Weezer staged an acoustic rooftop concert in Venice Beach on Friday as part of a week of fan events tied to the announcement of their ‘The Gathering’ arena tour and upcoming new single.
Rivers Cuomo and company set up atop the Hinano Cafe for a five-song acoustic set that leaned heavily on classics — “Undone – The Sweater Song,” “Buddy Holly,” “Island in the Sun” and “Say It Ain’t So” — alongside “Go Away,” with Best Coast‘s Bethany Cosentino guesting.
The rooftop performance was part of a broader run of Los Angeles-area activations the band dubbed “Weezer: The Gathering – Initiation Week,” which also includes a Weezer-themed trivia night at Barney’s Beanery and a pickleball tournament featuring the band members themselves, scheduled for March 30.
The events follow Thursday’s announcement of The Gathering, a 32-date North American arena tour launching September 8 in Sacramento and wrapping October 24 in Los Angeles, with The Shins and Silversun Pickups serving as support throughout.
The run hits major arenas including Chase Center in San Francisco, United Center in Chicago, TD Garden in Boston and stops across Canada, before closing out at the band’s home turf. Artist presales begin March 31.
The tour comes ahead of “Shine Again,” a new single dropping April 1 from Weezer’s yet-untitled 16th studio album — their first on Reprise/Warner Records and their first new LP since 2021’s Van Weezer, which was followed by the four-part SZNZ EP series in 2022.
The album arrives at a milestone-heavy moment: 2026 marks the 30th anniversary of Pinkerton, the 25th anniversary of The Green Album and the 10th anniversary of the Grammy-nominated White Album.
The rooftop pop-up also comes as Weezer are enjoying a renewed wave of streaming attention, with “Go Away” — the Cosentino-featuring track from 2014’s Everything Will Be Alright in the End — going viral on TikTok and landing in the Top 40 of the Daily Viral Songs chart, accumulating roughly a million streams per day.
Formed in Los Angeles in 1994, Weezer have sold more than 10 million albums in the U.S. and over 35 million worldwide. Their debut Weezer (The Blue Album) remains one of the most enduring alternative rock records of the ’90s, producing enduring singles “Buddy Holly” and “Undone – The Sweater Song.” “Beverly Hills,” from 2005’s Make Believe, became a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
The band most recently toured North America in 2023 on their ‘Voyage to the Blue Planet’ run commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Blue Album, and headlined the Hella Mega Tour with Green Day and Fall Out Boy, which grossed $92.2 million worldwide.
