Weird Al kicking off the night with his latest Polka medley
Seems that every show I’ve seen at Austin’s new Moody Theater has been roughly 30 years in the making. First Devo in the Spring and now the Prince of Parody. Or I could say the two acts I wanted to see but they were the headliners at Fun Fun Fest, it’s like getting ripped off at ACL Fest but the weather isn’t as unpleasant.
The show was extra special because it was Jeff’s kids first concert. Lucky boys, they got to go at nine and 11 while my parents finally relented when I was 14. Of course they were attending something friendlier toward people under 13. Hell, one couple brought their daughters who were both under six!
Last Spring a bunch of us caught him for a special UHF screening which was preceded by a sing-along to five songs. During the Q&A Al said his new album was tentatively scheduled near 2010’s end. This didn’t happen because he decided to wait on Lady Gaga’s next release; the whole debacle regarding this was SCLM-TMZ-Onion fodder over a couple days. Personally, I’ve grown more fond of his original material and “style parodies” since the straightforward parodies don’t always age well:
- As the MC who introduced him for UHF, Al’s career has outlasted most he did parodies of. Remember Men Without Hats, Toni Basil or Fine Young Cannibals? Probably not. It’s also for the best too.
- The Pop music he chooses to make parodies of is much like MAD magazine’s humor, it tends to work better if you’re under 30 (MAD would be 15).
As for the show, it’s definitely tied with Devo for my favorite of 2011 yet I think it will take first place for the several reasons I’m going to elaborate on.
There was no opener so things kicked off pretty close to 8 PM. Al and his band started the festivities with “Polka Face,” his traditional medley of recent Top 40 tunes set to Polka arrangements. Having segments of the originals’ videos projected behind him helped me out since I only recognized Lady Gaga, Owl City, Justin Beiber and Keisha. Afterwards Al followed this set list I found online. Between most numbers Al went through costume changes to strengthen the jokes by resembling Kurt Cobain, Jack White, Jim Morrison, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, a CIA agent, a jungle-cruise tour guide and Obi-Wan Kenobi. To keep the crowd amused Al TV segments were shown (Al asking questions to outtakes MTV or VH-1 interviews, Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast borrowed this premise in the Nineties), Al’s numerous cameos (Johnny Bravo, The Simpsons, Batman: The Brave & the Bold, The Naked Gun), UHF clips and the numerous shows which have made references to him (King of the Hill, The Cleveland Show, Futurama, David Letterman, Johnny Carson, Craig Ferguson and sitcoms). Quite the multimedia extravaganza.
As for the music, Weird Al and his bandmates (the same guys he’s had around since the early Eighties) are fantastic. Much like They Might Be Giants, they could stop on a dime. We received a demonstration on their synchronicity during the encore, the bridge of “Yoda”, which was this several-minute a capella stream of hilarious gibberish.
Austin was an early stop with this tour so go see him. Few concerts are really meant to entertain such a wide audience and these days Weird Al’s appeal has gone beyond novelty, he has become a musical force of nature. If you don’t catch him, there will be a DVD available next month from the Toronto show last June.
One closing compliment I want to make is in praise of the audience. Over the last few years, live shows have really begun to suck thanks to an annoying minority that is compelled to continuously take pictures or record the concert. I’m trying to enjoy what’s happening on the stage and be in the moment. Those asshats ruin it for everyone with their arms up, obscuring others’ view and getting mostly crap. Ana Matronic got the crowd to cooperate for one song at Scissor Sisters. Weird Al didn’t have to say anything, it seemed to be just understood.