Watch Weezer Play “Living In LA,” Sing Barbershop “Buddy Holly” With Jimmy Fallon On The Tonight Show
A reckoning is imminent. We, as a people, are still trying to wrap our collective head around The Teal Album, the surprise covers collection that Weezer released last month. And in two days, we’ll get a whole new Weezer album, and we’ll have to start the whole mental-processing cycle anew. Weezer’s The Black Album comes out on Friday, and last night, they were on The Tonight Show to play “Living In LA,” one of the new tracks that they shared last week. You’re never going to believe this, but they also engaged in shenanigans.
“Living In LA” is a typically inscrutable late-period Weezer rocker, with a big honking riff and lyrics that don’t seem to connect to one another on any kind of line-to-line basis. And Weezer dressed the part of visiting rock stars. Rivers Cuomo wore a jean jacket with his band’s logo on it and a Guns N’ Roses T-shirt, and he also ended things with an impressively blazing guitar solo. He’s been an actual rock star for decades, and yet the “rock star” drag he put on while performing seemed like one more costume for him. Weezer! Still perplexing!
And speaking of perplexing: While they were on the show, Weezer also took part in what I guess could be considered a “comedy bit” with Jimmy Fallon. Weezer, Fallon, and a couple of assorted Tonight Show types sang “Buddy Holly,” Weezer’s still-beloved 1994 alt-rock nugget, barbershop-style. (There were seven of them, so I guess it was a barbershop septet.) It was intolerable. Please enjoy the further defilement of whatever happy memories you might still associate with this song! Watch both videos below.
The Black Album is out 3/1 via Atlantic/Crush Music.