If there is any concert to see this summer, just go and buy tickets for “Weird Al” Yankovic’s Bigger And Weirder Tour. Don’t even think twice, and if you have kids bring them along too because from experience, they will love it. I am not saying this because I’ve been a fan of Weird Al since 1996, one of my first pieces of music I owned on cassette was Green Day Dookie, Insomniac, and the “Gump” single with Spy Hard on the b-side. No, I am not saying this because my humor wouldn’t be the way it is without Weird Al, MAD Magazine, Mel Brooks, or Andy Kaufman. No that isn’t it either, I am saying go to this show because no matter who you are you will be laughing and entertained for two hours straight while forgetting every worry in the world.

Opening this tour is Puddles Pity Party, and unfortunately due to arriving late I missed photographing and watching his show. I’ve always heard good things about his show, but I will have to wait to catch the show next time. One of the entertaining parts of Weird Al’s shows are the film clips spliced throughout the show. The comedic clips feature clips of shows, movies, and some where Al added himself in later. As his show began, it was a whole new clip with a giant Weird Al accidentally terrorizing a whole city which then breaks into the song “Tacky” from Mandatory Fun. By the third song Al and his band performed his most recent single, 2024’s “Polkamania!”, which continues his long-standing fan favorite polka medleys.

As the show started to heat up, Al would take to the crowd and sing “One More Minute”, a not so love ballad where Al himself would get uncomfortably close to people in the audience to sing a line of the song. Each time, let it be security or a fan could not keep a straight face when you are nose to nose with Weird Al. During this song is when you know from here on out this show is going to get crazier. As the stage gets set for the first costume change of the night, a video of “Another One Rides The Bus” is shown from the mocku-biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

Watching Weird Al perform songs like “Smells Like Nirvana”, “Dare To Be Stupid, “Fat”, along with a medley of songs like “Eat It”, “Like A Surgeon”, “Party In The CIA”, and others, he brings the music videos to life. Music videos back in the 80’s and 90’s was as important as the songs themselves to where the music videos even become iconic themselves. Weird Al parodied the songs along with the music videos which they too became iconic and seeing his characters live just leaves you smiling and laughing.

Obviously Weird Al and his band can’t dress in costumes the whole night, the magnitude of a production would take forever and be exhausting. However, by mid-set we get songs that don’t need different outfits for they hold merit on their own like “Captain Underpants Theme Song”, a cover of “What Is Life” by George Harrison, and “It’s My World (And We’re All Living In It)”. Kids will know some of these songs, as mine did, and this added onto their love for Weird Al since they are now seeing who is behind some of these songs they hear on their favorite cartoons.

The back half of the night we get to see Weird Al and the band go back in costume with “White & Nerdy” and “Amish Paradise”, again making the music videos come to life to where you can’t help but laugh out loud. From costumes to even attitude, everyone nails their parts flawlessly. For the encore they bring back the joke from earlier with Michael Stipe and play “We All Have Cell Phones” to which they epically finish with “The Saga Begins” where it turns into the waiting que of Disney’s Ride Of The Resistance. A line of stormtroopers and Darth Vadar stand intimidate behind the band as they play the song. After some characters leave, the band finishes off the night with another Star Wars parody song “Yoda”. By far the most memorable concert where each minute is enjoyed, funny, and exciting, from the clips on a big screen to the costume changes, Weird Al is the master at his craft. There is no one else out there doing what he does, and we all hope he continues for years to come.