What do Nirvana, Lorde, Michael Jackson and polka music have in common? Nothing. But that doesn’t stop the talented “Weird” Al Yankovic from being able to parody them.
Yankovic is currently on tour to promote his recent album “Mandatory Fun.” The Sandy Amphitheater was so crowded that the staff had to improvise and have the audience park on the grass near the theater.
There was no opening act, but that didn’t stop the audience from getting into the music immediately. Yankovic opened with his song “Tacky,” a parody of the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. He actually didn’t start off on stage with his band; he started singing while in the parking lot of the theater and slowly made his way on stage, with a camera giving a live feed on the screen.
The crowd varied from those still in diapers to those in walkers. But the entire crowd loved Yankovic’s humor. For almost every song he went backstage to change into the appropriate costume to imitate the artist he was parodying or to fit with the atmosphere to the song. From Lady Gaga (wearing an ice cream cone hat while singing “Perform this Way), to the Amish, to Kurt Cobain (whilst wielding a left hand guitar for “Smells Like Nirvana” and gargling water for the solo), he was always on point. Even some of the audience members dressed similarly, from those wearing aluminum hats (as a reference to “Foil,” a parody of Lorde’s “Royals”) to those dressed as Star Wars characters.
To keep the audience entertained between songs, the screen played different clips from TV shows and movies where Yankovic was either mentioned or had a cameo, as well as some of his music videos. The entire crowd recited, word for word, the intro to the song “Fat” perfectly. He came rushing out wearing an inflatable suite similar to the one in the music video.
Because Yankovic has such a plethora of hits, he performed a lot of them as a medley. Some of the songs from his medley consisted of “Party in the CIA,” “Another One Rides the Bus” and “eBay.” He ended the first medley with the entire rendition of “Canadian Idiot,” a parody of Green Day’s “American Idiot.”
After going into the audience to perform the very suggestive song, “Wanna B Ur Lovr” and getting rather intimate with some of the ladies in the crowd, he performed his second medley with a smooth jazz and folk feel, including classics such as “Eat it” and “I Love Rocky Road.”
He then rolled out on a segway to perform one of his most popular songs “White & Nerdy” (a parody of “Ridin” by Chamillionaire).
After “Amish Paradise” he asked the crowd if they would like him to continue performing, which was greeted with a roar of approval. Al joked that while he would like to play all night, he couldn’t and left the stage, saying there would be no encore. The audience didn’t approve, and screamed for him to come back on.
He returned with C-3PO, Stormtroopers, Darth Vader, R2 D2 and the Emperor from Star Wars on stage, while he donned Jedi robes.
After performing “We All Have Cell Phones” he broke into “The Saga Begins” (a parody of “American Pie”) and then had the entire crowd chant along to “Yoda.”
Al thanked the audience once again and everyone piled out.
It’s not often artists can perform music while having a family-friendly comedy show at the same time, but Weird Al knows how do it.
c.ayers@dailyutahchronicle.com