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Feb 12, 2019 Calpurnia By Christopher Roberts

Weezer have shared a video for their cover of a-ha’s “Take On Me,” but in a twist it stars the band Calpurnia, which is fronted by Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things, who plays a younger version of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo. So it’s a video of a band pretending to be another band covering another band’s song. Oh, and the Carrick Moore Gerety-directed video also makes some references to a-ha’s original video for the song, in which a woman went into a comic book and which is probably one of the greatest music videos ever made. Check out Weezer’s video below, followed by a-ha’s original.

The “Take On Me” cover is taken from Weezer (The Teal Album), which is an album of covers of hit songs from the 20th century. Weezer surprise released the album last month and it includes their cover of Toto’s 1982 hit “Africa,” which was a big hit for Weezer last year. Weezer (The Teal Album) is out now via Crush Music/Atlantic. It includes covers of classics by Michael Jackson, Tears for Fears, The Eurythmics, TLC, Electric Light Orchestra, and more.

Weezer are releasing another new album, Weezer (The Black Album) featuring original songs, on March 1 via Crush Music/Atlantic. They previously shared two singles from the album: “Zombie Bastards” (via a video) and “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” which was shared via a music video that stars Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz as a ride share driver dealing with an amorous couple in the back seat. The album was produced by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek and, in a first for the band, the songs were entirely written by Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo on piano.

Back in May 2018 a teenaged Weezer fan named Mary convinced the band to cover Toto’s 1982 hit “Africa” via a jokey Twitter account fittingly named “weezer cover africa by toto.” At first Weezer covered Toto’s “Rosanna” instead, a song also featured on their Toto IV album (it’s the opening track, “Africa” is the closing track). But then a week later they actually covered “Africa” and it ended up becoming Weezer’s biggest hit in years. Toto had previously announced their intentions to cover Weezer’s “Hash Pipe” and then they did. Then Weezer shared a video of their “Africa” cover that starred “Weird Al” Yankovic as Cuomo in a recreation of Weezer’s 1994 video for “Undone - The Sweater Song.”

Read our review of Weezer (The Teal Album).

Weezer Tour Dates:

Weezer and Pixies Tour Dates:

3/8/19 Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
3/10/19 Columbia, SC @ Colonial Life Arena
3/12/19 New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden (with TV on the Radio)
3/13/19 Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
3/14/19 Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
3/16/19 Mashantucket, CT @ Foxwoods Resort Casino
3/17/19 Baltimore, MD @ Royal Farms Arena
3/19/19 Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
3/20/19 Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena
3/22/19 Memphis, TN @ FedEx Forum
3/24/19 St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center
3/26/19 Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
3/27/19 Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
3/28/19 Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena
3/30/19 St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
3/31/19 Madison, WI @ Alliant Energy Center
4/5/19 Nampa, ID @ Ford Idaho Center Arena
4/6/19 Portland, OR @ Moda Center
4/7/19 Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
4/9/19 Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
4/10/19 Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena
4/12/19 Las Vegas, NV @ Mandalay Bay Event Center
4/13/19 Indio, CA @ Coachella
4/20/19 Indio, CA @ Coachella

International Tour Dates (Support TBD):

6/29/19 London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
7/2/19 Hamburg, DE @ Stadtpark
7/4/19 Utrecht, HL @ Tivoli Vredenburg
7/7/19 Bologna, Italy @ Sonic Park
7/8/19 Zurich, CH @ Xtra

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