Exciting news from the World of “Weird Al” Yankovic: a new, stripped-down tour is coming soon. Fans of the Weird One will be delighted to learn this tour is going to be different from previous tours. Al has long been known to put on a spectacular audio/visual performance, playing a mix of parodies and originals with numerous costume changes throughout the show. I should know; I’ve been to 12 “Weird Al” shows, beginning with the Off the Deep End tour. It’s an amazing show, documented for posterity on two different releases: 1999’s “Weird Al” Yankovic live and 2011’s Alpocalypse Tour Live.
The new tour will be a complete departure from this. For longtime fans like myself, this is a welcome change and should be interesting to see. I’ve always wondered how some of the classic Al songs will sound stripped down and who knows? Perhaps we’ll here older songs like Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung, School Cafeteria and Belvadere Cruising. Heck, I’d pay to see an acoustic version of Dare to be Stupid. What about Pac-Man and Dead Car Battery Blues (parts of which were later incorporated into Albuquerque)?
Billed The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour, Al and his band will play small venues across the country over 74 dates. A full list and a Q&A can be found here.
Will you be attending the tour? I hope to do so, but I suppose time will tell.
