weezer at san jose events center - 10.13 (part 2)

I've had some time to think about the Weezer show I attended last week and will now try to articulate some thoughts I had during the experience. You can find my first impressions of the show here: weezer at san jose events center (part 1)

When I wasn't caught up in a rowdy sing-along or trying to anticipate what the next song might be, I found myself comparing this experience to the only other time I had seen the band live. 

Warfield Theater, San Francisco, 2005

That was back in 2005 at the Warfield in San Francisco. I originally wrote a short history on the band and how the music community viewed them at that moment in time, but it became too convoluted and was looking more like a novella; I realize I can talk about Weezer and its frontman for a long time. In short, it was an important time for the band and its legacy with a pending fifth album, Make Believe, after a couple of sub-par efforts (The Green Album, Maladroit) and semi-hiatus as Rivers Cuomo was finishing up his degree at Harvard.

At the time, Rivers was heavily involved with a strict yoga discipline, and it had been documented that he was celibate for a two year period. There is plenty of sources that speak to Rivers inability to strike a desirable balance in his life. All it takes is a listen of Pinkerton and one gets a sense of how conflicted he was with the decadent and hedonistic rock lifestyle. So yoga served to center him.

Thus, I assumed that the yoga accentuated Rivers timid disposition at the concert. He was no showman on stage, briskly moving from one song to another with very little interaction with the audience. He looked completely uncomfortable, and at times, terrified. If he could, I think he would have elected to have his back turned to the audience. The crowd didn't care, we were all so excited to see the band come after there had been some rumblings about possible breakup. Additionally, all Weezer fans 1) love to sing along and barely notice what's going on on stage and 2) enjoy Rivers' eccentricity. I thought that he might vomit on stage, but he managed to get through it without incident. 

Rivers anti-celebrity that night worked in the same way that a lot of the Weezer universe has survived - through amplified contradiction. For example, the best of Weezer's playlist bridges sugary pop melodies and heavy guitar crunches. Likewise, the shy, fragile lead singer confidently pens and blows lyrics like "What's with my homies dissing my girl?" and "God damn you half japanese girls". The geek-and-cheek, boyish charm was all part of the show, unintentional or not. 

Musically, it was a real treat. Regardless of how "intelligent" some music snobs might feel about Weezer's musical catalogue, you have to be impressed with Cuomo's voice. It's just easy to listen to and very dynamic. On that night, it worked with the gut busting "Hash Pipe" to open the set, as well as "Say It Ain't So", "The Good Life", and "No One Else". During the encore, we were treated to a rendition of "Undone (The Sweater Song)" while Brian Bell and Scott Shriner were rapping lyrics to "El Scorcho".

That night the band did all of their entertaining through the music alone. 

Weezer at Warfield Setlist

San Jose Events Center, San Jose, 2008

Rivers was the exact opposite last Monday night. He spent more time running frantically across stage, falling into rock-induced seizures, and hamming it up with the crowd than actually singing. My original thought was that Rivers is different, but I don’t think that’s the case as I've had more time to digest the night's happenings. I think it's more that he's returning to something or perhaps fulfilling the rock god incarnate that he has always dreamed of realizing. It reminds me of “In the Garage” off of the first record in which he looks back on days spent in teenage isolation, imitating his favorite shredders of the day with all of his rock heroes taped to his walls approving his every move.

He is Peter Pan, suspended in time, jumping up and down on a trampoline, without any notion of his years. His band mates? They just let him carry on. They play and sing with little movement, intentionally contrasting Rivers’ youthful exuberance. Between this and the other extreme which I previously experienced, I really can't say I prefer one or the other. 

But I do have a strong opinion on the music.

What drew me to Weezer early on more than anything else was the infectious pop melodies and Rivers' beautiful voice. This is slowly slipping away with a democratization within the band. Its evident on their latest album in which each other band mate sings lead vocal on a track. I don't like it. Those are three to four cuts per record that are void of Rivers, and I find those to be a waste. I actually think that Shriner and Bell both have decent voices, but Weezer is still Rivers, unfortunately. Their sounds and their words do not fit into the Weezer anthology. 

This democracy was evident much too frequently during the show as well. The rest of the gang sang a bulk of the lead vocals on past classics while Rivers would lurk around the stage, waiting for the perfect opportunity to slide across the floor and cut into a crunchy guitar riff. The band even had Tom DeLonge of Blink 182 - I mean, Angels and Airwaves come on stage to butcher the first verse of "Undone (The Sweater Song)". The sharing might make the band happier to make music, but this really isn't Weezer music when Rivers isn't singing it, and worse, when he's not writing it.

My favorite moments occurred when Rivers reminded me more of the shy guy, standing quite still while his guitar and vocals led the way. Some of those numbers include "I Am The Greatest Man That Ever Lived", "Hash Pipe", "Keep Fishin'". One highlight of "Undone" was Rivers going pretty berserk on drums (check out link above).

Some Links 

The audio isn't great, but here is a YouTube link for the band playing the a capella into guitars rendition of "Suzanne" in San Diego (I unfortunately couldn't find the San Jose version).

"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" live at San Jose Events Center:

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