Last night, during a performance at The Forum in Los Angeles, Weezer welcomed out a zany special guest to add some accordion to a live cover of Toto‘s ubiquitous 1982 hit, “Africa”. To close out their set, Rivers Cuomo told the crowd that Weezer would take them on a distant voyage to the continent of their choice, jokingly throwing out “Europe” and “Australia” as options before launching into “Africa”. As the song reached its climax, Cuomo welcomed out Weird Al Yankovic to add an (actually) ripping accordion solo to the performance. You can watch crowd-shot video of the band covering “Africa” with Weird Al below:
Weezer w/ Weird Al Yankovic – “Africa”
[Video: Brian James]
This Weird Al-assisted rendition of “Africa” is the latest in a long line of Internet-fueled, inside joke-informed Toto/Weezer stories in recent months. It all started with a fan twitter account, @WeezerAfrica, which spent the better part of a year drumming up an online movement to convince the band to cover “Africa”. The band finally responded to the campaign by covering Toto’s other 1982 hit, “Rosanna”, during a show this past May. After the trolling “Rosana”, the band finally relented to their fans’ requests, covering “Africa” at a show and releasing a studio version as a single, which has gone on to become Weezer’s highest-charting release in years. Then, late last month, Toto added to the Weezer “Africa” saga by announcing that they’ve recorded their own cover of a Weezer song, “Hash Pipe”, in response to the bizarre online human-interest saga.
Weezer closes out their summer tour with The Pixies and Sleigh Bells this weekend with a performance at Chula Vista, CA’s Mattress Firm Amphitheatre on Saturday, August 11th and at AK Chin Pavilion in Phoenix, AZ on Sunday, August 12th. For a full list of the band’s upcoming tour dates, head to the band’s website.
[H/T Rolling Stone]