Weezer return to their pop roots

Twenty years ago, Weezer were one of the biggest bands in Los Angeles, a quirky alternative-rock quartet riding high on the success of their self-titled 1994 debut.

Also known as the Blue Album, the triple-platinum presented a group - and a frontman, Rivers Cuomo - capable of turning anxiety and insecurity into fuzzy power-pop radio hits such as and . The basic idea was Nirvana for nerds, and it worked.

Then Cuomo freaked out, left the band, came back and made a record that flopped. Then he quit and came back again, which generated more radio hits, before he aimed for greater heights and eventually alienated his audience with an album that nobody liked: , released on an indie label in 2010, sold 133,000 copies - a fraction of the number did.

So when Cuomo and his bandmates performed on a soggy evening this summer at California's Del Mar Racetrack, the gig might have seemed like a stop near the end of the road. Only that was not at all how it went down: onstage before a concrete parking lot ringed with corn dog vendors, Weezer - with guitarist Brian Bell, bassist Scott Shriner and drummer Pat Wilson - sounded like a band in top form, rocking a crowd filled with people whose track tickets had allowed them to see the concert for free.

"Hello, horses," Cuomo said between songs. "Hello, humans." Then he led Weezer through their latest single, . The humans cheered.