Review: Weezer goes ‘Blue’ in latest Gen-X package tour to pack a Minnesota sports venue

With all that going on, it wasn’t surprising the group seemed a little distracted and not fully strapped in upon takeoff on opening night. The crowd stood rather stone-faced in the opening song “II. Anonymous.” Frontman Rivers Cuomo — a notoriously unanimated bandleader — seemed especially wooden and distracted even as fans sang along with delight to “Dope Nose” and “Pork and Beans” early in the set.

What little talking Cuomo did between songs was also filled with less-than-stellar interstellar comments.

“We are 30 light-years out from ‘The Blue Album,’ ” he said near the start. “We are happy to be going back. Thank you for coming on this dangerous and important mission.”

Weezer saved its full “Blue Album” performance until the end, which worked out way better than the spacey banter. In the interim, it loosely worked its way backwards chronologically from 2000s-era hits such as ”Island in the Sun” and “Beverly Hills” to “Getchoo,” “Pink Triangle” and two more songs off what is actually the band’s best and weirdest album, 1996′s “Pinkerton.”

By the time Cuomo and Co. got to “My Name Is Jonas” to kick off the “Blue Album” segment, they were locked into orbit.

Of course, the band has been playing “Blue” tunes like “Buddy Holly” and “Say It Ain’t So” at all of its concerts since 1994, so no surprise those songs soared. But the guys also showed bursting energy in lesser-played album cuts like “The World Has Turned Against Me” and the lengthy, space-jammy closing song “Only in Dreams.” There was no encore after that — and nothing odd about that, either. Mission accomplished.