Weezer Plays All the Hits You Love
These days, the alt-rock veterans have set lists down to a science
1. Buddy Holly 1994
Weezer used to save their most iconic hit until the last song of the night, but lately they’ve discovered it works even better as an opener. “It reminds people who we are, where we came from, and how much we all love this band,” explains Rivers Cuomo.
2. Beverly Hills 2005
Next up: Another big hit to keep the energy up. “It’s been interesting to see the evolution of our audience over the years,” Cuomo muses. “One of the general impressions I have is that kids today are better dancers. It’s so much fun to watch the audience now when ‘Beverly Hills’ kicks in.”
3. Pork and Beans 2008
The opening run continues with this rebellious anthem. “I recently started swearing,” Cuomo says. “So on the last line of that song, instead of saying, ‘I don’t give a hoot about what you think,’ I say, ‘I don’t give a fuck about what you think,’ and I stick up my middle fingers.“
4. El Scorcho 1996
After a quick change in scenery — from the Happy Days set used in the “Buddy Holly” video to a garage with Kiss posters on the wall — they play this fan favorite from 1996’s Pinkerton. “For years, we didn’t play any songs from that album in our shows, so I’m sure by this point in the set, some fans might be worried,” Cuomo says. “In the first years of touring that album, it was just, like, crickets. Now, they’re all singing along with Brian [Bell] on the guitar solo.”
5. Happy Together
By now, with the crowd won over, they’re free to throw some curveballs — like this cover of the Turtles’ sunshine-pop hit, mixed up with a snippet of Green Day’s “Longview.” “Those are my two favorite decades of music, the Sixties and the Nineties,” Cuomo says. “It feels so right.”
6. Feels Like Summer 2017
“For me, that’s the most fun song to play,” Cuomo says. “That’s when we turn on the pyro. Each blast raises the temperature around me by about 30 degrees.”
7. Africa 2018
The main set closes with Weezer’s surprise-smash Toto cover. “You can definitely see this divide between the young people, who for whatever mysterious reason love that song, and the older Weezer fans, who are like, ‘OK, this is strange.’ ”
8. Pink Triangle 1996
“This is a wild card,” Cuomo says of the first song in Weezer’s encore at Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee. “It was fun to be back in a relatively small room. Everyone’s just packed in, sweaty, rocking out to a Pinkerton deep cut. What more could you ask for?”
9. Say It Ain’t So 1994
“I guess there’s one more thing you could ask for: ‘Say It Ain’t So,’ ” Cuomo adds. “You’ve experienced so much emotion throughout the set. That’s the only song left that could take it to an even heavier place.”