Weird Al Yankovic brings his “Bigger & Weirder Tour” to Indy’s Everwise Amphitheater
By: Kevin Vickery
Over the last five decades or so, Weird Al Yankovic has become a household name. While he’s most famous for his parody versions of popular songs, in addition to his music career, Al wrote and starred in the 1989 film, “UHF” and the 1997 television series, “The Weird Al Show”. He has produced two satirical films about his own life, “The Complete Al” in 1985 and most recently, “Weird: The AL Yankovic Story” in 2022 which starred Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame in the role of Weird Al.
He has also acted in several television shows and web series, in addition to starring in “Al TV” specials on MTV. He has also written two children’s books, “When I Grow Up” in 2011 and “My New Teacher and Me!” in 2013.
His body of work has earned him five Grammy Awards and a further 11 nominations, four gold records and six platinum records in the U.S. He has sold more than 12 million copies of his 14 studio albums.
I believe a big part of his success has been his effective use of music videos to further parody pop culture, the song’s original artist, and the original music videos themselves. Nothing exemplifies this more than his song, Eat It”, a parody of Michael Jackson’s, “Beat It” where Al also released a frame-by-frame parody video of the hit song.
I’ve been a fan since his 1983 album, “Weird Al” was released. Back then, the twelve-year-old version of me would listen to “The Doctor Demento” radio show in my bedroom on Sunday nights laughing myself silly to the novelty songs coming out of my analog, roll-dial clock radio. That show is where Al got his break and the good Doctor kept his music in regular rotation. A year or two later, as a Christmas gift from my mom, I was upgraded to my first boom-box, bought all of Al’s cassette tapes, and proceeded to wear them out.
The first time I finally got a chance to see Weird Al perform live was in May of 2015 at The Murat Theatre on his “Mandatory World Tour” and I was blown away with the show he and his band delivered.
I saw him again in 2019 at was then called the Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park (now Everwise Amphitheater) during his “Strings Attached” tour which was also excellent and featured a full symphony plus backing vocalists to enhance the show.
I’ve not seen him have an opening act in the past but his recent concert at Everwise Amphitheater offered a different twist as the show opened with Puddles Pitty Party.
If you’re not familiar with Puddles, he’s the alter-ego of 6ft 8in baritone vocalist, Michael Geier. He dresses as a sad clown in whiteface make-up , a white clown costume, and a tiny party hat perched atop his painted white, bald head. If you think that sounds odd, you’re probably right but he definitely gets the crowds attention and his massively powerful deep singing voice sounds like he should be performing a musical on Broadway.
I first became familiar with Puddles when I saw his video clips singing cover tunes like Lorde’s, “Royals” with Post Modern Jukebox. He garnered national attention when he performed that song in 2017 on season 12 of America’s Got Talent where he advanced to the quarter-finals before being eliminated from the competition.
Sure, he may be a novelty act but he’s definitely carved out a niche for himself. I was impressed with his vocal abilities and entertained by his show overall, as was the crowd at Everwise. Let’s face it… Where else are you going to see a giant clown with a booming voice singing the theme to “Gilligan’s Island” set to the music of Led Zeppelin’s, “Stairway to Heaven”?
Nowhere. I rest my case.
By the time Weird Al hit the stage, the crowd was primed and ready for him. He began the show the same way I’ve seen him do it in the past. The video monitors play some comedic clips, then the band starts playing, “Tacky” his parody version of Pharrell Williams, “Happy”. Then Al appears on the screen backstage, singing his way through the dressing room, past the tour busses, and all around the backside of the venue before finally climbing the steps to the stage and joining to band to a roar of applause from the crowd.
He also played several of own original songs like his break-up song, “One More Minute”, an ode to emails called, Stop Forwarding that Crap to Me”, and my favorite, the Devo-esque, “Dare to Be Stupid”.
For me, it doesn’t get any better than when Al straps on his accordion and plays his polka medlies. He includes one on most every album and they are a combination of many popular tunes of that particular era, done polka style at break-neck speed. I literally have 13 of them saved in a playlist that I love listening to while mowing my yard. They have titles like, “”Polka Your Eyes Out”, “Polka Party”, “The Alternative Polka”, “Polka Power” and “Angry White Guy Polka” to name just a few. His polka medley at the Everwise show included Luis Fonzi’s, “Despacito”, Ed Sheeran’s, “Shape of You”, Cardi B’s “WAP” and “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars.
