US rock band Weezer to perform NDP favourite Home at Singapore concert
American band Weezer’s concert at The Star Theatre on Wednesday will include something special for Singapore fans – a rendition of National Day Parade song Home.
Rivers Cuomo, frontman for the alternative rock stalwarts, has been practising too, and he sent this reporter a recording of him singing a note-perfect, stripped-down rendition of the beloved anthem, accompanied by a piano.
In a Zoom interview, the singer says he has been chatting with fans from Singapore on online discussion site Discord, which was how he found out about the 1998 ballad composed by Dick Lee and sung by Kit Chan.
“We’ve been talking about the (Singapore) show and how to make it special, and that song came up,” the 53-year-old says.
“We think about the set list very carefully, and we want to play a very long set. We play all the fan favourites because we don’t get to go there every year.”
Cuomo also asked the fans if there were any local phrases that he should say at the concert.
“Apparently, there’s something called Singlish. It’ll be fun for me to learn some of those phrases.”
At Weezer’s last Singapore show at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre in 2016, Cuomo performed an impromptu ditty about home-grown swimmer Joseph Schooling achieving Singapore’s first gold medal win at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The band also flashed a photo of another national swimmer, Tao Li, on stage to go with their 2016 track, Thank God For Girls.
And because the members are all into pickleball – a combination of badminton, ping-pong and tennis – they plan to play a few rounds of the sport while in Singapore, even in the heat and humidity.
“We go out in any weather – we actually just played in 110 deg (Fahrenheit) weather in Arizona. It’s so hot, but we love it.”
A temperature of 110 deg F is about 43 deg C.
Formed in 1992, Weezer also comprise drummer Patrick Wilson, guitarist and keyboardist Brian Bell and bassist Scott Shriner.
Their self-titled 1993 album – nicknamed the Blue Album because of the colour of the cover – and sophomore album Pinkerton (1996) have since been regarded as two of the most acclaimed alt-rock albums of the 1990s.
Weezer’s discography – comprising hit singles such as Buddy Holly (1994), Undone – The Sweater Song (1994) and Say It Ain’t So (1995) – influenced many indie and emo-rock bands that came after them.
In 2009, the band won a Best Music Video Grammy for Pork And Beans, a song from their sixth album in 2008, which was also self-titled and nicknamed the Red Album.
They released two albums – 14th album OK Human and 15th album Van Weezer – in 2021, and four EPs – SZNZ: Spring, SZNZ: Summer, SZNZ: Autumn and SZNZ: Winter – in 2022.
Cuomo has a reputation for being a prolific songwriter, with thousands of songs yet to be recorded, and he says Weezer are already planning their next album.
They will collaborate with Swedish producer Klas Ahlund, who has worked with musicians ranging from British pop singer Charli XCX to Swedish rock band Ghost.
Cuomo says: “I’m such a big Ghost fan, I eventually decided, ‘Hey, we should just use their producer.’”
But there will be no Weezer musical, as was reported in early 2023.
“Things keep changing at the moment, I’ve given up on that idea,” he says.
Book it/Weezer Live in Singapore
Where: The Star Theatre, 04-01 The Star Performing Arts Centre, 1 Vista Exchange Green
When: Wednesday, 8pm
Admission: From $98 to $188 via Sistic (go to www.sistic.com.sg or call 6348-5555)
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