A few things make Rivers Cuomo seem like a bit of a nerd from the outset, such as his ubiquitous horn-rimmed glasses and Ivy League education. But neither stopped the Weezer frontman from achieving rock star status Friday night at Byrd Stadium.

At Student Entertainment Events’ 27th annual Art Attack concert, which also featured Ben Folds and local band Ivy Rose, Cuomo darted around the stage, smashed a ukulele and bounced around on a mini-trampoline. He punched the air and turned his microphone stand vertically while the band’s “W” logo shone in the background.

And he did all that for a much larger audience than last year’s performers. While more than 6,500 people were on hand to watch 2009’s headliner rapper Ludacris, this year an estimated 12,000 tickets were sold, according to Matt Adler, the concerts director for SEE.

After a host of SEE concerts centered heavily on hip-hop or rap in the past few years, including Ludacris, Lupe Fiasco and Girl Talk, “it was time to do a rock show,” Adler said.

Adler attributed the huge increase in ticket sales to both the notion that Weezer draws a naturally larger crowd than Ludacris and SEE’s more aggressive promotional campaign this year.

“It’s a much bigger show production than we’ve ever had before,” he said.

By the time Weezer began its set — a little after 8:30 p.m. — eight sections of Byrd

Stadium were entirely full, and an additional 3,700 attendees — those who came earliest and were given a special pink bracelet — stood in a general admission area, closer to the front of the stage. Originally, Adler said, SEE planned to let 5,000 people into the standing room area, but last-minute fire code restrictions forced the organization to reduce the number.

During the show, Weezer barreled through a career-spanning set list, rarely pausing between cuts as varied as “Can’t Stop Partying,” from 2009’s Raditude (on which Cuomo sang Lil Wayne’s verse from the album version) and “Buddy Holly” from 1994’s Weezer. 

In the encore, the band launched into a cover of MGMT’s “Kids,” which soon morphed into cover-within-a-cover of Lady Gaga (who Cuomo emulated by donning a blonde wig).

“It was incredible,” said Patty Lora, a freshman art major, who said Weezer has been her favorite band since she was 10 years old.

“They were just such good sports,” added Chris Schulz, a freshman letters and sciences major. “They came back for, what, three encores? That was great. It was just an awesome show.”

Though the night’s emphasis was obviously on the headliner, Folds was able to control a potentially unwieldy crowd during his set, which consisted of nothing more than the artist, a piano and some improvised percussion.

At one point, he invited the audience to sing the expletive-ridden second verse during his emotive cover of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit.” Later, he taught the thousands in attendance a three-part harmony to serve as background vocals during a powerful performance of “Not the Same” off 2001’s Rockin’ the Suburbs.

Though Folds’ set was sparse, even students unfamiliar with his music enjoyed the show.

“I’ve only heard a couple songs, so it was a lot more fun than I was expecting,” junior kinesiology major Jen Frame said.

But because Folds’ performance — and that of Ivy Rose, an all-girl band from Gaithersburg that provided a shot of adrenaline for the early arrivers — took place while the sun was still out, some saw it as not much more than a warm-up before Weezer took the stage.

According to Schulz, Folds’ set mostly seemed like a buildup to the headliner’s, which he said was “on another level.”

“I can’t wait to see what they do next year,” he said. “I’m really excited now.”

jwolper at umdbk dot com