ten: destroy my sweater

I had forgotten about this half-parenthetically-titled song. the video is embedded underneath all this concert-reminiscing--go listen.

it took me til the second verse to remember this song. it sounded different played live, with all the crowd-noise and amplification layered around, and I almost didn't recognize it at all. it is sadly not among the many Weezer tracks I've collected over the years, but it is among the Weezer tracks that I very much like. I remember it on the radio in my car and the wind through the window and my voice trying to match the song's pleading.

I'm putting this song on the list of songs I would totally not mind having any musically inclined and handsome men sing to me as we smile at at each other. (this song is also on that list, though I know the fact that Mr. Freddie Mercury was not exactly the straightest of fellows might make it a slightly odd candidate.)

so. random Weezer concert? why not? it was free. it was a Friday. why not? (I'm choosing to ignore the fact that it was sponsored in connection with a ridiculous college sports organization. let's not talk about that part.)

what we saw of the concert was cool. we left campus last week at around half past three and drove straight to the city. we parked at the Indianpolis Zoo. we walked through what was left of the drizzle to the state park where Weezer would be sandwiched between a band called Cold War Kids and another band called Imagine Dragons. we wandered past tents and booths giving out ad-bedecked swag and selling beer. we found a place to stand on the muddy, trampled grass, and we waited. the ground was sogged and cold. the little toes on my right foot started to numb a little before long.

I had almost no hope of seeing the actual stage from the middle of the crowd, but every so often the sea of shoulders and heads did align just right and I glimpsed the band members up there, rocking out on their bestickered electric guitars. on stage they looked so small compared to their images on the screens behind and beside them. their real faces looked paler. their bodies like toys, almost.

every song sent a slightly different pattern of deep, deep thrumming into my knees and torso and heart. there was plenty of shoving and being shoved. there was plenty of variously flavored smoke. ah, live concerts. the are perhaps not one hundred percent my thing... but they are so unique it's easy to enjoy them anyway. friend Mitch who also tagged along confessed to us afterwards that he's not a huge fan of Weezer anyway, he just loves people-watching at concerts.

and why not?

I had forgotten about this song. before looking it up today, I hadn't seen the music video before. (music videos are a very strange genre. this one is no exception.)


a note: Mr. Lead Singer Rivers Cuomo doesn't look like that anymore.

he looks like this.