And just like that, 2026 is halfway over. Weird, right? That’s not the only part of my week that’s been weird. Sunday night, I went back to the Baxter Arena to see the king of parody music himself, Mr. Weird Al Yankovic. This wasn’t a show I ever imagined myself going to, to be honest. I don’t have anything personally against what he does, but I didn’t latch onto it the way others seemed to. What got a Weird Al show on my radar were the testimonials of a few friends who had gone to his shows in the past, insisting that he was an amazing performer. One person called it one of the best shows they’d ever seen. I likely would not have traveled far to see him, so when I saw a tour advertisement for a show at the Baxter Arena, which is just over 12 minutes from my place, I took it as the perfect opportunity to give it a try, and with Puddles the Clown being listed as the opener, I especially couldn’t pass up on it. Knowing that both Puddles and Weird Al have connections to Primus, I wore my 2024 Primus tour shirt.
When I went to buy my ticket to this show, I remember being struck by how relatively inexpensive even the best seats were, with the highest being around $200, I think. I considered getting a seat on the floor, but decided on an aisle seat on the left side of the stadium, with memories of my obstructed view at David Byrne preventing me from doing so. I’m not going to spend a ton of time talking about Puddles since I’ve talked about him in the past, but he was great as per usual. My favorite part of watching a Puddles set is still watching the reactions of the people who didn’t know who he was. This was the largest venue I’d ever seen him at, too, which was a fun experience, with all the past shows taking place at smaller theaters or intimate outdoor venues.
So, Weird Al took the stage about a quarter after 8, and from the moment Weird Al entered the stage by walking through the audience, to the last song, I had a smile stretched across my face. It took no time for me to confirm that this lived up to the hype I had heard form others. The next 2 hours were full of colors and a consistent stream of laughs from the whole crowd. The lights and screen projections were fairly simple, which allowed the band to really shine. I could tell that every musician on that stage was having the time of their life jamming out to songs that parodied a plethora of artists in pop culture limelights past and present: Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Green Day, Backstreet Boys, and Nirvana. They were all smart, funny, and original tributes to these popular songs.
Songs were spaced out with videos projected on the screen, to allow for time in between costume and set changes, and those were nothing short of hilarious. the prog fan in me was excited to see the frequent costume changes that coincided with the next song or two. The winning clip for me was where Weird Al had edited himself into the famous “Rushing or dragging” scene from Whiplash. I had to find that clip on YouTube and send it to my Dad the next day.
I used to think that Arcade Fire was the only act that could make an instrument like the accordion cool, but I was wrong. Weird Al managed to do just the same. I’ll admit I never realized that that was his core instrument, but I was not bored or annoyed by it at all. Every moment of this show was absolutely hilarious. None of it felt forced or overdone. It is joyous to see that, even at 66 years old, Weird Al is still grabbing and keeping the attention of audiences of all age groups. This was one of the best shows of the year, in the top 5, for sure. I have a lot of content to go through on my Spotify playlist!
The Girl in the Scarf 
Leave a comment