Weezer at Roseland, Wed Dec 10, 2014

• Ben Salmon

The last time I saw Weezer was in 2011, at the Key Arena in Seattle on their “Memories Tour,” which saw the band performing their now oft-lauded first two records, The Blue Album and Pinkerton, back to back in their entirety. It was one of the craziest shows of my life—which either speaks to the timeless vitality of that material or means I’m a giant wimp. Weezer has never really been a punk band, and that’s generally a compliment: The group’s “heavy” aspects are usually little more more than half-affected, sardonic allusions to their butt-metal origins. But that evening, they played what felt like a punk show. The crowd lost their collective shit when the band took the stage and, without a word, launched into the chiming intro to “My Name Is Jonas.” I’ve never experienced anything like it and certainly wouldn’t have expected it at a Weezer show in 2011.

Wednesday night’s Roseland show was considerably mellower, and by comparison, somewhat underwhelming. As with several dates on this tour, the group were poised to perform all of their new record, Everything Will Be Alright in the End. On one hand, the fact that a record like Everything even exists is shocking. Weezer became a Starbucks Dad-band more than 10 years ago, and their last two records, the movingly awful though nobly shameless Raditude and Hurley, couldn’t have been sonically farther away from a “classic” Weezer record. But Everything‘s also proof that Rivers Cuomo is privier to popular music trends than the hipsters give him credit for. There’s been a renewed interest in all things ’90s within the past couple of years, and Cuomo seems at least eager to capitalize on the trend.

• Ben Salmon

Cuomo started off the set with a reduced-tempo, solo performance of “You Gave Your Love to Me Softly,” a Pinkerton B-side and consistent fan favorite. From there, each member of the band gradually joined him on their respective instruments, and the entire group ran through a bevy of classics in an under-rehearsed, “unplugged”-type configuration. Performances of Maladroit deep cut “December” and Pinkerton‘s “The Good Life” were particular highlights, as was a rendition of misunderstood Green Album mega-hit “Island in the Sun” with Cage the Elephant frontman Matt Schultz on co-lead vocals.

After a brief intermission, the group burst into Everything opener “Ain’t Got Nobody,” arguably the best track off the new record and the one most reminiscent of vintage Weezer. Performing a brand-new record in its entirety is always a bold decision, especially for a band as polarizing as Weezer. For the bulk of the set, the audience seemed almost to be fist-pumping out of obligation. Songs like “Back to the Shack,” “Eulogy for a Rock Band” and “The British Are Coming” are embarrassing and calculated attempts at sweeping, call-to-arms anthems that nobody was asking for. Rivers Cuomo’s greatest artistic strength has always resided in his ability to universalize subjects that are typically esoteric and individualized. Even the girl in the Pinkerton-ish “Lonely Girl” is too indistinct for the song to carry any real emotional weight.

Danielle Sullivan of Wild Ones was brought on stage to play the role of Bethany Consentino in “Go Away,” another of the better tracks on the record, and a much-welcomed palate cleanser following the truly wretched “Da Vinci.” Sullivan, one of the city’s most talented vocalists, and a vet in her own right, played the part perfectly (although that didn’t make the pairing any less surreal). “Cleopatra” probably elicited the biggest sing-along, and it’s another solid cut, excluding the forced, nu-metal breakdown. After the turgid, “Only In Dreams” facsimile “The Futurescope Trilogy,” the group walked off stage and the houselights came up immediately, suggesting that there was to be no encore. After a little less than 10 minutes, the band took the stage again, and, to the chagrin of probably a significant percentage of the audience, performed unmemorable Red Album track “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived”—a sick move that singlehandedly contradicts Cuomo’s “I still care about the fans” lip service. Oh well. Maybe one day we’ll learn our lesson.

• Ben Salmon