Weezer front man makes full recovery, comes back to stage at Florida State University

By Meagan Happel

Early morning December 6, 2009 is a day many Weezer fans won’t soon forget.

A bus crash landed singer/guitarist Rivers Cuomo in the hospital with internal injuries, cracked ribs and a leg injury thus canceling the remaining dates of their tour.

An online contest, The Motorola Cliq Challenge, was being held before the accident to get the band to play at a university, and my alma mater Florida State won by a landslide. We were worried that we wouldn’t get the show because of the crash, but after getting “cautionary clean bill of health” as stated on their MySpace page, they did manage to come to Tallahassee on January 20 and give an amazing performance.

The show started with T-Moble listing winners of a new phone and presenting a check for $10,208 to the school’s student body president, which was followed by The Marching Chiefs taking the stage. The concert was hit after hit, playing all of their best known songs and throwing in a few covers (“Time” by Pink Floyd and “Kids” by MGMT) and a few new songs from their album including their next single.

My friends and I managed to get floor access to the show, which was great except for when we had crowd surfers almost fall on us countless times. Rivers was in high spirits and running all over the stage. He even said how great he was feeling because of the energy in the room from the packed Civic Center. He told us about his injuries but made it very clear that he was ready to be back on stage. We also got some really cool surprises, including Hayley Williams of Paramore singing on “Say It Ain’t So” and Jermaine Dupri on the song they collaborated on, “Can’t Stop Partying.” There were even VIP passes that were won by signing up in the Union during Market Wednesday.

The ending of the show was by far the best part, for me at least. They finished with my favorite Weezer song, “Buddy Holly” and broke out into a drum solo to which the entire audience started the Warchant. (The thing we “sing” when we do “The Chop.”) We must have broken out into the Warchant at least 3 or 4 times during the concert, usually prompted by a guitar solo between songs or something similar. It really was an incredible night and an amazing show for Rivers Cuomo to get back out on stage for.

For full updates from the show, check my twitter: www.twitter.com/musicalninja