Is it really possible that Alfred Matthew Yankovic, a 65-year-old accordion player and singer from Lynwood, California, is playing pavilions and amphitheaters in the year 2025? Uh, yes, it is.
“Weird Al” Yankovic brings his enduring parodic skills to what he’s dubbing the “Bigger & Weirder 2025 Tour,” which kicked off in Las Vegas in June and runs through Sept. 25. It’s the biggest undertaking of his four-decade career, and his apparently vast fan base is responding: Most of the shows — which include his first-ever stop at Madison Square Garden and an appearance at Riot Fest in Chicago — have sold out, a development that’s both surreal and heartening at a moment when levity is needed more than ever.
Yankovic pulls from his vast catalog of parodies for a set list that goes back as far as his 1983 self-titled debut album (which includes “My Bologna,” his take on The Knack’s “My Sharona”) and its Grammy-winning follow-up, 1984’s “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D (which includes “Eat It,” his perpetually amusing version of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”), to ‘90s singles “Smells Like Nirvana” (reference should be obvious) and “Amish Paradise” (his riff on Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise”) and 21st-century efforts like “White & Nerdy” (his take on Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone’s “Ridin’”).
Ever the entertainer, Yankovic’s live shows feature an eight-piece band, numerous costume changes and, of course, his beloved accordion. Needless to say, “Weird Al” didn’t expect to be selling out large venues across America nearly 50 years after he wrote his first song at 16 years old.
“When you take accordion lessons, I think the high-water mark is, ‘Maybe someday I’ll play in an Italian restaurant or at a wedding,’” Yankovic said in an interview with Billboard earlier this year. “I guess I was shameless. I grew up a complete nerd in high school. And when you’re not somebody that’s socially acceptable, you kind of have nothing to lose. I kind of held on to that mentality, like, you know, ‘Who cares?’”
“Weird Al” Yankovic plays MegaCorp Pavilion on Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. More info: promowestlive.com.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Sept. 3 print edition.