Gainesville is paying tribute to the ‘90s music scene this weekend.
Green Day and Weezer tribute bands American Idiots and Weeze, respectively, are performing Friday at High Dive, located at 210 SW Second Ave.
This will be Tampa-based American Idiots’ first time playing a show in Gainesville.
Green Day itself once played at High Dive in 1993, when the club was called The Covered Dish. They also played in Gainesville at the Hardback Cafe a few years prior.
The four-man band started from lead vocalist Chris Friday’s idea of bringing Green Day’s live show to life from a fan perspective.
“I remember seeing Green Day live for the first time at the USF Sun Dome,” Friday said. “I was freaking out; it was like I had something to believe in.”
The band tries to duplicate Green Day’s live performances as much as possible, doing anything they can to get the audience riled up and singing along. The members even dress similarly to Billy Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tre Cool and Jason White.
“Despite whatever BS is going on in everybody’s lives, we just want them to forget about it and give them something to believe in,” Friday said.
“I want to make them feel what I felt when I first saw (Green Day).”
Alec Pitts, Friday’s cousin and the bassist for the band, said the band tries to provide a Green Day experience for those who haven’t seen the band in concert, although he hasn’t had the chance to see them perform either.
“Obviously I can’t duplicate them as well as I would like to,” Pitts said. “I want to make people feel that they are listening to Green Day playing live.”
The rest of the band’s lineup includes drummer Don Young and his son, lead guitarist Anthony Young.
American Idiots will be opening for Gainesville-based Weeze on Friday.
The current lineup for Weeze consists of lead vocalist Niles Austin, drummer Kenneth Noble, guitarist and vocalist Jonathon McCravy and bassist Jacob McCravy.
The band formed about three years ago when Noble, a doctoral student at UF, put an ad on Craigslist, looking for people to start a band.
“I met John and Jacob online when we were trying to start a band,” Noble said. “We searched out Niles on Craigslist as well.”
The band decided on performing Weezer tribute songs because of the members’ love for Weezer and because of their diverse fan base.
Weeze has only ever played in Gainesville, its first performance being at the now-closed 1982 Bar.
For Noble, Weezer has a wide range of songs that makes playing live fun, from the band’s slower ballads to its fast-paced, upbeat tunes.
“I was a huge fan (of Weezer) way back,” Noble said. “It gets nostalgic when we play some of their older songs since they’re what I listened to when I was younger.”
Like American Idiots with Green Day, Weeze tries to stick as close to the original sound of Weezer’s songs when the band performs live.
Noble said they will mess around with different parts of songs, but they try to stay as true to the original sound.
“Introducing this awesome music to people who haven’t really heard many of Weezer’s songs is a great thing,” Noble said. “We’re all about having fun.”
Noble said the band’s goal is to bring a piece of typical ‘90s rock music to 2016, since that music isn’t as popular nowadays.
“The Gainesville music scene isn’t as huge as it used to be,” Noble said.
“It would be good to get more exposure and help bring more excitement over local music, especially with college kids.”
Similar to Weeze, American Idiots wants to introduce Green Day to those who don’t necessarily know of the band or who haven’t listened to Green Day’s music in a long time.
“We want the crowd to remember any good experience or memory they have associated with any certain Green Day song,” Friday said. “We want to help bring that back.”
Show doors open at 9 p.m. for the 10 p.m. show, and tickets are available for $8 at the door or $6 in advance on ticketfly.com.
There is also a Valentine’s Day special in which couples will receive two-for-one admission at door price.
