Setlist: Hash Pipe, Troublemaker, Undone (The Sweater Song), Surf Wax America, Let It All Hang Out, Perfect Situation, Dope Nose* (vocal Scott Shriner), Say It Ain't So*, Can't Stop Partying, Why Bother? (vocal Brian Bell), (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To, My Name Is Jonas (vocal Pat Wilson, Scott Shriner, Rivers Cuomo), Beverly Hills. Encore 1: Pork & Beans, Kids (MGMT cover) > Poker Face (Lady Gaga cover). Encore 2: Islands in the Sun, Buddy Holly

I definitely didn't get Weezer the first time around. Like a lot of other people, I saw the video for "Undone (The Sweater Song)" on MTV when the first Weezer album was released. I was not impressed. I liked the follow-up single, "Buddy Holly" a bit more, but not enough to actually check out the album. I completely missed the follow-up, Pinkerton, a noisy affair loosely based on Madame Butterfly and featuring some deeply personal, uncomfortable lyrics from Weezer singer-songwriter Rivers Cuomo. The band fell apart after the tour as Cuomo went into hiding.

A couple of years later, the group returned sans bass player Matt Sharp and had hits with "Hash Pipe" and "Islands in the Sun." I still didn't pay much attention to them, though I had picked up Sharp's new group The Rentals, thanks to Liz. Sometime before Weezer's fourth album, Maladroit, I finally got the first two Weezer albums, but Maladroit aside, I haven't really cared for much the band has done since Pinkerton, except for a few of the singles, especially the most recent material. The opening night of SunFest seemed like a good chance to see them, as there were other bands we wanted to see later on and adding one more day to our passes was only an extra $10. So, we bought the full pass and made the drive to West Palm Beach the first night for Weezer.

I think the 1990s aren't really thought of for arena rock, but that's precisely what bands like Weezer and Green Day are playing. Not arena rock in the sense of a bunch of old guys playing in a big barn as is often thought as the big arena bands age, but the kind of music and outsized show that's designed for and can fill a large room.

Sometime fairly recently, in a move that reminds me of They Might Be Giants, Weezer expanded their live lineup so that Cuomo could ditch his guitar for large parts of the set. The group added current DEVO drummer Josh Freese and drummer Pat Wilson moved to guitar to free Cuomo, though he continued to play second guitar on several keyboard heavy tracks to free up guitarist Brian Bell to play said keyboards. He also played while giving up the spotlight to Bell and bassist Scott Shriner on "Why Bother?" and "Dope Nose." But for large parts of the set, he roamed the stage with a wireless microphone, batting beach balls and tossing rolls of toilet paper into the crowd. The move seemed to make the live show more fun to watch and doesn't seem to have hurt them musically as Wilson was the tightest of the three guitarists in this show. And Freese, of course, is no slouch on drums.

The set list hit all of their albums, but had more from their first than any other. Overall the set was high energy, silly and a lot of fun. Even the songs off their recent albums that I don't particularly life sounded good and were fun. Weezer are mostly known for lightweight poppy rock songs rather than the more heavy material from their first couple of records, but lightweight pop can be tuneful and a lot of fun and Weezer's live show is proof of that. While you won't catch me buying any of their albums, I would certainly go see them live again.