Weezerpalooza

Recently, the Dundas Street Fest has joined the plethora of street festivals in Toronto. They all start big and then shrink after a few years. But this one was still on the upswing. This year, local bar/venue The Garrison wrangled a long line-up of local artists to play its outdoor stage. The "headliner" for Saturday was the all-girl Weezer cover band Sheezer. Since I was heading there from another event, I knew I was going to miss their 8:30 pm set. But they haven't started when I arrived at 8:50. Irritating when you're already there, but thank goodness for late start times when you're rushing.

This set had a couple of firsts for Sheezer. As bassist Laura Barrett pointed out, it was their first outdoor show. So there was almost a festival vibe to it. It was also their first all-ages. And judging from the crowd sing-a-longs, young teenagers knew Weezer lyrics as well as bearded hipsters. One lad was so excited he not only fell down dancing during one number, he pretty much lost his voice by the end. An older Chinese woman, impressed by the "hard-rocking chicks", came on stage to present them with flowers. Finally, it was quite a a large and engaged crowd for a free street show and kept growing through the set. By the end, they were flushed against the stage and dancing enthusiastically.