Weezer played a pop-up rooftop gig in Los Angeles as part of their ‘The Gathering’ tour “initiation week” – check out footage below.
- READ MORE: Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo: “If Taylor Swift ever wants to make a rock album, I’d love to help out!”
The band announced their upcoming US tour, which is set to kick off in September, earlier this week. As well as the dates, they also shared a series of “initiation” events, writing: “Before The Gathering Spreads, it is born in Los Angeles,” on Instagram.
These events kicked off on Thursday (March 26) with a “knowledge test” at the LA chain restaurant Barney’s Beanery, before an ominously titled “sunset ceremony” on Friday. Ahead of it, they hinted to fans that “all four” would be present, and that the location would be revealed, “to the chosen only”.
It turned out to be a Beatles-esque rooftop gig atop the Hinano Cafe, which saw Rivers Cuomo and co. play a five-song acoustic set that included Weezer classics like ‘Undone – The Sweater Song’, ‘Buddy Holly’, ‘Island in the Sun’ and ‘Say It Ain’t So’, as well as ‘Go Away’ featuring guest Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino.
Check it out below.
Further events include a pickleball tournament, featuring the band members, scheduled for March 30. Weezer’s ‘The Gathering’ tour kicks off September 8 in Sacramento and spans 32 shows, looping around the U.S. and Canada before concluding in Los Angeles on October 24.
The band will be joined by special guests The Shins and Silversun Pickups. You can see a full list of dates below, and find tickets here.
In other news, the band announced last month that they would be celebrating their 34th anniversary by re-releasing all their coloured albums on vinyl.
They also revealed that a newly-unearthed Weezer album consisting of early demos and rarities will be released on Record Store Day 2026.
The LP, entitled ‘1192’, is taken from the band’s early sessions in November 1992 upon formation. Founding bassist Matt Sharp discovered the record while looking through a series of “lost-album” master tapes.
The album is set to feature early demos of Weezer classics like ‘Say It Ain’t So’ and ‘Undone (The Sweater Song)’ – demos which would land them a record deal with Geffen in 1993.
With the help of Sharp as producer and Joe Chicarrelli on mixing, the record has been remixed from tape to vinyl in a fully analogue process. Three thousand copies will be made available to purchase on April 18. Check out the full list of Record Store Day 2026 releases here.
We last spoke to Weezer in 2024, when frontman Rivers Cuomo reflected on the making of their debut album, often referred to as ‘The Blue Album’.
“The one thing that struck me was how physically close we all were, not just the four of us, but there was a whole crowd of young men, packed into very small apartments in a very small part of Los Angeles, who were just constantly hanging out and talking, debating and discussing music and style, and we didn’t even have television sets back then so there was very little to distract us,” he told NME at the time. “And obviously we had no wives, children or girlfriends.”
Cuomo added: “When we released the ‘Blue’ album, I definitely felt like it was the greatest album of all time. I figured there was a chance I was wrong, but to me, it was my favourite album of all time and I assumed other people would feel the same way.”
