Beachcomber Wellfleet, Cape Cod, USA

Cape Cod's only Oceanfront Restaurant and Bar

Weezer rocks Wellfleet
By BILL O'NEILL
STAFF WRITER
WELLFLEET - The trivia question: In what city was Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh born?

The answer: Syracuse, N.Y.
 

 Weezer bass player Mikey Welsh, right, drummer Pat Wilson and guitarist Rivers Cuomo perform for the crowd bused to the Cape for a radio station's promotional concert. Guitarist Brian Bell is hidden behind Cuomo.
(Staff photo by RON SCHLOERB)
 

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The prize: a bus trip from Boston to Wellfleet and back; tickets for two for a concert by Weezer, one of the "buzz bands" on MTV; and a Cape Cod clambake.

Michael Walsh of Everett knew the answer and called Boston radio station WBCN-FM for an entire day before getting an open line. Not only did he score the tickets, but he was smart enough to sit just behind the driver of the first bus, allowing him to be the first person in line for last evening's show at the Wellfleet Beachcomber.

"We're pros at this," he boasted. "This'll be our third time seeing them from the front row."

The radio station brought six busloads of rock fans to Wellfleet for the 30-minute show. Until Tuesday, fans had to answer a trivia question (Where did Weezer singer Rivers Cuomo go to college? Harvard) to snag a ticket. Then the station opened things up, awarding tickets to whomever was the right number caller.

When Jean Lin of Northborough said she dialed six or seven times to get through, several people around her groaned. "I used two phones for 16 minutes," said one Weezer fan. "We used four phones for eight hours," chimed in someone who served as a reminder that "fan" is derived from "fanatical."

California-based Weezer plays a lighter, pop-oriented version of alternative rock. The quartet broke big in 1994, when their songs "Buddy Holly" and "Unwound" received steady play on MTV. Two years later, the band's second CD, "Pinkerton," flopped. The band re-emerged last year as part of the alt-rock Warped Tour. A third CD, "The Green Album," debuted two weeks ago and landed at No. 4 on the Billboard charts.

At the Beachcomber, Weezer performed before 300 people. In the audience, punk-style piercings were outnumbered by the dorky, thick-framed glasses favored by singer Cuomo. A few people wore Abercrombie & Fitch duds, but the dress code for most of the fans (median age: 19 or so) was thrift-shop geek chic - the kind of clothing Richie Cunningham would have worn on the TV show "Happy Days" if Mrs. C fell behind with the laundry. That makes sense when you consider that Weezer's breakthrough video, "Buddy Holly," was a tribute to the '70s sit-com.

Weezer played a few songs from the new CD ("Photograph," "Island in the Sun" and the hit single "Hash Pipe"), but drew the biggest audience response with old favorites like "Say It Ain't So" and "Undone."

After the show, band members autographed CD booklets and T-shirts by the front door as fans passed by on their way back to the buses.
 
 
 
 

Clambake with Weezer. May 30, 2001.

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