LOS ANGELES (Weezer fans) - "This is strange," said
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo toward the beginning of his band's show on Monday (May 13) night at the tiny Whisky-a-Go-Go in Hollywood. "We're supposed to be an arena rock band!"
The audience roared with laughter, and the band responded by ripping into a sped-up version of "Island in the Sun," one of many hits the band played over the course of their hour-and-a-half set. The quote was fitting: Weezer is, in fact, an arena rock band; its don't-call-it-a-comeback rise from the novelty song ashes to headliners of huge venues is one of the most frequently retold rock stories of the past few years. What's often forgotten, though, is the story's latest chapter: Weezer's now-complete acclimation to its unlikely role as latter-day rock superstars.
Though some may doubt that Cuomo ?- still clad, as always, in geek glasses and a thrift shop collar shirt ?- has bona-fide star power, the proof was there, even in this small club. Faced with around 400 fans (most of whom won their tickets through local radio station KROQ the day of the concert), Cuomo and his band played as if they were rocking a venue 100 times the size, laying on Motley Crue-ish monitor leans, a Van Halen-era light show (complete with stage-obscuring fog), and even some Floydian space jams. And, though it was literally the eve of the release of its new record, Maladroit, the emphasis was on the group's catalog, the song selection for the evening spanning their almost decade-long career.
That said, the new songs the band did play (including the radio smash "Dope Nose" and the ballad "Death and Destruction") fit into the set like they had been in the band's repertoire since day one. The group's midset cover of the Turtles ' hit "Happy Together" took on new meaning in Weezer's hands; gone was the original's carefree lightheartedness, replaced (via distortion pedal) by a frightening, stalker-like passion.
This show served two official purposes, as both an album release party and the last date of Weezer's Dusty West North American tour (the band heads to Japan for a series of shows on Tuesday [May 14]). But, by the end of the intense, smoky, sing-along encore "Say It Ain't So," it also became apparent that it was a proud coming-out party for rock's current arena kings.
