Brixton Academy looked back to the Nineties when punk’s clean-cut little brother took to the stage on Wednesday night. Their appearance was announced by the 20th Century Fox fanfare and an eclectic crowd chanting their name. Weezer started the nerdy rock cliche that hipsters now aspire to, making the black-framed glasses, button-up and tie combo cool — and making not swearing in their songs rebellious.
With such an extensive back catalogue, would they try to push new material or play the old hits from the albums that made their name? When they dived right into Undone – The Sweater Song, it became pretty clear why they’ve managed to keep going all these years.
After playing several crowd-pleasers the band left the stage to frontman Rivers Cuomo who then began an acoustic, quasi-improvised ode to Brixton. If this wasn’t enough to get the crowd screaming, the smooth transition into a solo version of Island in the Sun and a cover of the 2000 coming of age classic Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus certainly was.
Cuomo then donned a cowboy hat for their ambitious genre-medley, The Greatest Man that Ever Lived, and, acting like a small hyper child, ran around the stage climbed on to an amp, leading the crowd in a singalong to what is their most intriguing single.
After a rousing version of Only in Dreams, the guitar solo of which had a five minute build-up that had the audience panting in anticipation, Weezer performed a worthy cover of Paranoid Android by their “favourite band from this country”, Radiohead.
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It was the encores, however, that made the show. Cuomo & co know what their audience wants and we got it for the last two songs, as they hailed back to the glory of their formative years with Hash Pipe and Buddy Holly. The latter finished in a cacophony of shredding guitar riffs and every band member getting behind the drum kit to bring the show to a climax with a five-man drumming riot.
It became clear, during every guitar solo and each moment Cuomo descended from the stage to allow the audience members to grope at him frantically, that Weezer are that rare thing: pop stars who love their jobs.