Sunday, October 9, 2011

The Alpocalypse

Weird Al Yankovic's 2011 Alpocalypse Tour

Last night I was enjoying the show from VIP seating.  Close enough to get a face full of water during the performance of Smells Like Nirvana when Al tossed a cup full into the audience. The show was fantastic. The band was perfect as usual. 
All the guys are excellent performers and totally dedicated to their art.
There were numerous costume changes. A furry peacock during Perform This Way, Kurt Cobain during Smells Like Nirvana, black suit and sunglasses for Party in the CIA, black suit, hat and beard during Amish Paradise, black and red zebra stripe lounge suit for Wanna Be Your Lover. White&Nerdy hoodie while riding a Segway on stage, while the band were dressed as perfect nerds, with horn rimmed glasses. and pocket protectors, Jim West was miming texting on an invisable device!
The costume changes were covered by use of his multimedia show which included his AL-TV interviews, there were clips from pop-culture TV shows showing his own influence on pop-culture. The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Naked Gun as well as many others throughout the years dropping his name. My favorite has always been The Simpsons when Homer laments “He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life.”  The multimedia show is now becoming an audience participation piece, akin to Rocky Horror, in particular with the audience speaking along with Yoni (Getty Watanabi) during the Wheel Of Fish clip from UHF, ["Weaver, you are so STUPID!"]
The finale was staged beautifully as Al and the band were accompanied by Darth Vader and 4 Imperial Storm Troopers, and was comprised of The Saga Begins followed by Yoda, including the syncopated nonsense now a trademark of the encore performance of that song. Except for that bit the entire audience was singing along to Saga and Yoda.
“He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life.”
 

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