Memories of Weezer

The year of nostalgia concerts (including Evan Dando, Pavement, Faith No More, and James) added another classic on Friday night with Weezer doing The Blue Album in its entirety over at Universal.

Weezer (Blue) has always held a fond place in my heart since first hearing “Undone – The Sweater Song” as a screamer of the week on WBRU, and over the years has become a go-to album for late night driving when I need something loud, familiar, and very singable. (Fun fact: 2 of the 3 Weezer references in Timely Persuasion come from this record.)

I remember seeing Weezer open for Lush and Live in 1994 at Rocky Point, basically playing the album in order with “Surf Wax America” moved to the end. Thus the Blue set at Friday’s show was the same thing 16 years later and restored to proper order.

The band opened the night with a time-travel-y “best of” set with 1-2 songs from each record, starting with the present and taking on the catalog in reverse chronological order. (Jorge Garcia from LOST joined them for one song, which was more amusing than good but still cool.)

Rivers Cuomo did a “costume change” between sets, ditching his glasses and vest jacket and donning a pretty impressive reproduction of his 1994 self from the album cover — right down to the blue t-shirt and bowl cut.

As for the songs, they still hold up as well as ever. I’d call out some highlights but that really wouldn’t do it justice. Everything blurred together into a cohesive unit of perfection, including rarely played dust-offs like “The World Has Turned And Left Me Here” which hadn’t been played live since 1996. “Say It Ain’t So” snuck up on me (much like it did at Coachella in 2005), as for some reason I always forget that song exists until I hear it come on. Only then do I revel in its pure awesomeness.

Thanks for the memories, Weezer!

Setlist:

Memories / (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To / Troublemaker / Pork and Beans / Beverly Hills / Keep Fishin’ / Photograph / Island in the Sun / Hash Pipe / Falling for You / INTERMISSION / My Name Is Jonas / No One Else / The World Has Turned and Left Me Here / Buddy Holly / Undone — The Sweater Song / Surf Wax America / Say It Ain’t So / In the Garage / Holiday / Only in Dreams