Riverbend Festival opens with Weezer this Wednesday

For the last two decades, every time a Riverbend Festival lineup was announced, there were always undercurrents from fans asking why the festival couldn’t book Weezer.

“Weezer has been in the top five most-requested acts for many years,” confirms Dixie Fuller, Riverbend talent and production coordinator.

Well, Weezer fans, this is your year.

The Los Angeles rock band will open the 2019 Riverbend Festival on Wednesday, May 29, at Ross’s Landing.

And the timing couldn’t be more perfect since this month is the 25th anniversary of the release of Weezer’s self-titled debut album, yet the band is still bringing its A game with its remake of Toto’s “Africa,” one of the tracks on “Weezer (Teal Album).” The teal album was the first of two studio albums the band released during the first three months of this year; the other was “Weezer (Black Album).”

Fuller says Riverbend actually had Weezer confirmed to play about six years ago, “but there was a marketing mishap and they decided not to do the show.”

Fuller believes Weezer is the perfect act to kick off Riverbend “because they are just such a good rock ‘n’ roll band. They’ve played every major festival in the country with very good results.”

Weezer has sold 9.2 million albums in the U.S. and over 17 million records worldwide. Their megahits include “Buddy Holly,” “Undone (The Sweater Song),” “Say It Ain’t So,” “Island in the Sun,” “Beverly Hills” and “Pork and Beans.”

Weezer has been nominated for four Grammys, won once for “Pork and Beans” Best Music Video; won five MTV Video Music Awards and earned two iHeart Radio Music Award nominations for “Africa.”

Fuller also dropped this tease about Keith Urban’s Saturday performance: “Riverbend has every reason to believe Keith Urban will be going out into the crowd.”