It says a lot about a band when they can pack out a college square nearly three decades into their career, and still make you forget just how patchy that career has been.
Weezer’s Wednesday night slot at Trinity College Dublin, part of the university’s Summer Series, was as much an act of reassurance as performance. Yes, Rivers Cuomo and co. have made some baffling creative choices. No, we’ll never forgive Raditude. But for one breezy, rain-splattered evening, none of that mattered. They know why we’re here, and for the most part, they honoured that pact.
After a baffling opener in “Anonymous”, the band went straight into the high-octane riffing of “Hash Pipe” and quickly followed up with “My Name Is Jonas”, a smart move that won over the “first two albums” purists. But this wasn’t a full nostalgia set. “Dope Nose” made an early appearance, complete with the now familiar verse from “Troublemaker” towards it’s closing moments. It was the perfect reminder of just how weird, self-referential, and sometimes joyfully stupid Weezer’s catalogue is.
Of course, the heavens opened during “Island in the Sun”, because irony is alive and well. By the time “Holiday” rolled around, they’d hit a stride that was more celebratory than clinical. And while “Beverly Hills” remains an albatross, somehow worsened by Rivers’ effort to localise it with a “Living in Dublin, Ireland” edit, the band’s stage presence never faltered. (But seriously, try renting here, mate. Also, it’s a bit weird that someone who lives in Santa Monica is singing about wanting to live in Beverly Hills, but that’s just me)
There was warmth too, albeit filtered through dad-joke awkwardness. Brian Bell’s attempt at “go raibh maith agat” was charmingly butchered, while Scott Shriner redeemed the moment with a yarn about seeing a fox in a Dublin park. Adorkable.
The setlist leaned heavily on the big two (The Blue Album and Pinkerton), which was a great choice. “No One Else”, “Why Bother?”, “The Good Life” (albeit missing a verse), and a sublime “Only in Dreams” reminded everyone that, at their best, Weezer are power pop savants. The “Only in Dreams” crescendo alone was worth the ticket price, a moment of arresting beauty that proved Rivers Cuomo, for all his meme-age, remains a master of melodic tension and release.
There were some surprises too: the tour debut of “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams” went down a treat, while B-sides like “You Gave Your Love to Me Softly” helped sweeten the deal for the real heads. They closed out with “Say It Ain’t So” and “Buddy Holly”, alt-rock standards by now, the latter made infamous as pre-loaded bloatware on Windows ‘95; a fitting reminder of just how deeply embedded Weezer once were in the cultural hard drive.
Weezer may never top their first two records, and frankly, they seem to know that. Wednesday’s show didn’t try to rewrite their legacy, it just leaned into the best bits. And for a band that’s spent years overthinking the art to increasingly perplexing results, that’s progress.
