Tickets for the Weezer show have sold well for the first performance in the new arena, but more are still available. “We have sold almost 2,400
tickets,” said Dain Gotto, assistant director of student activities. “About 1,500 of them have been to students. We would like to sell a
couple hundred more.”
The number of tickets already sold have far outstripped the number of students who would have been able to fit into the Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse or the Civic Center. “With Maroon 5 and Lupe Fiasco, we had a facility that only held 2,200, so I feel really good about this,” Gotto said.
It helps that Weezer has been a consistently visible band, releasing a nearly unprecedented four albums in the last five years. “Weezer is a pretty top notch band,” Gotto said. “Students are pretty excited to see them.”
Understandably so, Weezer’s newest album “Hurley,” named after the loveable “Lost” character played by Jorge Garcia, has been hailed by some critics as somewhat of a return to the band’s “Pinkerton” era heyday. Tracks
like “Unspoken” sound as fresh and raw as anything the band recorded in the days of the Blue or Green albums. That’s not to say that Weezer hasn’t aged any. “Memories” is focused on the sense of growing up and growing past what you know and are comfortable with. Their classic songs certainly are
going to bring in some fans as well. Classics like “Buddy Holly,” “Say It Ain’t So,” “Island in the Sun,” “The Sweater Song” and “My Name Is Jonas” have been songs that students have grown up around.
Weezer will be the first performer to play in the new arena, but they follow a strong legacy of performers and speakers at the Fieldhouse, which included country great Johnny Cash, arena-rockers R.E.O Speedwagon and chart-topping acts like the Black Eyed Peas.
It’s an impressive legacy, especially for a community the size of Peoria. The administration hopes that the new arena will be able to capture some of that legacy. “It was really neat to have concerts at the Peoria Civic Center, but having the arena right here on campus is great for students,” Gotto said. “Being able to walk for three minutes and see Weezer is really cool. It’s going to give a real sense of pride to Bradley students. Not a lot of students can tell their friends ‘Hey I got to see Weezer on campus,’ especially not at a school this size.”
