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Members of Jealous Sound perform on stage in The Cooperage Monday night as part of the Optimus Pr

So you thought you’d left that teen angst behind when you came to UCLA. There wasn’t going to be any more weeping in the bathroom over boys. That was high school.

Let’s face it though – no one’s ever too old to be thrown right back into that awkward, uncomfortable state of mind. Take, for example, the Optimus Prime Time concert in the Cooperage on Monday night. There was enough emo-pop to bring out the inner prom/chemistry-class/smoking-in-the-boys’-room demons in anyone.

The show that was arbitrarily named for one of the all-time greatest Transformers was opened by local scenesters The Silversun Pickups. The band has also recently opened for Elliott Smith and is doing its best to propagate its mellow brand of rock. The Silversun Pickups were the weakest act of the night, playing music that purposely avoided dynamism. It was loud monotonous rock that relied on uninteresting sampler effects.

Fairview, the second act, also perpetrated the dull sampler technique, but on the whole played a much more satisfying set. They invoked the spirits of high school in references to the Max and Zack Attack, and in the undeniably youthful guitar rock they play.

Their best songs were the faster, catchier tunes, which sounded perfectly fit to be played in a party scene on any number of shows on the WB. Their more intense songs lacked the emotional substance to be truly engaging, but it was all easy enough to listen to them.

The one major hitch the show encountered was extremely long downtimes between sets. The small Cooperage stage didn’t allow for more than one band to have equipment on stage, so it got an entire makeover between each act, which made it hard for the show to get momentum.

Headliners the Jealous Sound also came out with a guitar assault and an emotionally nostalgic sound. Less poppy than Fairview, the Jealous Sound brought out the angsty side of high school. Sporting a Billy Corgan-esque bald head, the lead singer also had about the same amount of personal issues to wail through as the egghead alt-rock icon.

This set was not particularly dynamic either, but it didn’t offend, and it was free and on-campus and at least as worthwhile as most of the schlock playing around Westwood movie theaters.