The very first concert I ever saw (aside from children’s entertainers like Charlotte Diamond) was “Weird Al” Yankovic at the Orpheum Theatre, in 1996 on the Bad Hair Day Tour. I saw him again in ‘99, but despite my enduring love for the legendary parody artist, I haven’t had a chance to see him live since then. So when he returned to Vancouver at the new PNE Amphitheatre for the Summer Nights Concerts series, I wasn’t going to miss him again.

Opening the tour was Puddles Pity Party, the pierrot whiteface clown act of Mike Geier. He came out and sat alone on stage as the music of Harry Carroll’s “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” played behind him & he sang, while a video of him literally chasing a person in a rainbow morph suit was on the big screen behind him. From there, his set consisted of covers accompanied by relevant videos — including an inordinate amount of Kevin Costner clips — as well as pulling audience members up on stage to join them.

Songs included “Let’s Give ‘Em Pumpkin To Talk About”, a version of the Bonnie Raitt classic about everyone’s favourite fall spice source, a mashup of the Gilligan’s Island theme song sung to “Stairway to Heaven”, and my favourite “Crazy Train” where he enlisted a small child to “play guitar” while clips of infuriating moments played behind them; people doing mundane tasks wrong, objects almost but not quite breaking, that sort of thing.

He capped off the set with Queen & Bowie’s “Under Pressure” with another guest he pulled on stage, fed snacks through the whole song leading to the final moment of the song, where the guest had to eek out the last words through a full mouth. He was a very fun opener, not just with his stage show, but a great singer as well!

Then it was time for the man himself, as the screens flickered on with the introductory video to the Bigger & Weirder tour, a kaiju-sized “Weird Al” Yankovic in a 50’s era city. While this played, the band filled the stage and started off with “Tacky”, the video screens showing Weird Al as he sang his way through the backstage area and appeared in front of the crowd. He quickly apologised that the show needed to begin with a powerpoint presentation before launching into “Mission Statement”, and then as the sun set, pulled out the accordion for “Polkamania!”, the 2024 version of his hit-song-medley.

The night wove through his forty-plus year career, hitting favourite parodies like “Smells Like Nirvana” and “Fat”, with appropriate costumes, as well as his originals, including “One More Minute” where he went up and down the aisles serenading fans, and the DEVO-inspired “Dare to be Stupid”, yellow radiation suits and all.

Every few songs there was also a burst of clips on screen (mostly when Al needed a costume change) that included everything from snippets of his biopic Weird to various cameos in TV & movies over the years, and of course some of his famous interviews with celebrities. He also included a couple of the theme songs he’s known for, like from the Captain Underpants movie.

Partway through the set, he started “Party in the C.I.A.” and then wove through a medley of parodies, including “Bedrock Anthem”, “My Bologna”, “Like a Virgin”, and “Canadian Idiot” would have blown the roof off the amphitheatre had it not been outdoors already.

Al also was having fun with longtime members of the band, initiating a couple drum solos from Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, which just consisted of a couple notes each, then when he solicitated requests from the crowd, he landed on the guitarist Jim “Kimo” West who cautiously replied “I dunno… some Bowie?” before launching into an actual cover (not parody) of “Suffragette City”.

The main set came to a close with two all time favourite parodies, “White and Nerdy”, which saw Al scooting around stage on a segway, and then a huge singalong to “Amish Paradise”, as it wrapped up with a bombastic musical number and Al introducing the band, as well as doing a couple James Brown-esque fakeouts, cape and all.

But of course there would be a couple more songs as stormtroopers filled the stage, and Al launched into… “We All Have Cell Phones” a short song inspired by his previously shown interview with Michael Stipe. But then, of course, he lead the amphitheatre as everyone sang along to “The Saga Begins” and finally capping off the two-hour set with “Yoda”, which included the famous rhythmic & hypnotic “Yoda Chant”.

Throughout the show, all the child-like wonder I had of seeing him the first time came flooding back. Not only is Weird Al an incredible performer, but the whole band is amazingly tight and the stage show is fantastically put together. Afterwards, my cheeks hurt from laughing and smiling the whole time, and I am so glad I went to see Weird Al again.

setlist
Tacky
Mission Statement
Polkamania!
Everything You Know Is Wrong
One More Minute
Smells Like Nirvana
Dare to Be Stupid
Medley: Party in the CIA / It’s All About the Pentiums / Bedrock Anthem / My Bologna / Ricky / Ode to a Superhero / I Love Rocky Road / Eat It / Like a Surgeon / Word Crimes / Canadian Idiot
Fat
Captain Underpants Theme Song
Now You Know
Suffragette City (David Bowie cover)
Skipper Dan
eBay
Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me
White & Nerdy
Amish Paradise
[encore]
We All Have Cell Phones
The Saga Begins
Yoda