 Weezer has better songs, but Foo Fighters rock harder
There were a pair of soundboard moments at Wednesday night's co-headlining Foo Fighters-Weezer show at the Frank Erwin Center, and they couldn't have shown the bands in starker contrast.
Weezer, proof that even bespectacled, maladjusted geeks can bring the rock, put on a fine set led by heroically conflicted frontman Rivers Cuomo. The encore began with Cuomo alone near the board at the opposite end of the arena from the stage — invisible to a good chunk of the crowd — playing "Island in the Sun" on an acoustic guitar.
OK. Everybody knows Cuomo has issues. And despite said issues, both band and crowd had fun. Drummer Pat Wilson got to sing "Photograph" and some dude named Mike got pulled out of the crowd to jam on "Undone (The Sweater Song)." Plainly, people who wrote these guys off as "Buddy Holly" one-hit wonders in the post-Nirvana gold rush misjudged badly.
But then the Foo Fighters came out, and there was no question which was the more formidable outfit and which bandleader enjoyed the job more. Dave Grohl, who spent a few years behind the trap set drumming for another conflicted frontman (who resolved his issues by blowing his head off), really loves wailing on a guitar and being a rock star. The Foos delivered, at bruising volume, a big show with all the trimmings: projection screens, lasers, a lot of cussing, even a brief drum solo — least punk rock ever, that, and a complete abdication from this onetime indie rock standard bearer.
Then, during "Stacked Actors," the lead track from 1999's "There is Nothing Left to Lose," Grohl had his own soundboard moment. There was much arm-waving and back and forth yelling with the crowd, a classic red-meat recitation of an arena-rock ritual. He loved it. The crowd loved it.
And the Foos weren't close to done. In recognition of Hurricane Katrina refugees, they beat Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born on the Bayou" to within an inch of its life. And to prove that Weezer's drummer wasn't the only timekeeper who can sing, Taylor Hawkins did "Cold Day in the Sun," vocal-wise the best track on the Foos' new double album, ""In Your Honor." (Too bad his vocal was kind of buried Wednesday.) Grohl played drums as lustily as ever.
There's no question Weezer has better songs. The lyrics are sometimes painfully naïve, but the melodies are gorgeous, the choruses soar and there's a playful subversive quality usually at work. "Beverly Hills," the first single off the new "Make Believe," features talk box, a guitar effect last seen, and presumed buried, on "Frampton Comes Alive." And I have a certain affinity for bespectacled, maladjusted geeks.
The Foos are by comparison a blunt but mighty effective instrument, and they are at the top of their game right now.
Besides, whom would you rather have a beer with — Rivers Cuomo or Dave Grohl? |
