August 4 2006: The Rentals, Ozma – Irving Plaza, New York NY

I’ve literally been waiting to see the Rentals for over 25% of my life. One day out of every four I’ve thought to myself, goddamn I wish I were seeing the Rentals tonight. And though Matt Sharp’s solo shows have been fabulous and perfect and beautiful, I could just imagine how much more perfect and more beautiful a Rentals show would be. And they were, somehow. Despite playing no song less than 7 years old, they were perfect.

However, a good portion of the crowd was there for Ozma, the openers. And most of the rest of the crowd seemed to be there just because Sharp used to be in Weezer. And good god, that’s what gets me. I mean, the Rentals kick Weezer’s ass any day of the week. I never listen to my old Weezer albums. Never. I can’t think of the last time I did. But oh, the Rentals. I’ve never stopped listening to the Rentals. And here are all these people at a Rentals show, responding pretty well because they’ve got the records (naturally, I mean it’s a fucking sacrilege to not have every single Weezer side project and offshoot, man) and even seeming to get into the older, more well-known stuff from “Return of,” but then the biggest crowd response to the whole show comes when they do “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams” (with Rachel on vocals, of course). The crowd fucking explodes, all these 20-25 year old dudes rush to the front of the stage and start an honest-to-god mosh pit, everyone’s singing along, and suddenly it’s clear why everyone’s there: because Weezer isn’t playing that night and this is the next-best thing. What a shame.

Because they opened with “Move On” and they did “My Head is in the Sun” and “Jumping Around” back to back. And they did “California” (the last time I heard anyone sing that song was at a fucking high school battle of the bands. Christ I love that song!), “The Man with Two Brains,” “Please Let that Be You,” “Sweetness and Tenderness,” “She Says it’s Alright,” “Waiting,” “Keep Sleeping,” “Say Goodbye Forever,” “The Love I’m Searching For,” “Friends of P,” “We Have a Technical” (it’s not every show you get applause after announcing, “We’re gonna do a Gary Numan song now”) and even Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” to start the encore (fucking great, changing the lyrics to “Rachel Hayden came and hit the streets“ and “and all the new wave girls say…”).

And oh those new wave girls. There was Rachel with the shaved head on keyboards and bass, another girl with big glasses and big hair who played the violin and keyboards, and another girl who was dancing like my old friend Matt Kaufman would have danced and was wearing a tie and sang all the low harmonies and played guitar and (of course) keyboards. And oh, those harmonies. I would have happily gone home and spent my life with any of them.

The only songs they didn’t play that I was really hoping for were “Getting By” and “Big Daddy C” (which I was soooo hoping they would open with – I remember listening to a live recording of it with the afore mentioned Mr. Kaufman back in college and grinning at each other and commenting on how that would perhaps be the greatest song to hear live, ever), but I’m in no position to complain about the setlist. It was pretty much perfect.

And after the show my buddy Josh and myself closed down the bars and didn't make it back to his place until 430am. Good times all around.