Long Beach, CA - Long Beach Arena
The Concert For Artist Rights
February 26, 2002

RAC Benefit Concert Review

One word: Amazing. Not just one of the bands, not two- but all three. What was most amazing was all three were so different from each other. Weezer was nerd rock, which Offspring was hard rock, and No Doubt was poppy rock.

I’ll start from the beginning. Weezer was the first to hit the stage- after a 30-minute wait. But in all honesty it was worth the wait. I had great seats (in the front, in the pit area) so the view was amazing and the music was loud. They performed a 55-minute set, with songs from all 3 albums. What I loved about them was they sounded BETTER than they do on their albums. Another great part of the performance (as well as the other two bands) was watching the audience’s reactions. For Weezer’s show, people were screaming along, putting the Weezer symbol up in the air (the "W"), and jumping around (which was quite hard since we were packed in like sardines, but that’s another story all together). Sadly, their performance had to end.

Up next was the Offspring. Geez, they were so not what I expected. I was pleasantly surprised. The band performed a 55-minute set (about 55-minutes). They performed songs from their various albums. It was cool to see the change between the first albums to the more "popular" albums ("Americana"/"Conspiracy of One") to the newer stuff. The audience for this band was fun- there was a California Circle Pit (also referred as a mosh pit), people running around, and people singing at the top of their lungs. These guys played amazingly. They sounded exactly like the recordings- vocally the same, instrument wise they were even better.

Lastly, there was No Doubt. Geez, Gwen is amazing on stage (as well as the other guys; Tony, Adrian, and Tom). They performed a little over an hour set with songs from all of their albums. For this band, the audience danced around the pit area, strangers even danced with each other, and sang to the songs. What was the highlight of their show was their encore, where they brought up 3 of the members of the Offspring.

What I loved about all three performances (as well as the above mentioned) was how I although I was not a huge fan of any of the bands previously, the concert made be one by the time I left.

*It should be noted that this was no ordinary concert. This was a benefit concert for the Recording Artist Coalition (RAC). That night (along with 3 other concerts all in California) raised $2.5 million dollars.

By Allie Bloch, from Popzine Online