See Weird Al Shred Accordion With Weezer on ‘Africa’ Cover
Halfway into Weezer’s über-ironic cover of Toto’s “Africa” at Wednesday’s Los Angeles concert, they leveled up. “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic!” Rivers Cuomo exclaimed.
Yankovic came out with a serious look on his face, accordion in hand and doubled up Cuomo’s guitar solo. He then took the mic for a round of “Hurry boys, she’s waiting there for you” and joined in on the chorus. When they finished, Cuomo and Yankovic faced off with each other and shredded on their instruments.
Weezer unveiled their cover of the Toto hit this past spring as a response to the Twitter account @WeezerAfrica begging them for months to play it. The band obliged the fan and threw in a nasal cover of Toto’s “Rosanna” for good measure. When Weezer debuted “Africa” live at a June taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live!,Toto keyboardist Steve Porcaro joined them for the instrumental break. They’ve since made it a staple of their summer tour set lists.
Amused by the cover, Toto responded in kind in July with their own cover of Weezer’s “Hash Pipe.” “We figured since we were smoking hash since before they were born, that’s the one we should do,” guitarist Steve Lukather told the audience in Vancouver where they debuted the cover. “This is our tribute to Weezer. God bless ’em.”
Weezer are close to wrapping up a summer tour where they’ve been supported by the Pixies. The final date of the trek will be in Phoenix this weekend. Weezer then have a couple of dates without Pixies next week.