Weird Al Proves Laughter is the Best Medicine and a Commodity You Can Always Take to the Bank

On Tuesday, July 7^th, that most prolific, beloved, and successful madman of musical comedy known as Weird Al Yankovic landed at Saginaw’s Dow Event Center to entertain over 4,000 fans with an evening packed full of classic hits, hilarious new creations, state-of-the-art interactive video action, and an impressively fluid and properly gassed 12-piece band, proving in the process that apart from Spinal Tap, perhaps nobody in show business is better at crafting the power of irony and laughter into the culture of popular music and taking that check of approval all the way to the bank.\

Aptly titled the Bigger & Weirder Tour, apart from doubling the size of his normal touring band, Weird Al mixed several of his ‘Greatest Hits’ in with lots of deep cuts and new songs, and framing the entire extravaganza with an impressive multi-media show and customized videos clips to allow ample time for the group to deal with costume changes and props.  In short, the title of the tour said it all, as this was undoubtedly one of the BIGGEST and most impressive productions in the cavalcade of the Rock ‘n Roll circus since P.T. Barnum hit the stage.”

Kicking things off was an impressive opening act titled Puddles Pity Party, which featured Puddles the Clown re-inventing classic songs like Fly Me to the Moon only changing the lyric to Cry Me to the Moon while videos of Kevin Costner breaking down in tears filled the screen.

With an opening video featuring Weird Al as a giant King Kong & Godzilla type-monster marauding the streets of New York City, and as his band kicked into the show opener Tacky and Polkamania!, the lyrics rang out from the stage, but Weird Al was nowhere to be found.  Suddenly, he appeared on video screen and he was outside his bus in the parking lot at the Dow Event Center – making his way into the lobby, singing and interacting through personal contact with audience members all the way to the stage.

To say that Jankovic is a ‘musical genius’ was evident not only through his performance, but through his success that has spanned five decades. The strength of his voice, his ability to emulate so many different vocal styles, coupled with his dexterity on the accordion (his instrument of choice) tend to get underrated and overlooked due to how clever and well-executed his songs are.

Generationally, the audience was packed with people spanning the age spectrum, with many parents bringing their 10-12 year-old kids to see Weird Al for the very first time. The set list included gems such as Everything You Know is Wrong, Another One Rides the Bus, Smells Like Nirvana, Dare to Be Stupid, Party at the CIA, My Bologna, Eat It, Like a Surgeon, and Canadian Idiot, closing with suh hits as Fat and – much to my surprise – a straight cover version of The Box Tops hit The Letter.

What I loved best about this show is that it reminded me that at its core, Rock music is supposed to be fun. In many ways, Rock music died when it started to take itself too seriously. Humor is the sense of the absurd, which is despair refusing to take itself seriously.