Weezer
with Orbit at Local 186
by Michael Brodeur
Call me old fashioned, but after attending a barrage of shows at which I had the opportunity to get the shit kicked out of me, I found myself longing for the old days. The days when shows were not necessarily severe beatings. Why did I get kicked in the head during a Cracker show? Why don’t most of these Budweiser people beat each other up on their own time? What happened to having genuine fun at concerts? Thank heavens for Weezer.
A strange way to start off a basic review of their two shows in Beantown on the 25th, but this is what I happened to notice. Commentary over, thank you very much.
L.A.’s Weezer returned to Boston to grace their newly acquired gobs of fans with a brief acoustic set at Newbury Comics in Harvard Square, and an evening set at Local 186. After sadly being billed as “the Sweater Song band” by Newbury Comics, Weezer did succeed in cramming the store to the rear walls and putting on a unique performance. Their four song set certainly did not display their talents as a band, but it was a refreshingly different sound. They performed with three guitars – one of which was played by drummer Patrick Wilson – and an occasional Casio keyboard.
The high point of the set was “Jamie” from the DGC Rarities compilation. The song (which is hardly a rarity now; a lot of people recognize it more readily than their album material) was performed with the same whimsical harmony and choppy melody as found on the Rarities disk but with a softer approach. The other songs were nicely done, but with little variation from the album tracks, removing their sound’s straightforward punch. Weezer is not, at best, an acoustic band.
That evening at Local 186, unexpected schedule changes had taken place. Openers That Dog had cancelled , leaving replacement band Orbit with an open stage. Orbit superbly delivered an aggressive loud and melodic set which preceded Weezer’s style perfectly.
Weezer’s live set is a brick wall of sound. Their songs detonate with big muff distortion in tight riffs after huge murmuring buildups. Frontman Rivers Cuomo gave the band a frantic stage presence, with tense back and forth rocking and twitchy jumps. Their tightness and straining barbershop harmony was displayed in flawless executions of “Holiday” and “My Name is Jonas.” “Say It Ain’t So,” probably the best song on their album, was done well with bursts of Pixie-esque guitar howls. And, of course, what would a Weezer show be without the crowd happily bouncing to “Undone?” They also gave Boston a preview of three new songs from upcoming projects.
Weezer has evolved into something much grander then a garage band. They combine elements of Queen’s majestic melody with their own shifting style of grating chords to produce songs that push you backwards and hang in your memory. Do yourself a favor: Put “The Sweater Song” behind you, and find the heart of Weezer’s signature simplicity on your own terms.
