Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo Showed Up on Late Night TV Painted In Gold

Weezer’s golden era is upon us, so the cherished rock band shared some of the glittery stuff with a late-night performance.

Rivers Cuomo and Co. stopped by NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a spot that aired Wednesday night (Aug. 19) — on the eve of the band’s self-titled release, also known as The Gold Album (via Reprise/Warner Records).

Cuomo came to entertain, and he stuck to the brief. For a performance of Gold Album cut “We Might as Well Be Strangers,” the band leader dressed from top to bottom in gold, complete with gold trousers, jacket, bow tie, top hat, and topped off with make-up that looked like he tangled with Bond villain Goldfinger.

Watch below.

Cuomo stayed in character when he and bandmate Patrick Wilson sat for a chat with Fallon.

After celebrating their debut album’s 30th anniversary in 2024 with a major sold-out tour alongside the Flaming Lips and Dinosaur Jr. as support, the band reconvened in Orange County and got down to the business of writing and recording. Klas Ahlundand and Kenneth Blume (FKA Kenny Beats) came on board handling production duties, and the four-piece went to work.

“What you hear on the record is something that could only be created by humans coming together and being vulnerable and creating something together,” Cuomo tells Fallon of the new LP. “It just can’t be created by AI or a somebody on their own working on a computer or something.”

The Gold project — the seventh in Weezer’s color-coded series of self-titled albums — drops Friday, Aug. 21, marking the 16th studio album since their debut Weezer (Blue Album) in 1994.

As previously reported, the band will support the new release with Weezer: The Gathering tour, kicking off in September with stops across North America. “The gathering has something to do with summoning sorcerers from all corners of the world to come into this,” Cuomo tells Fallon. “And I think this tour is something like that. We’re summoning all the different kinds of Weezer fans from around the world to come rock out with us.”

Watch the interview below.