Weird Al Yankovic

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

June 15, 2019

About halfway through his performance at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Saturday night, Weird Al Yankovic disappeared backstage for one of his many wardrobe changes. In his absence, the screens behind and on either side of the stage began playing a montage of references to the Grammy Award winning satirist in popular TV shows.

Clips from "The Simpsons," "Friends," "King of the Hill," "30 Rock," "Family Guy" and even "Teen Titans" were shown, and each of them paid reverence to the longtime parody man, even if Hank Hill mistakenly believed Yankovic "blew his brains out in the '80s after people stopped buying his records."

When the singer-songwriter reemerged, he was donning an energy dome hat, goggles and a white coat for "Dare To Be Stupid," which mimicked the rock band Devo's entire catalog. Many of the lyrics were clearly insincere - Let the bed bugs bite. Put all your eggs in one basket. - but the song's general theme rang true.

Because Yankovic has made a career out of daring to be stupid. With 14 studio albums and nearly as many million sales to his name, the California-born comedian has made a good living from poking fun at pop culture. Occasionally, it has poked back, and he has taken it in stride.

At Saturday's show, Yankovic performed plenty of his well-known spoofs, from the Madonna rip "Like A Surgeon" to "Word Crimes," which shares a likeness with Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" but is infinitely more creative.

He also played some of his deeper cuts, including "The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota" and "Harvey The Wonder Hamster," which Yankovic told the crowd he has always wanted to perform live but felt ill equipped to do so without the backing of a symphony orchestra.

This go-round, he was joined onstage by a guitarist, a pianist, a drummer, three backup singers and, you guessed it, a 41-piece symphony orchestra.

Near the end of "Jurassic Park," when the limelight was on the orchestra and the backup singers, Yankovic sat down. As his bandmates continued playing, he was brought a warm towel, a refreshing cocktail and his phone. After checking a few emails, he rejoined his peers for the final chorus.

During "Smells Like Nirvana," he donned a striped shirt and a blond wig for his best impression of the late Kurt Cobain, who famously claimed he realized his band had "made it" when Yankovic came calling. And of course, "White And Nerdy," his satirical take on Chamillionaire's 2005 breakthrough hit "Ridin'," brought the crowd to its feet as Yankovic zipped around the stage on a segway scooter, sporting a red do-rag and a black hoodie.

The evening was capped off with an encore dedicated to "Star Wars," during which eight Stormtroopers and Darth Vader joined the musicians onstage for "The Saga Begins" and "Yoda." It was part concert, part comedy routine and wholly entertaining.

Hank Hill was wrong, by the way. No one stopped buying Yankovic's records. In fact, his last proper album, 2014's Mandatory Fun debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 - a first for the famed satirist. And while YouTube, Twitter and Instagram have made them more prevalent than ever before, a nearly sold-out Pavilion made it clear that there's still a clear king of musical pastiches.

SET LIST

I Lost On Jeopardy

I Love Rocky Road

Like A Surgeon

The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota

Word Crimes

Jurassic Park

Don't Download This Song

Weasel Stomping Day

You Don't Love Me Anymore

Tacky

Harvey The Wonder Hamster

Jackson Park Express

Smells Like Nirvana

Dare To Be Stupid

White & Nerdy

Amish Paradise

ENCORE

The Saga Begins

Yoda