included a charming set of Weezer covers by School of Rock kids.

Finally after an extensive break the band returned for their encore, the full performance of The Blue Album. Rivers came out sans-glasses and sporting a blue t-shirt with khakis, matching his appearance from the album’s cover. It was also apparent that Rivers was not as animated as earlier in the night, opting to remain in front of the microphone for most of the songs, a bit of a change from the night’s earlier stage antics that he’s known for.

As unique as it was, the Memories tour was certainly a welcome treat for fans, providing a way to experience what many consider to be the golden age of Weezer.