Review: In Tampa, Weezer goes for the gold during stacked alt-rock gathering [w/photos]

Weezer plays Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida on Oct. 14, 2026. Credit: Ryan Metcalf/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

In case you’re just waking up, Weezer has been on a roll. And it’s not just the “Buddy Holly” memes.

Last August, Rivers Cuomo and friends dropped their seventh self-titled record (a.k.a. The Gold Album), perhaps their most nostalgic to date. If not for the references to QR codes and trees being knocked down for condos, almost every song could pass for a vault track Matt Sharp worked on while still in the band almost 30 years ago.

And this may have to do with how Cuomo has been more flexible about sharing songwriting duties of late. He didn’t receive a writing credit on three Gold songs, two of which were played Wednesday night at Tampa’s Benchmark International Arena.

Following a quick video about a kid who telepathically hypnotizes Weezer to perform in his backyard in an effort to impress other kids, the dorkiest posse in rock entered through a white picket fence attached to a prop house, in between two utility poles.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate a thing called Weezer,” Cuomo began, thinking he was Prince while kicking into Gold’s “Shine Again,” written by drummer Patrick Wilson. Later, guitarist Brian Bell showed off his own songwriting chops on “The L.A. Sound.”

And non-Cuomo-penned Weezer tunes weren’t even the rarest parts of the night.

On “Keep Fishin’,” a silhouette of Kermit The Frog was seen wandering around in the windows of the prop house, which was better than having no Muppets at the show at all. And to make matters even better for afficianados of 2002’s Maladroit, Cuomo shouted out fans of that record (the first to feature Scott Shriner on bass) before jumping into super deep-cut “Slob,” which hadn’t been played live since 2005 before this tour. “Aloo Gobi,” from the criminally-underrated OK Human, was also a nice, orchestra-free surprise.

And speaking of lack of celebration (well, other than a recent merch drop), Pinkerton, which had its own 30th birthday last month, did get its flowers with a handful of tracks sprinkled in. As a rainstorm showed on the screen behind the guys, the fear-of-being-alone anthem “No Other One” was dusted off, which also hasn’t been a regular on tour since the early aughts. And perhaps the Weezerverse agreed that “Across The Sea” should have been retired years ago, because a fake power outage cut the song short. From there, a campfire was built and Cuomo pitched doing an acoustic set while waiting for the “Tampa Bay Power Company” to pop by and fix things.

And for those who spent their COVID-19 isolation going down the ‘90s Weezer rabbit hole, that power outage was the greatest thing that ever happened.

Cuomo slid right into his devastatingly relatable wishing song “Longtime Sunshine,” which would have been the tear-jerker of the year, had it been played in D major, like its original demo. Quick to follow was “In The Garage,” with Cuomo rocking the mouth harp and leading a three-part harmony chorus between himself, Bell and Shriner.

He soon found and pulled a hidden power switch to restore the lights, and immediately headed to his own drum kit to bang the cans on “Pork and Beans” while Wilson, who was strumming an acoustic during the campfire section, got to stay in his guitar groove for another song.

Few career retrospectives dig as deep as The Gathering tour did. Wilson would come up from behind the kit and play guitar on and off in the early 2010s. Despite his early success, Cuomo was an emo wreck in the mid-90s. And of course, the guys are no strangers to bringing eye-popping openers with them on the road.

The Shins play Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida on Oct. 14, 2026. Credit: Ryan Metcalf/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

In the last decade, they’ve shared local bills with Panic! At The Disco and the Pixies, respectively. This year, we got a pretty gnarly double-feature.

If you grew up in a Zach Braff-loving household, nothing went quite as hard as falling asleep to the “Garden State” soundtrack—featuring a few songs by The Shins—in the back of your parents’ minivan. The band hasn’t been on the road since 2022, but main creative force James Mercer admitted that he’s really warming up to playing arenas. “It’s pretty cool. I’d recommend it,” he quipped after a fresh-as-ever “Caring Is Creepy,” played half a step down. In the arena spirit, keyboardist Patti King (who was providing some staggering backing vocals behind Mercer) then asked the crowd to do the wave over the band’s cover of Hot Chocolate’s “Every 1’s a Winner.”

The Weezy’s fellow Angelenos Silversun Pickups kicked the evening off with an all-too short opening set that ended with a quick reminder from frontman Brian Aubert: Decency is punk as fuck. And as if co-founder Nikki Monninger’s bass and vocal work wasn’t incredible enough, during Weezer’s set, she exited the prop house in a golden cloak to duet with Cuomo on two tracks from Gold (“We Might as Well Be Strangers,” “Go Away”) as well as another shocking, pre-Pinkerton banger, “I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams.”

Deep down, Cuomo probably wants to pull a Brian Wilson and finish Songs From the Black Hole, his long-shelved rock opera that ultimately evolved into Pinkerton. And if Wednesday night’s mind-blowing setlist was any indication for how deep into his catalog he’ll go, who’s to say that’s a crazy idea?

See Ryan Metcalf’s photos below.

Credit: Ryan Metcalf/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay