I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 4, 2103] “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-Live at the Sands Bethlehem Event Center

I’ve seen “Weird Al” live four times now and I have never been disappointed by the show.  The first year my friend Matt and I waited out by the bus and got the bands’ (minus Al’s) autograph.  The second time we waited even longer and Al had an autograph (and picture taking) session in the theater after the show (how cool is that?).  Two years ago Sarah and I went together (her first Al experience) and now for this show, Matt and his wife and son and Sarah and Clark and I all went together.  And we had 8th row seats.  Matt and his family hung around afterwards and got to meet him, but we took off (with a tired youngster).  But next time… we’ll wait the extra 30 minutes.

I was marveling that when Sarah and I saw him in 2011, he had just started this tour (Alpocalypse had not yet come out).  Here he is over two years later still touring this album.  And, good for him.  He changed the set list around a little bit (I’ve never understood how bands could play the exact same songs night after night) but the biggies are all there.

Comparing the sets, it’s cool to see how many different older songs he threw in the mix, and of course the great cover of “Radio Radio” (Elvis Costello).  This was a totally faithful cover of the song and I just learned from Wikipedia that he plays this as a tribute to Costello’s 1977 appearance on Saturday Night Live (it’s a long but fairly interesting story).  It turns out that whenever Al has a computer malfunction he says, “I’m sorry ladies and gentlemen there’s no reason to do this song here.  “Radio Radio” (watch the Elvis video here).

It’s funny how sometimes you can’t even tell when there’s a technical glitch.  Although I suspected that something was up when he had Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz do a drum solo (an amusing joke from the earlier tours) and then had it followed up by a bass solo, keyboard solo and another drum solo (I feel privileged to have gotten to hear so many solos).

The show was great and being up close was a real boon–we caught streamers during “Canadian Idiot” and Al came down and made lewd and suggestive moves at people in our row during “Wanna B Ur Lovr” (this lady behind us was trying to take his picture and he just grabbed her camera away and put his face right in front of her–very funny).

As with the other shows, the band is impeccable–and this time there were lots of extras on stage too–a whole Star Wars cast during “The Saga Begins” and all of those people in costume hung around afterwards to let us take pictures.

There were rumors that Al was going to stop making records.  This proved to be false, but it got fans in a tizzy.  Nevertheless he will not stop touring and when he comes around again, we’ll definitely go.  Although I feel like he may either need a new “Fat” suit or maybe it’s time to retire the song.

Here’s a clip from the show (his Jim Morrison is fantastic).