Review: Weezer drives through greatest hits in sold-out Pittsburgh concert

At one point Tuesday night, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo mentioned that the band had recorded hundreds of songs in their 30+ years together.

Weezer’s 90-minute set at a sold-out Stage AE leaned heavily on their first two albums as they rolled through most of their crowd-pleasing greatest hits from those hundreds of songs.

“My Name Is Jonas,” the first track on their debut album, fittingly opened the show, which featured a stage in the shape of a giant car dashboard — it is the Indie Rock Roadtrip tour, after all — with a huge windshield/video screen behind it. Next came “Beverly Hills,” followed by the instrumental “Return to Ithaka,” with Cuomo, guitarist Brian Bell and bassist Scott Shriner all shredding on guitar. (That would not be the only time Cuomo and Bell got to show off their guitar skills.)

Three of the next four songs came from their second album, “Pinkerton,” which didn’t go over well at first release back in 1996. Over time, however, respect grew for the album, which is still hailed for its raw emotion and authenticity. Then came another B-side from that era, “You Gave Your Love To Me Softly,” which included Barry Johnson of opener Joyce Manor joining on guitar and singing. “Blast Off!,” a relic of the band’s scrapped rock opera “Tales from the Black Hole,” capped off the set’s trip to that era, with that

The reaction for Weezer’s first big hit, 1994’s “Undone - The Sweater Song,” drew praise from Cuomo: “Pittsburgh is going off!”

A softer interlude followed, as Cuomo finger-picked his acoustic guitar on “Endless Bummer,” joined by Bell and Shriner (who celebrated his 58th birthday Tuesday) sans instruments midway through.

“We wanted to make a summer vibes album and our guitar player Brian thought it would be more Weezer to do like an anti-summer song,” Cuomo told the crowd, “so he came up with this song called ‘Endless Bummer.’ He brought it to me and I instantly fell in love with it.”

Another much-loved B-side, “Susanne,” utilized the original lyric of “even Kurt Cobain and Axl Rose” instead of the released version of “even Izzy, Slash and Axl Rose, when I call you put them all on hold.” (That was at least the second lyric change of the night, as a line about Green Day in “El Scorcho” got turned into a self-deprecating dig at themselves.)

“Only In Dreams” started off on acoustic and ended in a satisfying wall of noise, while “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)” witnessed some interesting interpretive dance moves from Bell.

A huge crowd singalong took over the chorus on “Island in the Sun,” with Cuomo noting “I’m feeling myself today!” before ripping into his guitar solo. Cuomo moved from guitar to keyboard for two songs before switching back to guitar on “Say It Ain’t So,” which had another massive crowd response.

“Hash Pipe” and their aptly titled “Thank You and Good Night” closed the main set before a quick encore break.

All four band members were atop the dashboard, where drummer Patrick Wilson had been stationed all night. After the instrumental “The Waste Land,” Weezer finished with “Surf Wax America” and a raucous “Buddy Holly” — two more songs off their debut.

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With such a voluminous catalog, Weezer managed to hit nine of their albums and several B-sides.

Some notable omissions included “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” “Dope Nose,” “We Are All On Drugs” and “Keep Fishin’,” as well as their cover of Toto’s “Africa” — although the original did play right before Weezer hit the stage.

Opening bands

Synth pop rockers Future Islands performed a high-energy set, punctuated by singer Samuel T. Herring’s sweat-drenched and intense theatrics. He bounced and danced across the stage, even attempting a belly slide on the concrete.

“We have fun up here, baby,” Herring said. “We have a lot of fun.”

As they were about to play “Before the Bridge,” Herring remembered a local connection: “I just realized this is about a girl from Pittsburgh.”

California rockers Joyce Manor opened the show with a set of short, catchy pop punk songs. The band, which released “40 oz. to Fresno” last year, had the crowd moving with “Constant Headache” and closer “Catalina Fight Song.”