[ATTENDED: September 29, 2026] Weezer
This is my fourth time seeing Weezer. I’m not a huge Weezer fan and I know they’ve released some real stinker songs, but when they hit it right, they absolutely nail it. And their shows are a lot of fun.
This is the first time I’ve seen them headline in a pretty long time. I remembered their 2018 show was a great spectacle showing the band progress through the years. But they went all out for this show and it was a blast!
The show began with a video of a kid drawing pictures like those in the poster to the right. Some bullies mocked Nicholas for drawing his weird Ws and Nicholas said that Weezer were playing at his house tonight. The kids don’t believe him. Nicholas wishes really hard and the weird symbols he’s drawing start to glow and Rivers received the message about a show that night. He grabs the band and they head to Nicholas’ house.
The stage had been setup to look like a back yard. There was a house (!) as well as telephone poles (with sneakers on the wires) artificial turf and a picket fence. On the screen, the guys approach a fence and then walked through the fence on stage. A simple detail, but really fun. The screen converted to a backyard scene with a swimming pool and trees and everything. It looked really convincing (despite being obviously fake).
The story was played out though the whole night (even if the guys in the band are TERRIBLE actors–so bad! Rivers’ “let keep this party going” and things were pretty sus but who cares).
They started playing a brand new song (I don’t now the album all that well, but everyone on the floor sure did). In addition to showing the band on the stage, the cameramen in the front row went back an forth to the folks in the front row, and most of them were singing along.
And then came what was mostly a greatest hits selection of songs, but with quite a few deep cuts as well.
I don’t really know what the Weezer fans especially like, so I wasn’t sure what we’d hear (aside from a few obvious songs). So I was surprised to hear Surf Wax America second. Not exactly a deep cut but not one I would have thought would get an airing.
Rivers asked where the Maladroit fans were at and then played 2 songs from that album (a few songs apart), which I haven’t listened to in ages. I did recognize Keep Fishin’ but I, along with the entire room was really psyched when they started Hash Pipe. Because no matter how dumb this song is, the riff and the chorus are just fantastic and so much fun live. And, just to make it even more awesome, there were jets of fire shooting up during the bridge and chorus! Awesome.
They kept up the fun with the first (of many) songs from Pinkerton. At previous shows I’ve heard one or two songs from my favorite Weezer album, but tonight we got five! The Good Life (which the crowd went berserk for and which had what I’m guessing is a black hole on the video screen) and No Other One (a weird, fun song–this is the first time I’ve seen them play it) back to back. During this song, the screens made it look like it was raining on them. During most of the songs, the house windows were screens with people partying inside. Nice attention to detail!
After announcing that Everything Would Be Alright in the End, an album I actually forgot about, they played two songs from that one as well (again, several songs apart). Lonely Girl was followed by the other Maladroit song Slob. I had forgotten about this song, but the fans didn’t and they LOVED shouting SLOB! SLOB! (and the plumes of smoke that were sent up during the chorus). They also enjoyed making the Weezer hand gesture and many of them had hand written signs too.
The new album (Weezer) is the gold album and evidently people were encouraged to wear gold to the show. There were many gold capes and top hats and a few people in gold suits. I didn’t see this ahead of the show but the word was: “Wear gold to the Gathering and you just might get upgraded.” I sure hope some of those golden fans did get upgraded (I’m sure they did as the show was in no way sold out). The screen turned into a gold picture frame and the cameras scanned around for gold people to put on screen as they played the two new songs C.E.O. and Say Yes (someone had a sign that said Weezer Say Yes!). For these songs the screen turned into a tunnel and it looked like we were traveling underground.
Then they returned to the hits with a ripping version of Beverly Hills, another dumb but catchy song and Rivers even sang living in Philadelphia. I was really surprised that the played Across the Sea, a deeper (somewhat problematic) song from Pinkerton, but again, so catchy.
When the song ended, there was a huge explosion and sparks flew from the telephone poles and the stage went dark. They called Philly Power Company (ha) which had Island in the Sun as muzak. The guys wandered around in stage in the dark wondering what to do and after a few minutes the fences were removed and a bonfire was lit (so much fire!). They said they had no power (although Scott Shriner was playing an amplified bass) and so Pat Wilson played guitar (I had no idea he could) and Brian Bell played clarinet as Rivers sang one of his solo songs (that I didn’t know). That went so well, they played another song acoustically. This time, In the Garage (with Rivers on harmonica).
