WEEZER LIVE AT TK. MAXX PRESENTS… THE PIECE HALL 2025 AT HALIFAX

★★★★☆ (4/5)

WEEZER PERFORMING AT TK. MAXX PRESENTS… THE PIECE HALL 2025 AT HALIFAX
PHOTOCREDIT - THE PIECE HALL HALIFAX (SOCIAL MEDIA)

The last time I saw Weezer was at the Reading Festival back in 2002, so I was rather keen to catch them once again. Their appearance at the future legendary venue the Piece Hall in Halifax was off the back of their first Glastonbury appearance since 1995. How was their set in Yorkshire on a Monday night? You need to read on to find out, first I need to update you on the two support bands. First up was Washington DC’s Teen Mortgage, sadly we only caught the second half of their set. But what a blast it was! They are a brutal thrash punk two piece with a sharp refreshing take on the genre. To quote one of UK punks originators, “THEY MEAN IT MAAAN!” You need to check out their new album ‘Devil Ultrasonic Dream’

Next it was the turn of Bad Nerves all the way from Essex. I last encountered them supporting the Darkness in 2023. I had previously seen them at the Leeds Festival a couple of times. They do old school very upbeat poppy punk blended with classy power pop really well. Their harmonies evoke later period Ramones and sometimes their riffs reach upwards of 100 miles per hour. Their songs are staggeringly good with “Radio Punk” being a particular highlight.

Weezer are clearly a tight musical unit. We felt that they could have engaged more with the crowd, but the audience was highly partisan, so that probably didn’t matter much to most people at the Piece Hall that night. The huge video screen behind the band provided a constant supply of fabulous cartoon style alien and space stuff which was highly entertaining. Rivers Cuomo and his gang came into their own on the bigger songs, and these got a huge reaction from the punters. Especially “Beverly Hills” which included a nifty reference to Halifax, “Hash Pipe”, “Pork And Beans” and “Undone – The Sweater Song”. The latter was a huge singalong experience for all of us. Perhaps best of all was the encore of an emotionally charged “Say It Ain’t So” followed by a truly towering “Buddy Holly” which closed the show. Overall, it was a good set, but we maybe expected just a little more electricity. As a footnote I heard that Weezer played Radiohead’s “Creep” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in their soundcheck. They would have added something special to the set!