Photo: PR Photos
Weezer covered songs by Lady Gaga and MGMT as they closed this year’s Osheaga festival in Montreal.
The US band delighted fans with a 90-minute career spanning set on the main stage at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène.
Kicking off with ‘Hash Pipe’, Weezer were on energetic form, particularly singer Rivers Cuomo who played up to the crowd throughout the show.
During the aptly entitled second song ‘Troublemaker’, the singer dry-humped a cameraman’s lens, before hitting toilet rolls into the crowd with the back of a guitar.
And mid-way into ‘Surf Wax’ he fled the main stage only to appear on the adjacent second stage, which stage crews were busy deconstructing.
Addressing the Montreal crowd early on, Cuomo recalled the first time they had performed in the French-Canadian city.
“We’re Weezer. We remember playing here in 1995 at the Spectrum,” he said.
“We didn’t play an encore - we had to high tail it out of town, but now we’re back and we’re going to play an encore tonight.”
After plunging further into their back catalogue with renditions of ‘Say It Ain’t So’ and ‘Buddy Holly’, Cuomo didn’t renege on his promise.
Weezer's encore included reprises of Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Kids’ by MGMT, which left the 25,000 strong crowd home happy.
Earlier in the day, Snoop Dogg drew a huge crowd on the second stage, frequently asking festival-goers if they liked to smoke weed.
Dressed all in black, the rapper delivered a greatest hits set, which included ‘Gin & Juice’, ‘G Thang’ and ‘Drop It Like It Hot’.
Snoop also treated the crowd to his own rendition of The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’, which included the altered refrain, “Hey Snoop”.
After a performance from Sonic Youth, Toronto-based band Metric delighted fans with a set comprised largely of songs off their 2009 album ‘Fantasies’.
Singer Emily Haines was clearly emotional on stage, and bounced around endlessly during the band's peformance.
She also paid tribute to fellow Canadian Neil Young, before playing a verse of his hit, ‘My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)’.
Metric closed their set with just Haines and guitarist Jimmy Shaw performing an acoustic version of ‘Combat Baby’.
Other performances on the final day of Osheaga came from Frank Turner, who battled voice problems on the Scène Des Arbres stage, Devo and Ra Ra Riot.
More than 53,000 people attended the fifth edition of the festival, which also offered an Osheaga In The City event running from Wednesday-Sunday.
The showcase included intimate performances from Of Montreal and Chromeo at the Metropolis venue.
For more information about Osheaga and all this summer's festivals, check out the Gigwise Festival Guide.
Osheaga Festival 2010 - Day Two In Photos
