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"Weird Al" getting tired but still a genius
Posted: Jul 04, 2008 in Music
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You could easily compare "Weird Al" Yankovic to Andy Kaufmann though it's hard to tell which one is more eccentric and awkward.
Yankovic played at the White Lies Lawn in White River State Park Thursday night to a mixed crowd ranging from pre-teens to cane-wielding parody lovers. Many people fit the nerdy, awkward personality Yankovic gives off and some even sported the "Weird Al" look - Jewish-fro approach to Jerry curls and colorful Hawaiian shirts.
Though the crowd lacked energy, Yankovic bounced around the stage taking on different characters for each song. In fact, he changed costumes for almost every piece in order to better fit the part. From a pimp, to geek, to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yankovic got into character for almost every song.
Yankovic also lampooned music artists in a fun, sometimes rude and satirical way. Between costume changes, "Al TV," a parody talk show only aired on special dates every few years, showed Yankovic interviewing celebrities with spliced excerpts of their responses. It was often difficult to tell what they were answering. The show starred Jessica "Sampson," who Yankovic insisted should "touch my poodle! The largest land mammal on earth," an inane Madonna and an angry "you kno' wha' I'm sayin" Eminem to name a few.
In concert, Yankovic comes off as more PG-13 than in albums with sexual innuendos and suggestive dancing as well as some homophobia all bombarding the audience at once. On "Al TV," Yankovic "accused" Eminem of flirting and Yankovic later sang about Gilligan falling in love with Skipper - a new song, perhaps a hint at another album?.
Despite the sexuality, if you've only listened to the albums, you're missing on the awkward, sometimes perverted humor - think, "The Office" - and the fact that might get to touch a living legend when he walks through the crowd, telling woman how much he loves the color of their toilet-blue eyes.
If you didn't attend, you also missed a line of dancing Storm Troopers during the song "The Saga Begins," a parody of "American Pie" as well as the always famous "Eat It" that won a Grammy Award in 1984 and parodies Michael Jackson's "Beat It."
The show was entertaining, though it felt more like an exciting picnic than a concert but that might be because of the outdoor venue and access to fairly comfortable lawn chairs. But it might be because Yankovic appears to be running out of energy. Of course, after being hyper for 49 years, who wouldn't?
Nonetheless, he's still a genius and funnier than any other music artist.
While the usual hits were present and accounted for, I wonder about doing 'Albuquerque' -- an 11-minute sing-speak stream of consciousness -- as the encore. When I had seen him before, 'The Saga Begins' and 'Yoda' served as the encores, with 'Fat' being done several songs before the end. (Al also seems to have stopped using the clip from 'UHF' where Michael Richards goes "You get...the firehose!" Poor Kramer. Even Weird Al is turning his back on him.)
I think part of the problem with the crowd's lack of energy was the venue's openness. In an enclosed place, such as the Murat, crowd noise is echoed and amplified, spurring the audience to clap even louder out of some sort of competition. Outdoors, the applause dissipates very quickly, giving people no reason to keep clapping or to clap harder.
I'd definitely agree with that
Has the Star stopped reviewing Classic Rock shows? In the past 5 weeks I have attended at Verizon, Eric Clapton who drew a good crowd, Joe Cocker and Steve Miller Band who drew a decent crowd and last night Steve Winwood and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers who had a sellout crowd, one of the few at Verizon. However none of these were reviewed. Do you guys just not want to drive to Noblesville?
I would have went but my wife hung up on me when I said I wanted to sit on the lawn and bring a blanket to lounge on. I guess she doesn't understand the Weird Al vibe...she though everyone would be standing the whole concert.
I went to the Weird Al show, and, after reading this article, felt I needed make a couple of comments.
First, if Al appeared to be "running out of energy," I'd suggest that this was related to the subdued mood of the crowd. Maybe it was the chairs, or the age of the audience, but the crowd sat for almost the entire show. In my experience, the energy of the crowd can energize the performer. Given the lack of energy of this audience, Al was manic by comparison.
As to the PG-13 humor, I wonder if the author has actually listened to any of Al's music. The "Amish Paradise" video had a couple of suggestive scenes in it, and that was several years ago. Moreover, the "Al TV" videos that were shown between songs were aired on MTV or VH1, if my memory serves me. Anyone who has seen those knows the level of Al's humor.
Lastly, any "homophobia" in the Al TV interview with Eminem was, to me, a comment on Eminem's own (alleged?) homophobia.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the show. As a casual fan of Al, I now have a much deeper appreciation for the man's comedy and musical talents.