by Gail M. Burns
“A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.” – Peter Brooks
I am used to writing about theatre, so I feel a tad at sea writing about a concert. The question would be: “Why?” What happened on the stage at Tanglewood that wasn’t theatre? There were lights and costumes and projections and songs. Everyone on stage was a performer and what they were doing was called an “act”. Why am I so confused trying to write about “Weird Al” Yankovic’s 2026 Bigger and Weirder Tour?
Yankovvic, and his opening act, Puddles Pity Party, are both nothing if not theatrical. Mike Geier refers to Puddles in the third person, and Puddles doesn’t speak at all. “Weird Al” has his nickname in quotation marks. They are both playing characters, and their loyal audience love them and their alter egos.
There were a few walk-outs during the concert – probably people with season tickets who hadn’t figured out that “Weird Al” didn’t perform Mozart – but the rest of the large crowd at Tanglewood on a slightly soggy Tuesday evening were there for the duration and down for the fun.
Puddles, it must be said, would object – if he spoke – to being referred to as “fun”. He is a sad clown, with his “Cry Cam” being a key piece of his schtick. Walking along the apron of the stage, pointing his cell phone at the first few rows of the audience, everyone was encouraged to debut their best tragic mask, with one man with an impressive pouting lower lip was a big favorite.
Three lucky audience members got to come up on stage and “help the clown” with various bits, and hilarious videos ran on the big screen behind to help tell the story of each song. Technology is used more and more in “legit” theatre, but I was struck to see what a large role it played for both Puddles and Yankovic. It was 2009 that I was amazed to catch my first glimpse of actors interacting with their projected selves on stage, now that seems old hat.
In fact I was dizzied by the plethora of screens I was supposed to keep in sight during this concert. I wasn’t so close that I could see the artists’ facial expressions, so the side screens that were showing those images to the folks even further away or outside on the lawn were of interest to me, but so was the big screen at the back of the stage, which showed videos to support the performance, the performers themselves, and then there were the two very energetic folks doing the ASL interpretation…Where to look?? If I had a complaint it would be that there were simply too many fun things happening at once.
Yankovic is 66 and I am 69, so our formative years are largely the same. I completely understand what the low-tech world was like in 1979 when Yankovic made his first recording in a bathroom (the acoustics were better) at his college. Humor in the English speaking world was still evolving from the British invasion of the late 1950’s-early 1960’s when “Beyond the Fringe” spawned “Monty Python”. Here in the USA Mad Magazine and National Lampoon brought the broad satire that questioned authority and the status quo, and freed our generation to let loose in Bigger and Weirder ways. Enter “Weird Al”.
As a Boomer, I enjoyed those shared roots and was able to enjoy the long creative arc of Yankovic’s experience. Both Yankovic and Puddles included covers of and lyrics from theme songs from 1960’s TV shows – “Gilligan’s Island”, “The Flintstones”, etc. – but I am waaaaaay out of touch with the majority of the top ten type songs and artists Yankovic parodies. That was the province of my 30-something son, who would helpfully lean over and inform me what was being poked fun at. And with a little prompting I got the jokes.
For the kids in the audience this was all great new fun – music videos come to life, an idol seen live and in person and fulfilling all their fantasies of what was possible for one creative soul to do on stage. I am sure “Weird Al” would have been a HUGE influence on my creative energies when I was a teen. I would have wanted to be “naughty” in that way, making fun of grown-ups and “art” and stuff.
And that is actually “Weird Al”’s secret – he is “naughty” but not that naughty. Like his name, his “naughty” gets quotation marks because it is also an act, a costume he wears. When I asked my son for one word to sum up his concert experience, he chose “wholesome”, and he’s absolutely right. Despite being loud and raucous and silly, the show was wholesome fun for all ages. Now he’s spoofing Michael Jackson, now Miley Cyrus, now Pharrel, now Star Wars. People sang along, clapped their hands, and waved their cell phones.
In case you are not familiar with Yankovic’s oeuvre, he mostly writes parody lyrics to big hit songs, with the original artists’ permission. In fact most artists are thrilled to be parodied by Yankovic and consider it a rite of passage into musical stardom. On stage Yankovic doesn’t pretend to be the artist whose song he’s parodying, but as a parody of them, or as a new persona he invented for the music video of the song. Yankovic really came of age in the MTV music video era, and images from those iconic videos appear behind the performers during each number.
While Puddles performs to prerecorded backing tracks, Yankovic has a band that has been with him for decades, and some very spritely and impressive musicians/dancers/actors with whom he often interacts.
I was a little concerned that, considering how much less spry I am in my 60s than I was previously, I might be seeing Yankovic in a slightly diminished capacity. Maybe he’d farm out some of the more energetic moments to the supporting players. Boy was I wrong! This man is energy personified. For ninety minutes he sang full out, danced and leapt about the stage, and put on one hell of a show.
Yankovic is one of those rock stars – and he is a bona fide rock star – who lives like a regular human. Peaceful home life with a long happy marriage and many friends. In short, he’s wholesome. He’s also extremely intelligent and literate, which I adore. His inspirations as a lyricist are many of the same people who set my heart a-beating, notably Tom Lehrer. He pals around with Lin-Manuel Miranda. One of my favorite numbers of his, “Word Crimes” – a parody of “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke – rails succinctly about the horrors of online grammar. Not included in the concert but a truly mind-bending example of Yankovic’s brilliant wordplay is “Bob” his homage to Bob Dylan composed entirely in palindromes.
Technically concerts are VERY different from “legit” theatre! Lights are BIG and sets don’t exist. Yankovic has many, many costume changes, covered by video interludes, with each change of garb signaling a different beloved parody that the audience didn’t know they were pining for. Every entrance is thus greeted with an infectious roar of joy and recognition. Singing along then ensues, but the volume is so powerful that no one can hear the person next to them belting out “Like a Surgeon” off key.
(My Apple watch kept informing me that I was in a Loud Environment and should remove myself immediately or risk Permanent Hearing Loss. Since I already have PHL I wasn’t too concerned, but I did find that watch to be a bit of a kill-joy.)
Because what Yankovic does is funny, people tend not to take him seriously. I mean he’s been around since 1979 and this was his Tanglewood debut. He has never even made it close to the official ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Why?? Because his music isn’t “his” music? Because his music is “derivative”? Lots and lots of artists play covers, and Yankovic writes plenty of original tunes too. The parodies are definitely “his” and he performs them live with a band that has been together for years. If I had my way he’d be on the ballot every year, so there.
So “Weird Al” has come and gone. Now that he’s found his way to Lenox once, I hope he comes back – Much Bigger and Much Weirder – soon. I know I’ll be there!
Performing with “Weird Al” Yankovic at this performance were:
Steve Jay: bass, banjo, ethnic percussion, keyboards & vocals
Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz: drums, percussion & vocals
Rubén Valtierra: Chad Thomas
Jim “Kimo” West: guitar, banjo, mandolin, keyboards & vocals
Monique Donnelly: vocals
Scheila Gonzalez: saxophone, clarinet, vocals & percussion
Probyn Gregory: trumpet, trombone, tuba, guitar, vocals & percussion
Payton Velligan – guitar, vocals & percussion
Big Mike Geier – Puddles Pity Party