Weezer, the Uncool

WEB-EXCLUSIVE: Weezer puts the chic into geek at the OC Fair's Pacific Amphitheatre.

When Weezer began touring last winter playing early albums in their entirety, it wasn’t uncommon to read about the criticism the band was met with at the start of their career, and the mainstream longevity they eventually found, far surpassing their original competition. Which is to say nothing of their cult following in Japan. The classic tale of geek to chic in which the nerdy art student becomes homecoming queen by simply removing her glasses is one we never tire of hearing, especially when the fable fits so aptly for a band whose leader’s signature look is geeky glasses.

And so we read about how Pinkerton was initially reviled by critics only to years later become one of the most beloved albums in the Weezer catalog. How the band was thought of as a record company’s meticulously crafted generic rock alternative four-piece created to cash in on the alternative wave rolling over the music scene. Even lead singer Rivers Cuomo recalled scathing reviews in interviews as uncomfortably as a former dork repeating the slurs of his tormentors: “They called us the Stone Temple Pixies."

The theme was they weren’t cool, but now they are, with a string of impossibly catchy hits to prove it. So when Cuomo opened their August 4 performance at the Pacific Amphitheatre by launching into “Troublemaker,” I anticipated “cool.” Or at least some of the bombast of the Memories Tour last November. Instead I remember what my junior high school self, who played the blue album beginning to end over and over, always knew. The spotlight finds Rivers standing in the audience, flanked by screaming fans, the bifocaled lead singer crooning shakily into a popping and crackling mic.

This band is not cool and they never will be. Which is not to say that they are not confident and talented. It just means that Cuomo, Scott Shriner (bass), Brian Bell (guitar), and Pat Wilson (drums, though Josh Freese stood in on this show) will never be regarded as the rock stars they should be. They trudge superbly through Surf Wax America with Cuomo singing with his head down like a moody teenager, which I suspect only makes him more endearing to the droves of fans who turned out, sitting even on the lawn. By the time they make it to "Undone - The Sweater Song," they’ve gather gusto and confidently tear through the rambling song, with Orange County-tailored chatter to boot.

Their cover of Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks” was wonderfully fresh and well received, unlike their later crack at Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android,” though more challenging not as appreciated, causing butts to meet seats for the only time in their hit filled set. “Island in the Sun” began with Cuomo alone and in the dark before the stage was illuminated reveling the rest of the band. “Pork and Beans” was a fun, amphitheater-wide sing-along with each member taking a line and the audience belting the “I don’t care...” part. The happy “Photograph” and pop-y “Keep Fishin’” were followed by a perfectly heavy-handed “Hash Pipe” capped by forceful, dueling guitars. Most moving was the beautifully written and beautifully executed “Say It Ain’t So,” the perfect combination of melody and anguish.

Cool or not, it really seems irrelevant to the fans clamoring for just the opportunity to touch Cuomo’s striped polo as he ran through the crowd during the encore of the impossibly catchy "(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To." And I doubt Cuomo himself was concerned with being cool either as he dashed through taking photos and collecting a pair of extra large skivvies which he donned for the final song, a rip-roaring "Buddy Holly."
 
Weezer wasn’t cool then, they are not cool now and they made a career of it. These geek rock gods will never be the glossy rock stars their talent would suggest they could be, but their fans are OK with that. And so are they.