As Rivers Cuomo continues dominating the world of rock ‘n’ roll weird, the Denver chapter in his band Weezer’s story unfolded into an interesting scene Friday night at the Pepsi Center.
Early in the set, Cuomo took on “In the Garage,” the ultimate loner-geek story, like he was Gene Simmons. He and the band then faithfully covered the Foo Fighters’ “Big Me,” and later he changed the Green Day name-
drop in “El Scorcho” to Foo Fighters, homages to his tour’s co-headliners. Cuomo generously shared vocal duties, passing the mic to guitarist Brian Bell on “Why Bother?” and to drummer Patrick Wilson for “Photograph.”
During “El Scorcho,” Cuomo pouted, kicked and role-played his way across the stage like a jilted 13-year-old. His voice throughout the show was stellar, including during “Island in the Sun,” which he sang solo and acoustic at the sound board, kicking off the encore.
– Ricardo Baca
M.I.A.
Glittery tribal flowers flanked by Buddhist prayer flags and two scrappy palm trees set the tone for the new queen of grime’s show Saturday at the Gothic Theatre. While this petite, sweet-looking woman draws on hip-
hop’s roots by using rhyme and rhythm to give voice to the downtrodden, her Colorado gig proved grime’s sludgy dub-rap mix and unpredictable sampling gets the blood flowing.
“You feel like dancing? Let’s get the serious stuff out of the way,” she said before unleashing tracks from this year’s poignant debut, “Arular.” M.I.A.’s high-pitched yelp at the end of select verses was but one aspect of her distinct delivery made all the more engaging by a Calypso-informed sidekick and her DJ, Contra, who was as likely to drop Prince into the mix as he was to glean hooks from the Carpenters or Kanye West.
– Elana Ashanti Jefferson
The Mars Volta/System of the Down
System of the Down devotees didn’t know what to make of The Mars Volta’s psychedelic jazz-metal. Consider the woman in section 124 of the Pepsi Center on Sunday who had this to say about Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s art rock: “What was that garbage?”
In truth, The Mars Volta was inspired, showcasing some of the year’s best instrumentation under an eerie backdrop during “Cygnus … Vismund Cygnus.” But the band’s vision translated poorly in the arena setting, and the System crowd thirsted for pure metal. They were satisfied by the headliner’s guttural, driving guitar work and roaring socio-
political yodel during such tracks as “Soldier Side” and “Needles.”
– Elana Ashanti Jefferson
The New Pornographers
It took Neko Case wearing a silly aqua silk smock and acting the witchy tambourine woman role to bring forth the Fleetwood Mac within The New Pornographers. But it worked, and three songs into the Vancouver supergroup’s set on Monday at the Gothic, Case was Stevie Nicks to Carl Newman’s Lindsey Buckingham as the duo slashed their way through the brilliant power-pop of “The Bleeding Heart Show.”
Case and Newman opened the set with “Twin Cinema,” the title track off the Pornographers’ latest CD and the proving grounds that this Canadian seven- and sometimes eight-piece (when Dan Bejar joins them on vocals) pops and bangs even bigger in concert than they do on their albums.
– Ricardo Baca
