Voyage to the Blue Planet was a 2024 concert tour by the American rock band Weezer. The band first teased a 30th anniversary tour for their self-titled debut studio album (commonly known as the Blue Album) in December 2023, and officially announced it in March 2024. It took place in North America and consisted of 24 shows, with 22 in the United States and two in Canada. It was produced by Live Nation and was sponsored by Citigroup.
The show featured The Flaming Lips and Dinosaur Jr. as opening acts, and had an outer space aesthetic. Its plot concerned the band traveling to the dying Blue Planet, which they saved by playing the entire discography of the Blue Album. Songs from other albums, including Pinkerton, the Green Album, and the Red Album, were also played during the tour. The tour received generally positive reviews from critics who praised the show's camp aesthetic and performance from the band. A concert film showcasing the band's performance in Boston was also released.
In a December 2023 interview, Steve Weintraub of Collider asked the members of Weezer about plans to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their debut album Weezer (commonly known as the Blue Album), which was first released in May 1994.[1]Rivers Cuomo, the band's lead vocalist, said that, while there had not been a big commemoration for the album's 20th anniversary, the band intended to celebrate the 30th anniversary with "a really amazing deluxe package with a bunch of additional material" and "some kind of epic tour".[1] Cuomo added that their touring schedule was free after June 2024, hinting that an anniversary tour may happen in the following months.[1]
In February 2024, Cuomo made a post on his Facebook account with a link to "BlueVoyage2024.com" along with the caption "Are you prepared for the voyage?"[2] The website asked visitors to sign up for an email mailing list and said, "The voyage takes flight on March 11, 2024".[2] Several news outlets stated that the "Blue Voyage" could be a reference to an anniversary tour for the Blue Album.[2][3]
On March 11,[4]Live Nation Entertainment announced that presale tickets for the tour, officially called the "Voyage to the Blue Planet", would be available to members of the band's mailing list starting on March 13.[5] The tour was scheduled to begin in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on September 4 and run for 22 shows, concluding in Inglewood, California, on October 11.[5] The tour would be produced by Live Nation and sponsored by Citigroup, with presale tickets also available to Citigroup card holders.[5] General admission tickets would open on March 15, and would be available through Live Nation's sister company Ticketmaster.[6] The rock bands Dinosaur Jr. and The Flaming Lips would serve as opening acts for the tour.[6][4]
Separate from the tour, Weezer also planned to perform an anniversary concert on March 15 at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles with Dogstar serving as their supporting act.[5] In June 2024, Weezer added another show in Palm Desert, California, on October 12, which would serve as the tour's final show.[7] Additionally, a second show was scheduled for September 15 in Washington, D.C.[8][9] Following the tour's conclusion, Weezer said that it had been their "best tour ever".[10] The band later played the setlist during the Bumbershoot music festival in Seattle on August 30, 2025.[11][12]
Concert synopsis
The show began with a breaking news alert announcing a voyage into outer space, before segueing into a countdown.[13] At the end of the countdown, the band appeared on stage, clad in astronaut gear, while a spacecraft lifted up, leaving behind white clouds.[13] Cuomo told the audience that they were embarking on a "very dangerous mission",[14] traveling 30 light years away to save the Blue Planet.[13] Over the course of the show, the band interacts with an alien known as Bokkus, who serves as the main antagonist for the band.[15][note 1]
Throughout the first part of the show, the band played songs from several different albums, such as "Hash Pipe" from the Green Album and "Pork and Beans" from the Red Album.[13] During several of the songs, visual motifs appeared on a large screen behind the band, such as red planets during the Red Album song "Troublemaker" and palm trees during their performance of "Beverly Hills".[13] During "Perfect Situation", the screen on stage showed the band's spacecraft engaged in a fight with Bokkus, who damages the ship.[16] Following this, the band is interrupted by a CGI character on the screen who informed them that they were stranded in the "Pinkerton Asteroid Belt",[13] prompting the band to play several songs from their album Pinkerton, such as "Why Bother?".[16]
About halfway through the show, the band landed on the Blue Planet,[13] which was depicted as a dull and dying planet.[17] Cuomo planted a flag bearing the band's logo and announced, "One small step for Weezer, one giant leap for Weezer-kind".[16] Cuomo also stated that the way to save the planet was to sing the songs from the Blue Album,[17] at which point the band began to play "My Name Is Jonas".[13] During this part of the concert, Bokkus battled with Cuomo and aliens named Weezeroids—resembling Cuomo—appeared on the screen.[16][note 2] Additionally, Cuomo told the audience that both he and the audience themselves were aliens.[13] This announcement was followed by a playing of "Undone – The Sweater Song".[13] Weezer ended the concert with a playing of "Only in Dreams".[19] During the song's crescendo, confetti cannons erupted, after which the band thanked the audience, their opening bands, and their crew before departing the stage.[13] Overall, the show lasted about an hour and a half.[19][16]
Critical reception
The tour received mostly positive reviews from critics.[20][18] Evan Minsker of Rolling Stone, in a review of the premier show in Saint Paul, said that the band has "reached new heights as an arena band".[21] He particularly praised the camp approach employed by the band, saying that the show felt like a combination of an Iron Maiden concert and Disneyland's Star Tours attraction.[21] Reviewing the Boston show, Chris Stevens of Boston.com said he agreed with The Flaming Lips' lead vocalist Wayne Coyne in calling the show "effing mind blowing", further stating that the show was "all camp, all fun".[13] Reviewing the same performance, Aiden J. Bowers of The Harvard Crimson praised the band's performance, saying they were "at their best", and said that the last moments of the show "brought out some of Weezer's best musical work".[16] In a positive review of the Nashville show, Audrey Gibbs of The Tennessean praised Cuomo's performance.[19]
Ethan Shanfeld of Variety gave an overall positive review of the tour, but criticized certain aspects.[17] This included the aesthetics, saying that at one point the show resembled a performance by The Wiggles, and song selection, criticizing the inclusion of a song from Pacific Daydream but none from the White Album.[17] James Sullivan of The Boston Globe gave a mixed review where he also criticized the aesthetics, saying that by the time the band began its performance of songs from the Blue Album, "the kitschy video-game backdrop had worn a little thin".[14]
↑ The character Bokkus was originally created by the band in 1992, prior to the release of the Blue Album.[15]Pat Wilson, the band's drummer, created the character's design and drew the character's face on his drumhead, which is visible in a photograph of the band's setup that is included in the inside cover of the Blue Album.[15]
↑ In their review of the tour, The Harvard Crimson called the aliens "Weezoids".[16] However, other sources refer to the aliens as "Weezeroids",[15][18] which is also the name used by the band in the concert film.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
