After spending six straight months on the road, 'Weird Al' Yankovic finally took his rightful place on one of the most prestigious stages in America. Our review of the song parody king's tour-ending show at Carnegie Hall:
The show began with a set by Emo Phillips, who has been with Yankovic on the entire tour. The 66-year-old comedian rapid-fired deadpan jokes that absolutely killed. Someone at Netflix needs to give this guy a special. He’s a treasure that deserves far more attention.
After a quick break, Al’s band took the stage and kicked things off with the instrumental “Fun Zone” from. Al received a standing ovation when he came out and delivered “Lame Claim to Fame” from his 2014 LPThe set bounced around through the past 40 years of Al history, going all the way back to “Nature Frail to Hell” from 1984’sand touching on other Reagan-era wonders like “One More Minute,” “Velvet Elvis,” and “Good Old Days.
Unlike his regular show, there were no costume changes or video screens. This put the focus directly on his band, which includes bassist Steve Jay, drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, guitarist Jim West, and keyboardist Rubén Valtierra. They’re a freakishly versatile crew capable of handing any popular style of music from the past half-century.
Al’s music has always been G-rated, but there are a handful of lines that don’t work quite as well in 2022 as they did in earlier times. And when he reached the line in “Albuquerque” about the “big fat hermaphrodite with a Flock of Seagulls haircut,” he stopped the song cold to address it. “I should probably stop and apologize for using the word hermaphrodite,” he said. “Language is fluid. I understand it’s a slur these days. That was obviously not my intention. It was the Nineties.
The encore portion of every show on the tour featured a cover song delivered with actual sincerity. Past selections have been Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love,” Cheap Trick’s “Hello There,” and Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell.” He went with “ A Natural Woman,” perhaps as a tribute to Carole King and Aretha Franklin since they have both Carnegie Hall in years past.