The Good Life

Perhaps in anticipation of tonight's concert, I woke up Friday morning from a dream where I encountered friends from 20 years ago. It left me bemused the entire day.

At Lee's Palace, all-female Weezer cover band Sheezer was putting on a special show. They do have the odd concert during the year, but Sheezer is primarily known for their annual Halloween appearance. But this May was the 20th anniversary of Weezer's first release (The Blue Album). Given that Sheezer only plays Blue and Pinkerton, they obviously had to organize a special Spring Fling this month.

First up was Wax Atlantic, who played a psychedelic folk-pop best exemplified when the 4-part male harmony came to the forefront. The lead singer's voice with its plaintive upper register was ideal for their dreamy, slightly stoned, arrangements. Oddly, So Young made me think of feminist Weezer. On songs like Bad Kids, they too chronicled the same sort of slacker disengagement. But singer Paterson Hodgson also tackled topics like sexism (with a dismissive "boys and their guitars") and date rape ("it don't matter if they don't make a fuss").

Instead of elaborate costumes like their Halloween gig, the women of Sheezer came out tonight dressed either all in black or wore bold print sheath dresses. It only took a minor encouragement from Laura Barrett for the packed crowd to start a friendly mosh pit. They came for the classics and they got every song from Blue and most of Pinkerton (except for Across The Sea, Pink Triangle, and Butterfly). These weak exceptions were replaced with better B-sides (Susanne) and newer material (Hash Pipe), even if they were in Laura's words: "outside of Sheezer's mandate". But only a few Weezer purists refused to sing or dance for these tunes. Everyone found several favourites to sing, dance, and even engage in some (worryingly accurate) air-guitar.

Sheezer was in excellent form tonight. Dana Snell and Laura Barrett were, as usual, dynamic on drums and bass. Alysha Haugen, who could be a bit rushed on a few solos at previous gigs, was effortless and light. Robin Hatch, in addition to her keyboard/harmonica, has taken over quite admirably the guitar duties of departed member Megali Meagher. It was in fact Robin's birthday and she was treated to both a "Happy Birthday" serenade and a dedication from Dana on The World Has Turned And Left Me Here. During the encore, they played their finest rendition of Only In Dreams to date. By the time the harmonized guitar riffs were joined by Dana's furious drums and cymbals, arms were raised, fists were pumped, and heads were banged.