Weezer And The Flaming Lips at PNC Bank Arts Center: Beyond Thunderdome You know the old adage, courtesy of Mad Max: Two men enter, one man leaves. Replace "men/man" with "bands/band", and you'll have the equivalent of what went down on July 27, 2011 at The PNC Bank Arts Center in lovely, pine-scented Holmdel, NJ. The idea was simple: both bands start the show playing simultaneously, then followed by each band doing three songs, then tagging in the other band to play three, and so on and so forth until the climactic encores of both bands once again gracing the stage together. Ever run face first into a wall? Upon striking said wall with your face, did you happen to see stars, birds, white lights, as well as get that feeling like "What the hell did I just run into?" Supplant the stars, birds, and white lights with confetti, balloons, rainbow lights, an army of dancing girls in Dorothy Gale outfits, along with that feeling of "This is the BEST thing I just ran into!" and you'll get the sheer impact of hearing Both The Lips and Weezer tear through Black Sabbath's "Sweat Leaf" to open the show. Both Wayne Coyne and Rivers Cuomo did the space bubble thing, rolling out over the crowd, as musical magician Steven Drozd sang the hell out of the stoner rock classic. this guy really is the musical genius of the Lips crew. The Lips went first with their three song mini-sets. It was rather obvious to me that these guys came out swinging, bringing with them a show that no mere rock concert, but an event. It was if Pink Floyd were your wacky neighbors, and scavenged parts from both Starlight Express and the local seasonal Halloween shop, and turned their mania loose. Sticking mostly to newer material from the last two albums, my lack of familiarity did not lessen the sheer impact of their sets. Mind-blowing, and moving. Weezer, on the other hand, tried valiantly. I got to hand it to them: having seen them a few times, and knowing full well they are not the most energetic bunch on stage, they had their work cut out for them. They hit the stage with "Hash Pipe" and proceeded to play what was obviously mini-sets designed to be crowd pleasers (they played "the hits" as the kids would say) which was a smart move for them (the crowd at PNC was decidedly a Weezer crowd, less so Flaming Lips) and while the seemed to bristle with energy at first, by song three it was back down to normal for Rivers and crew. As the night progressed, you could see the disparity between the rock and roll show offered by these two bands. The Lips left Weezer in the dust. That's not to slight Weezer, by any shape or means. Rivers Cuomo even tried to picked up steam by running into the crowd during "I Want You To", and worked the stage like an arena rock star during "Buddy Holly" (which the crowd totally ate up), but after witnessing the magnitude (POP POP) of the what the Lips offered, to me it was clear who walked out of Thunderdome alive, and who was weighted, measured, and found wanting. The night was closed out with both bands once again, doing the metaphorical shaking of hands by playing "She Don't Use Jelly" and "Undone (The Sweater Song)" together. A nice way to send crowd home. Master Blaster would nod approvingly. -Jay Mazeffect www.flaminglips.com www.weezer.com