Earlier this month Mrs The Fyd and I witnessed Weezer bringing the rock music. I write now not to praise Weezer, although they were most definitely praiseworthy that evening. I write to mock the second opening band, Angels & Airwaves. We arrived after the first opening act was finished, so I cannot legitimately mock them, but I won’t believe they could have been as bad as A&A. Music like a bad Simple Minds tribute band, stage show like a third-rate Vegas spectacular, lead singer moving like a retarded mime. It’s unkind to criticise anyone daring to show their creative side in public, but they were that crappy. Mrs and I could not understand how they were teamed up with the Weez.

Speaking of crappy, I remember that after the previous time we saw Weezer, when they co-headlined with the Foo Fighters, the local paper’s next-day review was down on =w= and high on FF. De gustibus and all that; on that night of the tour Weezer played first and we left before FF started, them being a band I had no interest in and I wouldn’t carp on anyone for having reciprocal taste. In my case I doubt I would recognize any of their songs so I can’t judge them. The problem with that particular reviewer however was that it was exactly unfamiliarity with Weezer that seemed behind his dissing of their performance. In particular he singled out instances in each act’s set where the singer traded places with the drummer. In comparison he had Dave Grohl being far more impressive than Rivers Cuomo. Fair enough, but the point was not for Cuomo to show off this drum skillz; it was for Pat Wilson to show off his guitar playing. And he is an excellent guitar player.

Which brings us back to A&A. Mrs and I wondered who chose them for the tour. Were they pushed on the band by management or their label? Now I know who was behind that decision; I just discovered that the drummer for A&A is Atom Willard, who of course is pals with Pat Wilson and played in his band, the Special Goodness. Who I saw play at Dante’s back in the day, and about whom I would never have guessed that such a talented drummer would end up in such a crappy band. At least when he was with the Offspring he wasn’t embarrassing himself. Some of the time.