Weezer opened The Gathering Tour on Tuesday (9/8) in Sacramento, and even though it was in support of their newest record, they only included three cuts from it on their 26-song setlist.
After a video showing a young boy being rebuffed by Weezer's manager because he only had 98 cents to pay the band to play at his house, the group somehow got his flyer and were mesmerized by its symbols and arrived in his yard.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered today to celebrate a thing called," Rivers said to the crowd while strapping on his guitar, "Weezer."
The quartet then opened with the new tune, “Shine Again,” from what is being called The Gold Album. It was their single that dropped on April Fools Day.
I pity the fool who didn't connect the fact that the Gold album's tour kick off is at the Golden 1 Center in the Golden State.
This is now the third time Weezer has headlined a show at the 19,000 capacity Golden 1 Center, home of the NBA's Sacramento Kings.
Their first visit was in 2019 for the North American Spring Tour, and they returned in October of 2024 for the Voyage to the Blue Planet Tour.
Speaking of the Blue Album, sharp eyed fans will notice that the address of the house on the stage they are playing in front of has the number 2226 on it, which was the address of the West Los Angeles home on Amherst street that they rented when they arrived in LA.
It's where they wrote and recorded their debut LP. They also shot the videos for two of the singles off that album. Sadly the home was demolished a few years ago along with a few blocks of that neighborhood to make room for a giant new structure.
Weezer's lineup is as reliable as their hitmaking and this year celebrates its 25th year together.
Front and center is Rivers Cuomo (guitar, vocals, Gemini), Brian Bell (guitar, Sagittarius), Scott Shriner (bass, Cancer) and Patrick Wilson (drums, Aquarius).
That lineup underwent a little switcheroonie about halfway through the gig when Rivers got behind the drums and Pat put on his guitar for "Pork and Beans."
Not only did Rivers keep the beat beautiful, while singing the Top 100 song from 2008's Red Album, but Pat did a beautiful job on the guitar solo.
What followed was a short drum solo from Rivers and then Pat played a little bit of "Eruption" to the delight of the fans in Sacramento.
Was there a smidge of pyro during "Hash Pipe"? You betcha.
But perhaps the nicest surprises were the songs that the band dusted off for the Maladroit fans and others.
The gents put “Keep Fishin’” back in the setlist for the first time since 2018. Pinkerton's “No Other One” got its first full-band performance since 2019.
“Lonely Girl” off Everything Will Be Alright in the End returned for the first time in a dozen years. And “Slob,” which hadn't been played in more than 20 years made its comeback.
A little less than half of the show were bangers from the first two albums, which is typical Weezer. And much like many of the predictions and wishes I have put out in the universe, none of the 19 live debuts I yearned for last month were performed yesterday.
Say it aint so, indeed.
One of the extra nice things that happened on Tuesday that you don't see too much is Nikki Monninger of Silversun Pickups, who opened the show, joined Weezer for three songs. If you're lucky sometimes one of the openers will do one song, but three is just wonderful.
Nikki performed "Go Away," "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams," and Weezer's latest single, "We Might as Well Be Strangers" with the fellas, giving them that feminine voice we never realized was missing all these years.
The Gathering Tour, which also has The Shins on the bill, continues tonight down the Interstate 80 at San Francisco’s Chase Center. Then it goes north to Portland, Vancouver and Seattle and then crosses the country through October, wrapping the North American leg at Staples Center in Los Angeles on 10/24.
Get your tix on Weezer's website.
The Gathering Tour
9/9 Chase Center, San Francisco, CA
9/11 Moda Center, Portland, OR
9/12 Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC, Canada
9/13 Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA
9/15 Maverik Center, West Valley City, UT
9/16 Ball Arena, Denver, CO
9/18 iHeartRadio Music Festival, Las Vegas, NV
9/20 Grand Casino Arena, St. Paul, MN
9/22 United Center, Chicago, IL
9/23 Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI
9/25 Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON, Canada
9/26 Place Bell, Laval, QC, Canada
9/27 TD Garden, Boston, MA
9/29 Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, PA
9/30 Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
10/2 Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
10/3 Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC
10/4 Lenovo Center, Raleigh, NC
10/6 Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
10/7 Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, WI
10/9 Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
10/10 State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA
10/11 Kia Center, Orlando, FL
10/13 Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, FL
10/14 Benchmark International Arena, Tampa, FL
10/16 Toyota Center, Houston, TX
10/17 American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
10/18 Moody Center, Austin, TX
10/20 Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix, AZ
10/21 Viejas Arena, San Diego, CA
10/23 T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV
10/24 Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA
