Rivers Cuomo and Patrick Wilson sat down in a rehearsal space and wrote songs the way they haven’t since 1994 — the way they wrote the Blue Album, before it went 5x platinum and before three decades of output, mythology, and accumulated expectation settled around those original recordings. The album that came out of those sessions is The Gold Album, out August 21 on Reprise/Warner Records, and Weezer is carrying it into Moody Center on Sunday, October 18 as part of The Gathering, a 32-city fall arena run.
About the Show
The Gathering opens in Sacramento on September 8 and closes in Los Angeles on October 24. The Texas leg runs three consecutive nights: Houston on October 16, Dallas on October 17, Austin on October 18. The Shins and Silversun Pickups open all dates, a package that makes the case for alternative rock as a going concern rather than a nostalgia circuit. The previous two major Weezer tours were milestone-shaped: the Return to the Blue Planet arena run celebrated the 30th anniversary of the 1994 debut, and the Hella Mega stadium tour put them alongside Green Day and Fall Out Boy. The Gathering isn’t built around a catalog anniversary; it’s Weezer asking arena crowds to engage with something they haven’t heard yet.
The Gold Album is their 20th studio LP and their first with new label Reprise/Warner Records. Two singles are already in circulation: “Shine Again,” released April 1 (the press materials went out of their way to confirm it was not an April Fool’s joke), and “We Might As Well Be Strangers,” a June collaboration with Wednesday vocalist Karly Hartzman. The album was produced by Kenneth Blume and Klas Åhlund. By the time Weezer reaches Austin on October 18, the record will have been out roughly eight weeks — long enough for an arena crowd to arrive knowing the words. What the band’s press materials emphasize most is the writing itself: Cuomo and Wilson building songs from scratch together, the method they used for that first album and hadn’t returned to until now.
Venue & Logistics
Moody Center is at 2001 Robert Dedman Drive in Austin, part of the Austin region calendar. Showtime is 7:00 p.m. No age restrictions. The venue’s clear bag policy is in effect; details at moodycenteratx.com.
Tickets
Tickets are on sale now. Buy tickets