Then Rivers noticed a giant power switch on the side of the house. After asking if he should flip it (yes!) he flipped it and the Weezer W lit up above the stage. And Rivers noticed that a drumset had been delivered next to the mailbox at the side of the house. So Rivers played the drums and Patrick played lead guitar for the even stupider and even more excellent Pork and Beans (“Benjamin Franklin knows the way to reach the top of the charts”). So not only can Patrick play guitar, he’s really good. When the song was over, Rivers “challenged” him by playing a (decent) drum solo and then Patrick played a part of Eruption (Van Halen) and Rivers chased him down grabbing his guitar back (funny stuff).
The next song up was My Name is Jonas and the crowd exploded (along with more smoke). After Aloo Gobi, a song I vaguely remembered, they played my favorite Weezer song. I can’t believe that I’ve never seen them play Pink Triangle before. Rivers said that back in 1996 the record execs said not to release this song, but the fans have proven them wrong. The screen displayed tarot cards with the main one having a large pink triangle on it. For one of the songs, the screen turned into a UFO with the beam of light sucking up each member of the band when they were on camera–low tech but fun to see.
After this song, the house started glowing. Rivers said he’d check it out but when the light grew brighter, he said that Patrick would check it out. But before anyone could do anything, the door opened and Niiki Monninger from Silversun Pickups came out with a long cloak on and a gold star wand. She sang We Might as Well Be Strangers (which sounded great). Rivers invited her to stay out on stage for a couple more songs (which was good since she didn’t get to sing lead during their short set). Next they sang Go Away which EVERYONE knew really well, except me. I thought it was a new song , but it’s from 2014’s Everything Will Be Alright. Man, Weezer fans are seriously diehard. There was a small girl in the row in front of us and when they started this song, she gasped and jumped up and down.
So diehard, that they all went even crazier when they followed that with I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams which is a B side (or on the special edition of Pinkerton–actually the melody sounded familiar to me, but I never would have guessed it was a B-side). The girl in front of us gasped even louder for this one! Nikki sang lead on this song which was quite lovely. Then she took her wand, left the stage, shouted Go Birds, and closed the door.
And then came the ending part of the show–the major greatest hits section, with the crowd getting more and more excited with each song. First, Undone. The El Scorcho (“Goddamn you half-Philadelphia girls” and “I asked you to go to the Boyz II Men concert”)–they customized this show in little ways that were really fun. Then Say It Ain’t So. For the first chorus, the band stopped playing and everyone shouted the words.
Rivers implied that that was the end, but then a mailman came up on stage and put a letter in the mailbox. Then he waved to us and left. Rivers opened the letter and called out a kid’s name. The boy happened to be a few rows in front of us (I have no idea how this was setup ahead of time–I didn’t read anything about this). But he was called out to play the air guitar for Buddy Holly. He said he was up for it. They played the song and when the little solo at the end came up, the flash on the kid and he air guitared and then confetti shot out of cannons and the screens said “you’ve ben weezered.”
Such good natured fun. I had wondered why there were so many kids here. I mean, lots and lots of young people (a comment online about traffic leaving the place said that no one with kids would go to this old person’s show and they could not have been more wrong. The average age was super young (and lots of parents too).
That seemed like it would be the end, but they had one more trick up their sleeves. They started Island in the Sun and tossed all kinds of pool floaties out into the audience which the happily bopped around. I wonder who got to keep them.
The show was so fun and left everyone feeling happy. We left when the band was done, although they apparently did some thigs on stage (we could hear shouting) while we went down the escalator. I thought we had made it out before the AC/DC show (which was AT THE EXACT SAME TIME IN THE BUILDING NEXT DOOR) but the exit I like to use was closed so we got stuck in the parking lot traffic and then in the combined Weezer and Ac/DC traffic jam. It took us 45 minutes to get to the highway, so a relatively early night turned into getting home after 1AM.
