Blog Weezer can’t go home again

Oh, nostalgia, what hath thou wrought? We need to talk about this Weezer “Memories” tour, hitting the Aragon tonight and tomorrow. Let’s face it: These shows are never going to be as good as anyone wants to them to be.

Ever since Weezer released its self-titled debut in 1994, it’s had a legion of rabid fans. Those fans got even more frothy with 1996’s Pinkerton, which critics—at least at the time—trashed. The band, and especially lead singer Rivers Cuomo, took it personally, and Weezer basically dropped out of music for a little bit.

Like a scene from Rudy, the record built recognition by word of mouth, really catching on in the underground, and (some say) inspiring the whole second wave of emo, ushering in bands like Thursday and Yellowcard. (Thanks for nothing, Weezer.)

So, when the band started testing the waters with its 2000 “reunion” tour, fans got excited, and rightfully so. And then the band started putting out mediocre record after mediocre record: The green album, Maladroit, Make Believe, The red album, something called (shudder) Raditude, and then this year’s terrifying Hurley.

Face it, people. Weezer just isn’t as good as it was. Either that, or people just harbor way too much nostalgia for what was compared to what is. Both are totally viable options, and both are reasons Weezer absolutely shouldn’t be out on the road right now touring those two records.

Sure, The A.V. Club really, really likes both Pinkerton and the blue album, but it’s pretty well documented that, hey, the band really doesn’t like either that much. Pinkerton documents a pretty dark time in frontman Rivers Cuomo’s life, and his slide into darkness that happened post-release can’t be all that fun to relive, either.

That being said, no one forced Rivers & co. to get on board a smelly rock bus and knock out night after night of painful mid-’90s memories. Thus, the band is even tempering its self-proclaimed “Memories Tour” with an opening set of newer, less-good songs released in much stabler Cuomo years. The Village Voice even deemed the tour, “Weezer Do Pinkerton (And Other Songs They Clearly Like More),” and hot damn, it’s right.

This nostalgia thing has to end. Pavement is just an okay band. No one wants to see some flashback band touring its third best record, hear a Black Eyed Peas song that’s built on a hook from Dirty Dancing, or suffer through Peter Hook performing Joy Division songs all by his lonesome. It’s a shame that people aren’t more excited about new, vibrant music that is entirely original now. There’s so much to be proud of, and absolutely no reason to stay stuck in the past, no matter how good you look in horn-rims and flannel.