Weezer, Brixton Academy June 14th
Weezer have been going for longer than you might think, with a career spanning over a decade and taking in five albums. They are still in many ways an under rated and slightly over looked band but their simple yet effective brand of feel good rock has earnt them a large and loyal following. I’ve been to many shows at the Carling academy and this was one of the most fanatical Brixton crowds I’ve been a part of.
There’s nothing flash about Weezer, something that was reflected by the very simple stage setting, with no fancy props or elaborate lighting show. There was a backdrop that consisted of a big black sheet of material that had five thin white strips draped down it, with a variety of lights shon on throughout, after three songs in time for the classic ‘Buddy Holly’ they lowered a big W and, er, that was pretty much it.
Rivers Cuomo, who incidentally has one of the coolest rock star names, didn’t talk as much as some I’ve seen but ultimately he didn’t need to. The enthusiasm of the crowd was largely due to the cross section of the Weezer back catalogue that was played and the band weren’t hear simply to sell or promote the new record, the majority of those inside the venue probably had it anyway. There were as many songs from the bands debut ‘The Blue Album’ as ‘Make Believe’.
I thought they’d shot their bolt with ‘Buddy Holly’ and ‘Say it isn’t So’ in the early stages of the set but they saved ‘Hash Pipe’ right to the end, which was a class way to round off the night. Other big crowd pleasers were the opener ‘Tired of Sex’ from Pinkerton, ‘Islands in the Sun’ from The Green Album, ‘Undone the Sweater Song’ taken from their debut release, the same album as Buddy Holly and ‘Beverly Hills’ their most recent hit. They even found the time for ‘Slob’ from the forth album ‘Maladroit’ completing the acknowledgement of each of the bands five releases.
This variety of set list served as a reminder of quite how much music Weezer have put out and for how long they’ve been doing it. The general age of the audience was mid twenties, many of whom will have grown up with the band over the past ten years and with the recent popularity of ‘Beverly Hills’ they’re well and truly back. This audience demographic made it even more surprising that I was asked for ID at the bar for the first time in years despite being just under three months away from my 26th birthday. A bit of gentle persuasion “so exactly how old do I look?” I got my pint or two and that initial hick up aside it was one fine night out.