Oh Sunday, June 11th, I had the pleasure of being able to head out to Azura Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, KS to see a couple of bands that I had been a fan of for a long while, but never had the chance to see, let alone photograph, live in concert before; Weezer and Modest Mouse.

It was a day where the forecast called for a lot of rain, but cooler temps for what we were used to in June, so I packed my camera bag, ready for anything that Mother Nature could or would throw at me; including several plastic bags (for my camera to help protect it from the rain if needed and possibly my wet clothing) as well as a poncho, which I received the night before while covering country super star Luke Combs for The Pitch. But the favor was with us as the weather was almost perfect for the show.

Modest Mouse was what I pretty much expected, with the band coming on second in the three band line up. The lighting show was minimal until the sun started to go down, but then by the time that the sun was already low enough for the lights to come on, the band’s set was almost over. They sounded good through, just as good as they had on the radio back when “Float On” came out, as well as on their CDs. The band’s energy wasn’t where I thought it might be for someone who had at least two mainstays on the radio for as long as they were. However, when you are expecting rain and more things throughout the day and none of it happens, to the point where Isaac Brock, the lead singer of Modest Mouse proclaimed when he came out on stage that "I was told the sun was out, but I didn’t believe it”.

The band played a quick 12 song set that seemed like the band wanted more, but couldn’t decide which songs that they would include if they did.

Yet, next was Weezer’s turn on stage. I had several friends who were in attendance for this show and they all asked me if Weezer were going to play their 2019 cover of Toto’s “Africa”. The set list that I had did not show that they were, but surprisingly used the song as their intro music, just before they walked out on stage. I thought that this was such an odd choice, since they didn’t really change anything from the 1982 smash hit song when they rerecorded it (without talking to Toto before hand, with the talks post recording between Rivers Cuomo and Toto ending in a horrible mess). Never as soon as the crowd’s singing of the song died and turned into cheers as the band took the stage and opened their set with “My Name is Jonas” (which is the opening song off of their Self titled/Blue album from 1994) and the night went on without a hitch. Well, kind of.

Rivers, either trying to be funny or really not knowing where he was, kept shouting out the name “Wichita” throughout the evening. Wichita is the largest city in the State of Kansas…but is located about two to two and a half hours Southwest of the Metro on Interstate Highway 35. The show was in Bonner Springs, KS. The story went, as for what Rivers said, that their best producer is from Wichita, so the city meant a little something more to them, knowing that that is where she is from. However…I would suggest that one knows which city they are playing in. I understand the confusion between Kansas City Kansas and Kansas City Missouri for some people, especially those who are from out of town or out of country, but to keep calling out a city that is so far away as if you are playing there, got a few chuckles and more scratching heads and moans out of the crowd. But all was forgiven and forgotten as the band played on…until he said it again, and over and over and over…

But the band that I really want to talk about about here was the opener. This is a newer band that I had only become familiar with early this year, when I covered the Death Cab for Cutie show at the Midland Theater in KCMO. This four piece band called Momma opened for both shows. The first time I saw them, I thought they were good, but had some small things that they needed to work on. But I was excited to see what would happen with them within the next year or so. However, it only took about five months waiting to see them again and their polished and refined act, that simply blew me away. Another friend of mine, who was at both shows, even stopped me midway through their set (I was done photographing the band by this point) to verify that this was in fact the same band that we saw open in the earlier show, the show was that good and refined. Their seven song set list was only slightly different than the one that they had played five months before, dropping a song slot and changing out a few, but it seemed more fitting for the tour and the venue. This time around, the band’s set list included the songs No Stage, Medicine, Bang Bang, Tall Home, Lucky, Motorbike, and Speeding 72.

Modest Mouse’s Set List:
Dramamine, Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine, Gravity Rides Everything, Float On, Back to the Middle, Wooden Soldiers, Satin In a Coffin, Fire it Up, Dashboard, Out of Gas, We Are Between, and The World at Large.

Weezer’s Setlist:

Africa (Toto’s song)(Band’s intro music), My Name Is Jonas, Beverly Hills, Return to Ithaka, The Good Life, Pork and Beans (1 More Hit intro to this song), Pink Triangle, El Scorcho (with Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten of Momma)(on the last chorus), I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams (With Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten of Momma), Blast Off! (Rivers Cuomo song), Undone - The Sweater Song, California Kids (Acoustic; Tour Debut), Susanne (Acoustic), Only in Dreams, The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations of a Shaker Hymn), Island in the Sun, Perfect Situation, All My Favorite Songs, Say It Ain’t So, Run, Raven, Run, Hash Pipe, Thank You and Good Night

Encore:

The Waste Land, Surf Wax America, Buddy Holly.

A Cold Pizza and Coffee Review - Weezer with Modest Mouse and Momma