But even that couldn’t dampen the good vibes from the show (but it certainly dampened the vibes of going that venue again).
| 2026 Xfinity Center | Hella Mega, August 20, 2020 | |
| Shine Again ♦ | Jump [Van Halen taped intro] | |
| Surf Wax America β (2) | Hero √ | |
| Keep Fishin’ ≅ (2) | Hash Pipe ξ (3) | |
| Hash Pipe ξ (4) | All the Good Ones √ | |
| The Good Life ρ (2) | Beverly Hills ⊗ (3) | |
| No Other One ρ | The End of the Game √ | |
| Lonely Girl ⇔ | My Name Is Jonas β (3) | |
| Slob ≅ | Pork and Beans ® (3) | |
| C.E.O. ♦ | Feels Like Summer Φ (2) | |
| Say Yes ♦ | All My Favorite Songs ⊕ | |
| Beverly Hills ⊗ (4) (“living in Philadelphia, PA”) |
Undone – The Sweater Song β (3) | |
| Across the Sea ρ | Surf Wax America β | |
|
Longtime Sunshine (Rivers Cuomo song)
(Brian on clarinet, Pat on acoustic guitar) |
El Scorcho ρ (3) | |
|
In the Garage β (2)
(Rivers on harmonica, Pat on acoustic guitar)
|
Island in the Sun ξ (3) | |
|
Pork and Beans ® (4)
(Pat on lead guitar, Rivers on drums;”Benjamin Franklin knows the way to reach the top of the charts”)
|
Africa (Toto cover) ¥ | |
| My Name is Jonas β (4) | California Snow ♠ | |
| Aloo Gobi ⊕ | Say It Ain’t So β (3) | |
| Pink Triangle ρ | Buddy Holly β (3) | |
|
We Might as Well Be Strangers ♦
(with Nikki Monninger)
|
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|
Go Away ⇔
(with Nikki Monninger)
|
||
|
I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams ∉
(with Nikki Monninger on lead vocals)
|
||
| Undone – The Sweater Song β (3) | ||
|
El Scorcho ρ (4)
(“Goddamn you half-Philadelphia girls” and “I asked you to go to the Boyz II Men concert”)
|
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| Say It Ain’t So β (4) | ||
| Buddy Holly β (4) | ||
| Island in the Sun ξ (4) |
| PNC Bank Center, July 20, 2018 | Sands Bethlehem, December 3, 2016 |
| Buddy Holly β (2) | California Kids ϖ |
| Beverly Hills ⊗ (2) | Hash Pipe ξ |
| Pork and Beans ® (2) | My Name is Jonas β |
| Undone – The Sweater Song β (2) | (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To Ø |
| (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To Ø (2) | Pork and Beans ® |
| Perfect Situation ⊗ (2) | Wind In Our Sail [Live Debut] ϖ |
| My Name is Jonas β (2) | Jacked Up ϖ |
| El Scorcho ρ (2) | Perfect Situation ⊗ |
| In the Garage β | Thank God for Girls ϖ |
| Why Bother? ρ | Beverly Hills ⊗ |
| Happy Together (with a snippet of Green Day’s Longview) | Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori [Live Debut] ϖ |
| Keep Fishin’ (Brian Bell sings lead) ≅ | Undone – The Sweater Song β |
| Island in the Sun (Rivers solo) ξ (2) | Island in the Sun ξ (with Rivers’ acoustic solo version of Kiss’ “Beth”) |
| Take on Me (Rivers solo) ¥ | King of the World ϖ / Only in Dreams β |
| Burndt Jamb ≅ | Say It Ain’t So β |
| Hash Pipe ξ (2) | encore |
| Feels Like Summer Φ | El Scorcho ρ (Rivers solo on piano for first verse) |
| Africa ¥ | Buddy Holly β |
| encore | |
| The Good Life ρ | |
| Say It Ain’t So β (2) | |
| Paranoid (Black Sabbath cover, partial) |
β Weezer (blue album) (1994)
ρ Pinkerton (1995)
∉ Good Life single (1996)
ξ Weezer (green album) (2001)
≅ Maladroit (2002)
⊗ Make Believe (2005)
® Weezer (red album) (2008)
Ø Raditude (2009)
Hurley (2010)
⇔ Everything Will Be Alright in the End (2014)
ϖ Weezer (white album) (2016)
Φ Pacific Daydream (2017)
¥ Weezer (teal album) (2019)
♠ = Weezer (black album) (2019)
⊕ = OK Human (2021)
√=Van Weezer (2021)
♦ Weezer (gold album) (2026)
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