On April 17, from The Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, California, Weezer, along with the LA Philharmonic and the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, put on a very special live stream. 

This wasn’t your average live stream, though; it was something just a little bit more unique. Even before the stream started, fans were chatting away in the designated area, and you could feel the hype within the community.

The orchestra were all seated at a socially distanced several feet apart behind the band, some of whom were wearing masks. So even though the live stream was a happy break from the usual COVID news and conversations, its presence could still be felt. 

Of course, the sense of covid related things could not be removed from such an evening even if they had wanted to as they were playing the album OK Human in full. An album that was released in response to covid 19 delaying their original planned release Van Weezer.

Lead singer Rivers Cuomo was seated at a piano, drummer Patrick Wilson, bassist Scott Shriner, and guitar player Brian Bell were evenly spaced out on the stage. They opened straight away with the first track from OK Human, ‘All My Favorite Songs,’ and we knew that the set would be full of exactly that. As they played the songs in order of the tracks on the album, each blended into the next seamlessly.

The blend of classical instrumentalization from the orchestra and the band’s instruments was perfect. It sounded as if they had always been intended to be played that way. The conductor was a joy to watch as he animatedly guided the expert musicians throughout the performance. Once Weezer had finished the entirety of OK Human, they moved onto some other songs, starting with ‘Hero’, the second single from their upcoming album Van Weezer. 

It was not as heavy as the version fans had already heard, which sparked some discussion in the chat. Next up, Cuomo donned a guitar and played the classic song ‘Say It Ain’t So’ in the spotlight; it was beautiful to watch and hear. They continued to play a few more songs before knocking out their Toto cover ‘Africa’.

Then the moment we had all been waiting for, the Weezer hit, ‘Buddy Holly’ began to play. The chat lit up, and although it was exciting, it was also a sign that the performance was about to end. And just as abruptly as it started, the stream cut out, and that was fun over for the fans for at least one night, that is. 

The live stream was very effective at getting the fans excited to hear new material as, of course, there was never an OK Human tour. One thing is for sure it has definitely got us excited for the upcoming Hella Mega Tour, where they will appear alongside Fall Out Boy and Green Day.