47 / 48 / 49/ 50 -- Jet / The Bravery / Blink 182 / Weezer – The Virgin Mobile Freefest – Sun, Aug 30, 2009 – Merriweather Post Pavilion – Columbia MD

INTRO

It was advertised a “free fest” – a day-long free concert with better bands at a better venue than last year’s Pimlico Race Track event. If it had actually been possible to get through on Ticketmaster.com at 10am Saturday morning, quite a crowd would have gone to the show: Mike Vance, Andrew Schmadel, Meagan O’Neill, James Porter, Ryan Smith, Kyle West, Taylor Howard, Dahniel-Ross Thompson, etc. As it worked out, though, Magic Mike Erickson was the only person (in all of Virginia?) able to get through and snag a free ticket.

Fortunately, Jim Dunleavey, Matt Decarlo, and Chuck Abbott were willing to pay for online scalper tickets, so I was still able to have some friends at the show.

JET

I had not prepared for Jet because I intended to be at the Hold Steady show for most of the performance. I never made it the Hold Steady, though, because the only available parking space was at Howard Community College, which was half the distance to Guam. This turned out not being that bad, however, because apparently the Hold Steady’s frontman, Craig Finn, was not much of a singer, and Jet’s frontman, Nic Cester, definitely was. I had also heard a number of Jet songs before without knowing they were actually ‘Jet songs.’ I was intrigued enough by the performance that next time I see they’re coming to the 9:30 Club, I’ll download their stuff and check them out.

Grade: B

THE BRAVERY

Most of what I just said about Jet applies to the Bravery: barely knew them, but was intrigued enough by them that I will prep and attend one of their shows next time they come to DC. In general, when I go, I hope to hear more electronic flourishes and Killer(s) hooks. More specifically, I want to re-hear “Time Won’t Let Me Go,” a song they wrote about The Outsiders, my favorite middle school novel. Any song that has a Cherry Valance reference, I’m there…

Grade: B

BLINK 182

Blink was a bit disappointing. One of my former students, who I later found out had attended the show, said this was because the lead singers, Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus, couldn’t sing. I had not noticed a big dropoff from the vocals on the album. What I did notice was the fifty mindless curses disguised as edginess or humor. In certain cases, profanity can be artistically useful: the few choice words in "Lose Yourself" come at just the right moments, adding further drive and urgency to the song. The many choice words in Carrie-Anne Moss' speech in Memento come like a relentless attack, adding further shock and anger as we realize that she is such a...not nice person.

With Blink on stage, though, they just seemed to dump out as many F words and sex jokes as they could -- as if by the 55th one the audience would finally think, "NOW I get it -- they are so punk." Sorry, Mark and Tom, 'punk' is about being rebellious and clever, not repetitive and lame.

Off-putting as their shtick could be, the actual performance was strong. Delonge had a few nice guitar riffs, Hoppus had some good bass lines, and drummer Travis Barker was able to show off more than just his $30,000 tattoos. And in the end, the best thing Blink had going for them were there actual songs – perhaps the best non-Green-Day pop-punk catalog ever. “Fell in love with the girl at the rock show / She said ‘What?’ and I told her that I didn’t know / She’s so cool…”

Grade: B

WEEZER

They played “The Good Life”!!! Acoustically, lyrically, it is my all-time favorite Weezer song. They’re so reluctant to play anything off Pinkerton, though, and this was one of the album’s more obscure tracks…yet they played it! I was on cloud nine.

Other things I liked about the show: (1) Rivers’ amusing attempt at push ups during “Pork and Beans” (2) The amusing scent that still filtered through the crowd during “Hash Pipe” (3) How catchy their new single, “I Want You To,” was in concert (4) How loud everyone could bellow “Say It Ain’t So” (4) The fact that Rivers abandoned the awful hat/mustache, returning to the classic NYU glasses (5) The fact that they didn’t end on “Buddy Holly.” They did a solid version of “Buddy Holly,” jumping on and off a trampoline between beats (!), but made it the second-to-last song. By ending on a “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” cover, they kept it interesting – they avoided going stale.

Now all they need to do is have a straight Pinkerton show, and my life will be complete…

Grade: A-