Weezer – Grand Casino Arena – September 20th, 2026

Weezer with The Shins and Silversun Pickups – Grand Casino Arena – September 20^th, 2026

Review and photos by Kate Klaus

Weezer brought “The Gathering” Tour to Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Sunday night, turning the arena into one giant, wonderfully nerdy house party. With Silversun Pickups and The Shins along for the night, the show pulled together several generations of alternative rock before Weezer capped it all off with a set that was nostalgic, playful and full of surprises.

Silversun Pickups opened the night with a short but powerful five-song set that wasted little time getting to some of the band’s biggest songs. Brian Aubert’s vocals were smooth and pensive through “Well Thought Out Twinkles” ,“The Wreckage” and “Dots and Dashes (Enough Already).” They saved two of their most recognizable tracks for the end, closing with “Panic Switch” and “Lazy Eye.” It was a compact set, but one that packed plenty of the band’s signature dreamy distortion and explosive alternative rock energy.

The Shins followed with a much different energy, bringing their melodic, indie-rock sound to the arena with a set that stretched across their catalog. Opening with “Simple Song,” they moved through songs including “Australia,” “Saint Simon,” “Heartworms” and “Kissing the Lipless.” The latter half leaned heavily into fan favorites with “Caring Is Creepy,” “Phantom Limb” and “New Slang” before “Sleeping Lessons” closed their set with a snippet of R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” It was a fun lead in to the energy that Weezer was set to bring.

Then it was time for Weezer, and the stage itself immediately established the personality of the show. A little house sat among power lines and a fence, all washed in a warm gold aesthetic that made the massive arena feel strangely like a backyard neighborhood gathering, befitting of the tour name “The Gathering” and for a band whose music has always had a certain awkward, homemade charm to it. Early in the show, Rivers Cuomo joked that they wished they could do something new, but everybody just wanted to hear the ’90s stuff. Judging by the reaction to songs like “Surf Wax America,” “The Good Life,” “No Other One” and “Across the Sea,” he wasn’t exactly wrong, but they did bring something genuinely new to St. Paul as they debuted “The LA Sound,” giving the Brian Bell-penned song its first-ever live performance. It was a cool moment tucked into a show otherwise filled with songs that many fans have carried with them for decades.

That mix of old and new was especially noticeable looking around the arena. Some of the sweetest moments of the night came from seeing little kids enthusiastically throwing up the Weezer “W” with their hands. For a band whose breakthrough album arrived more than 30 years ago, seeing an entirely new generation singing and celebrating right alongside longtime fans was pretty special, and it was moving to see so many kids and teens at a show with this fun and connected energy.

Weezer also made sure St. Paul got its own version of the show. During “Beverly Hills,” Cuomo changed the lyrics to reference living in St. Paul, Minnesota. Later, “Pork and Beans” got another Minnesota nod with Prince worked into the lyrics. And during “El Scorcho,” the famous Green Day reference was swapped out for The Replacements — an especially appropriate change in their hometown.

Some of the best moments, though, came when the concert stopped behaving like a normal concert altogether.  At the end of “Across the Sea,” sparks flew and the entire stage suddenly went dark as if the house had lost power. The band “called” the power company, with “Island in the Sun” hilariously serving as the hold music while they waited. It led into a stripped-down acoustic section beginning with “Longtime Sunshine,” followed by “In the Garage.” The unexpected instrumentation, including clarinet, and the band members switching up their usual roles made the whole sequence feel spontaneous and intimate despite being inside an arena.  The instrument swapping continued with “Pork and Beans,” as drummer Pat Wilson moved to guitar while Cuomo took his place behind the drums. It was exactly the kind of slightly chaotic, playful moment that fit the whole house-party concept.

Silversun Pickups bassist Nikki Monninger later returned to the stage to join Weezer for “We Might as Well Be Strangers,” “Go Away” and “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams.” Her playful energy fit effortlessly into Weezer’s world, and her appearance became one of the most fun collaborations of the night. From there, Weezer went straight for the songs almost everyone in the building knew. “Undone – The Sweater Song,” “El Scorcho,” “Say It Ain’t So” and “Buddy Holly” turned the final stretch into one massive singalong. For the finale, a fan was brought into the action for an enthusiastic air-guitar performance from her seat as confetti exploded through the arena. “Island in the Sun” carried the celebration through the end while inflatable pool animals and floaties bounced around the crowd, transforming Grand Casino Arena into something between a rock concert, a pool party and the strangest neighborhood gathering imaginable.

After more than three decades, Weezer clearly understands exactly what people come to see them for. The nostalgia is a huge part of it, but this never felt like a band simply going through its old hits. Between the house-party theme, local lyric changes, unexpected instrument swaps, guest appearances, staged power outage and sheer silliness and playfulness of some of the moments, The Gathering ultimately felt like exactly what its name promised with generations of Weezer fans coming together for a night that celebrated the songs they grew up with, the songs new fans are discovering now and all the wonderfully weird fun that has kept Weezer unmistakably Weezer.