“Weird Al” Yankovic is formally closing in on the present file of 150 reveals carried out at New York’s Madison Sq. Backyard. “Simply 149 extra and I’ll be all tied up with Billy Joel,” he advised the MSG crowd on Saturday early in what was his first-ever live performance on the iconic enviornment.
The joke got here after a honest second, when the 65-year-old parodist and comedy musician took time to understand the place his legendary profession had taken him. “Usually instances actually huge moments in your life come and go so shortly that you could’t actually get pleasure from them when you’re in them,” he stated earlier than stepping away from the mic and letting the applause of a sold-out crowd wash over him and his band.
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It’s potential that line was a setup to the following track, “One Extra Minute,” however the landmark of lastly taking part in MSG appeared to truly make “Bizarre Al” emotional. I’ve seen him play main festivals, giant theaters, orchestral sets, and even stripped-down Carnegie Corridor concert events, and but his “Bigger & Weirder Tour” cease at this world-class enviornment, over a decade faraway from his final parody track, nonetheless felt like a well-deserved victory lap.
Extra so than earlier treks, “Greater & Weirder” features as a retrospective of the peerless “Bizarre Al.” The primary third featured just one parody — opener “Cheesy” — together with “fashion parodies” from totally different eras (the CSNY-esque “Mission Assertion” and my private favourite, the They Would possibly Be Giants-riffing “The whole lot You Know Is Fallacious”) and his current “Polkamania.” Contemplate that part proof that anybody pondering Yankovic is “simply” a parody songwriter is solely misinformed.
Then the video interludes and costume modifications took over, a collage of traditional “Bizarre Al” visuals that followers have liked for many years. Yankovic donned his Kurt Cobain wig for “Smells Like Nirvana,” and the band placed on yellow hazmat fits and crimson dome hats for “Dare to Be Silly.” Even through the medley, which included “Occasion within the CIA,” “Ode to a Superhero,” “Eat It,” “Like a Surgeon,” “Phrase Crimes,” and extra, Yankovic made fixed outfit swaps, an impressively breakneck reminder of simply how a lot this man has completed.
These video clips emphasised the purpose. Amidst a long time of AL-TV-style movie star interviews and an edited model of his CollegeHumor Whiplash bit, dozens of clips from “Bizarre Al’s” popular culture crossovers had been proven. Cameos from 30 Rock and Bare Gun, references in King of the Hill and The Simpsons, and voice roles like Journey Time had the group laughing as a lot as something really sung.
After “Fats” (one thing you can by no means write in 2025 however had your complete viewers screaming, “Ding dong, man! Ding dong!” because the music video intro performed) the setlist dipped into fashionable movie and tv initiatives. He sang the “Captain Underpants Theme Music” and the Weird: The Al Yankovic Story closing credit unique “Now You Know” (full with a number of faux out endings). The hardly 30-seconds-long “It’s My Wold (and We’re All Residing in It)” theme from Disney’s short-lived Milo Murphy’s Legislation, which Yankovic starred in alongside one Sabrina Carpenter, introduced loud cheers from the viewers’s youthful members, proof that the children aren’t simply into “Bizarre Al” as a result of their dad and mom are nerds.
Whereas the shortage of something from UHF felt odd, there was the additional cover of Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al,” persevering with Yankovic’s more moderen custom of sticking a totally unironic cowl in the midst of his units.
Issues closed out as you may anticipate: hits “eBay,” “White & Nerdy,” and “Amish Paradise.” The encore of “We All Have Cell Telephones” (a callback to an AL-TV Michael Stipe interview proven earlier within the night time) gave solution to the one-two of “The Saga Begins” and “Yoda,” full with Darth Vader, Storm Troopers, and a working R2D2 sharing the stage.
With all these touchstones from all through “Bizarre Al” Yankovic’s profession, it’d be sufficient to for “Greater & Weirder” to be a memorable fan occasion. Nonetheless, it was elevated much more by the enlargement of his band’s traditional lineup, with Probyn Gregory (identified for his work with Brian Wilson), Payton Velligan, and Monique Donnelly serving to develop the tunes for this arena-sized tour.
It’s honest to say there are dozens of different songs longtimers may need wished to see on the setlist, and a seated ground part introduced a barely stifled vitality to the present. Regardless of that, the viewers rose to their toes in uproarious applause quite a few instances, giving “Bizarre Al” standing ovations that represented gratitude not only for a tremendous present, however a profession that has introduced pleasure to generations of followers for many years. There has by no means been and can by no means be something or anybody like “Bizarre Al” Yankovic, and the “Greater & Weirder Tour” is a celebration of that greatness. Your transfer, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Get tickets to all of “Bizarre Al’s” “Greater & Weirder 2025 Tour” here. We additionally suggest getting their early to catch opener Puddles Pity Occasion; seeing how the clown’s set turns right into a love letter to Kevin Costner with a “Stairway to Heaven” transforming of the Gilligan’s Island theme set to Waterworld and a surprising tribute of “My Coronary heart Will Go On” is to not be missed. See photographs of each Puddles and “Bizarre Al” beneath.