He went on to deliver the goods that the crowd came to see. He did all his standard parodies like, “My Bologna”, originally “”My Sharona” by The Knack, “I Love Rocky Road”, originally Joan Jett’s, “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll, Madonna’s, “Like a Virgin” transformed to “Like a Surgeon”, “Party in the CIA” to Miley Cyrus’, “Party in the USA” and many more.
Al has kept the same core band members since the beginning of his career featuring Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz on drums since 1980, guitarist Jim “Kimo” West since 1983, and bassist Steve Jay also since 1983. His keyboard player, Ruben Valtierra and backing vocalist/multi-instrumentalist, Scheila Gonzalez have both been with him since 1991. His live show also includes a handful of other additional musicians/backing vocalists that have just joined him this year for the tour.
I think the most impressive part of a Weird Al show has got to be all the costume changes. I don’t know how many wardrobe people are working backstage but they certainly have their hands full. While short video segments play on the big screen back drop, the entire band exits the stage and changes into whatever attire fits the next song. These styles range from the look of the music video for, “Smells Like Nirvana”, a parody of Nirvana’s, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, traditional Amish clothing for his hit parody of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” called, “Amish Paradise” an oversized fat-suit that mimics Michael Jackson attire in the “Bad” video for his rendition called, “Fat” and Obi-Wan Kenobi robes for his two Star Wars parodies, “The Saga Begins” which parodies Don McLean’s, “American Pie” with the story of Anakin Skywalker and ‘Lola” by The Kinks done as “Yoda” which tells the tale of how Luke Skywalker and Yoda became acquainted.
All these costume changes are pulled off seamlessly and perfectly. I counted at least 10 different looks on Al and the band throughout the show which was very impressive and must take a ton of work and a well executed plan. I seriously haven’t seen that many costume changes since I saw Cher back in 2003.
An equally impressive element of Weird Al is his commitment to being clean. Not only has he never indulged in the common vices that most in the music industry succumb to like alcohol and drugs, he also refrains from the use of any profanity, always keeping his show at a family friendly PG level. Even when the songs that he parodies or includes in his polka medlies have foul language, he replaces that with alternate lyrics or funny sound effects. I’ve always respected that about him because as I’ve realized over the years in my own musical career, cussing is a cheap an easy way to get a laugh.
I was able to speak with fellow concert goers, Amy and Martin Jones from Cicero, IN who were seeing Weird Al for their fourth time and get their thoughts. Martin said, “I first saw him on the CBS Evening News back in the early 1980’s, playing the accordion and singing, “Another One Rides the Bus” and thought, what is that? Then I started hearing him on Doctor Demento and was hooked. I’ve been a fan ever since.” He also said that his favorite Weird Al tunes are, “One More Minute”, and, “Christmas at Ground Zero” while Amy added their her favorite is, “The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota”. Martin concluded by saying, “Weird Al was the original one pushing nerd culture, back before it was cool when everybody was hating on us and before it became mainstream. Even his non-parody songs are fantastic and he’s just a great dude”.
I would have to agree with Martin as I think Al is probably the coolest nerd to ever exist. I would add that I believe Weird Al Yankovic is a genius, the very best at what he does within his genre and that his approach to comedic-style songwriting is unparalleled. He sets the bar for the rest of us to try to achieve.
Long live novelty music. Long live geek-rock, and long live Weird Al Yankovic!
I have attended several shows at Everwise Amphitheater over the years but this was my just my second since it took on that new name and went through major renovations in 2020. The venue originally known as The Lawn at White River State Park was nice but pretty basic back then, only featuring lawn seating and some reserved seating areas that were removable plastic chairs.
After spending 17 million in renovations, this modern version located at 801 W. Washington Street in Indianapolis, right across from Victory Field is as nice as any other amphitheater around. Everwise Amphitheater now features a covered seating area with permanent seats, a VIP section, sky-box seating and has a capacity of 6000. It’s basically like a smaller Ruoff Music Center, which you know I will still always call Deer Creek.
For more information about Weird Al Yankovic visit find him on all social media outlets or visit his official website at weirdal.com
To keep up with Puddles Pity Party check out his YouTube videos or his website at
puddlespityparty.com
To find out about events at Everwise Amphitheater go to their website at everwiseamphitheater.com
Make Some Noise 