There’s been a rumor floating around for a long time about a supposed joint tour with Weezer and Slipknot that was planned in 2002. Specifically, a photo floats around every once in a while of Rivers Cuomo posing between Jim Root and Chris Fehn. Was this taken at a short-lived Sleezer tour?
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Ultimately, the Sleezer Tour was a myth. The photo is real, though, taken at the Reading Festival in 2002. However, as many posts claim, it’s not actually “the only known photo” from an abandoned Sleezer Tour.
Additionally, there’s another post that goes around occasionally that seems to point in the Sleezer direction. A section of a Spin interview with Weezer apparently backs up the claims of the 2002 tour, around the time that Weezer’s album Maladroit came out.
“I had this idea for a co-headlining tour, us and Slipknot, Sleezer,” said Cuomo, allegedly. “I’m all about rap metal now, I wanted to do this. Everyone said it wouldn’t work but I believed. Turns out everyone was right. Once we met and started going over logistics, it became pretty clear it wouldn’t work.”
Sleezer Tour Rumor Persists Despite Being Debunked
However, this interview has been proven to be fabricated. There’s no mention of Slipknot in the Spin interview from 2002. More hopes for Sleezer dashed.
The fact that Sleezer has been debunked doesn’t stop people from believing it when it turns up again. Last April, the site Nu Metal Agenda posted an April Fools joke about the tour, framing it as a new Sleezer announcement for 2025.
“This has been long in the works,” said Rivers Cuomo in a quote that was exclusive to Nu Metal Agenda. That should have been a clue right there. “I’m a huge fan of them and have heard they’re fans of us as well. We think this is going to work amazing together.”
Many fans still want Sleezer Tour to happen, even though it seems like the bands would be “incompatible.” Still, if it did ever happen, a trade of cover songs might be a requirement. Seeing Corey Taylor sing “Buddy Holly” would be its own reward.
Photo by Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images/Mick Hutson/Redferns
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