Weezer’s The Gathering Tour: Reaching Across Generations
Jordan Nease
The last time I was able to see Weezer live on tour was almost exactly 10 years ago during their 2016 summer tour paired with Panic! at the Disco. I was 15 and just beginning to become completely infatuated with going to small shows and arena-sized concerts with my fellow music loving father. The Maladroit and Weezer (Self-Titled) CDs that I had bought from Walmart didn’t do justice to the near religious experience that live music is able to create. I stand here a decade later, in the photo pit standing face-to-shoe with Rivers Cuomo, a figure that shaped my music taste from the moment I listened to Beverly Hills on the custom burned mix CD I received for Christmas when I was 7 years old. My 15-year old emo, blue-haired self would have never fathomed such a gig was possible, and I can imagine there were hundreds upon hundreds of children, pre-teens and teens in attendance experiencing similar origin stories as my own.
The Gathering tour feels like a massive multi-generational celebration with layers upon layers of depth and thought put into it. Silversun Pickups and The Shins as the openers were an incredible choice, two bands that I love and am confident that the indie rock fathers taking their kids to their first concert love as well. I think it’s important that Cuomo and Co. chose these early to mid-2000s rock peers to tour with, not only as fan service to the post-90s indie pop rock lovers, but to indoctrinate a new era of pretentious indie rock children. From what I observed, the audience seemed thoroughly engaged, especially when the first notes of The Shins hit single Australia started to play, the room felt electric. That is what I want to see the youth grab on to.
The fanbase, from what I’ve observed, consists of anyone and everyone of every background and age - it’s safe to say that the people love Weezer and Weezer is for the people. The slogans for the tour, “All are welcome,” and “Join us all ye listeners, old & young,” seemed to get the message across to the public. I absolutely loved seeing the music loving parent-child dynamic that I had experienced in my youth, it was genuinely heartwarming - and it’s not just about being dragged along to some old hair band that your parents loved in the 80s. Gen Alpha loves Weezer, and I think that has a lot to do with how well the band has adapted to the sarcastic and irony-soaked culture of today. Weezer’s discography is built upon a tongue-and-cheek, lighthearted, joke padded yet earnest style of writing and it’s no surprise that this continues to identify with the upcoming generations today. That, and TikTok of course. There were several instances of the band referencing TikTok and online meme culture - at one point the massive LED screens said “You just got Weezer’d,” Rivers Cuomo exclaimed that he and Nikki Monninger of Silversun Pickups will be singing the “TikTok Song” when they duetted the track Go Away, and Cuomo mentioned online discourse in regards to Pink Triangle. This unfaltering attention to pop culture and the ability to take it on the chin has played into their favor of keeping a younger audience engaged in a way that feels completely organic.
Jordan Nease
Weezer’s show itself was executed with an extremely high level of craftsmanship. Despite the whopping 26 song setlist, it was very easy to stay engaged with the band without feeling the need to check your phone out of boredom. Just when there would be potential down-time to think “Man, this is a long show…” they would reel you back in with one of their many, many hits. I had forgotten just how many of Weezer’s songs I know every word to by heart. I was especially pleased that they played Keep Fishin’ from their 2002 record Maladroit, a track I didn’t expect to hear but got incredibly stoked about. It wasn’t just me, it felt like everyone in the Columbus Nationwide Arena knew every single word to every single song. There were a significant amount of people who memorized the lyrics to tracks on their most recent record, Weezer, the gold self-titled album, not to be confused with the blue Weezer of old. I had listened to the newest body of work a few times and I enjoyed it quite a bit, it harkened back to their early 2000s style of writing, however I never quite memorized all the songs - that was not the case for a large portion of this crowd. It’s very clear that Weezer is a band of industry pros: they know exactly how to keep the crowd energetic, they know what the people want, and they execute it extremely well.
One of the most striking aspects of the night was the fact that their set had a storyline, and I absolutely loved it. Essentially, the concept for The Gathering tour revolves around a young boy being bullied by his peers, and going on to tell them he would invite Weezer to play at his house. His tormentors laugh it off, but the boy insists he can make it happen. He calls Weezer’s agent, to no avail, and as a last resort he scribbles down some ancient Weezer related symbols and incantations. The band is essentially possessed by this kid’s spell and shows up to the backyard of this kid’s house to play the gig. Once the band walks out onto stage after the introductory cutscene, you get a real sense of being in this boy’s backyard - it’s the largest house show of all time and it absolutely rules. The set design consists of the back wall of a house, a white picket fence, a bonfire for the acoustic portion of the show when the imaginary home’s power goes out, and other various suburban backyard features. This entire plot line and setup did an outstanding job at keeping the audience engaged, and it will definitely stand out as one of the most memorable shows of the year for me personally.
Jordan Nease
The Gathering tour achieved exactly what it set out to do: It reached across and touched the hearts of all different generations of music lovers and concert goers. It touched the heart of my inner 15-year old self. This was genuinely one of the most positive shows I had been to in a while. The general admission pit was extremely kind and welcoming to me, offering to make room for me to make sure I could see, or scoot me up front to the barricade, which I politely declined so that the gold-painted posses and tried and true Weezer-heads could have their moment. The opening bands were excellent, Weezer’s ability to keep the crowd energetic and excited was impressive, and their hits were hitting harder than ever. The execution of such a tour is operating at a very high level, and I would highly recommend picking up a ticket in your city for the remainder of the tour, especially if you haven’t seen them play live before.
And they played Pork and Beans, which is awesome.