An Evening with Weird Al Yankovic at the Mahaffey Theater

Parody-master and satirical singer, Weird Al Yankovic, stopped in St. Petersburg on Sunday, July 25th to oblige his many fans with a fun-filled tour. Al’s been around for almost thirty years bringing Polka, musical parodies, strange stories, hilarious antics, and his wonderful Weirdness to audiences all over. With his curly mane of hair longer than ever, and a newly released Fall ‘09 album, Al was ready to rock, and that he did!

My husband is a big Al Fan. He loved ALTV, UHF and had seen him twice live prior at state fairs. I memorized his album “Bad Hair Day” by the time I was 11 but had never had the opportunity to watch him in action until last night. We arrived at the Mahaffey excited to see another new venue, especially in St. Petersburg. We were surrounded by Al fans of all ages.

This was the most diverse audience I’ve ever seen. There were people that must have been at least 65 alongside children as young as 4. Kids and their parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters all knew the words and were laughing along with his every move.

Al had a huge screen that was split into thirds with amazing video intros for the show and for certain songs. He had montages, clips from ALTV, video clips from shows where he’d guest starred or been mentioned, and random little skits here and there to keep the audience enthralled throughout the evening.

The Theme from ALTV kicked off the show, then Weird Al took the stage and with accordion in hand he busted out one of his infamous polka montages with parodies of “Poker Face,” “Womanizer,” “Right Round,” “I Kissed a Girl,” “Fireflies” “Blame It,” “Break Your Heart,” and “Tik Tok,” to really get the crowd going. I was surprised to see it was not a full house but the energy of the crowd was contagious. As soon as Al started playing around, we were all hypnotized by his comedic stage presence.

He had amazing costume changes, sported the quintessential Al crazy shirts with strange patterns and flamboyant colors, and even had his band put on costumes to complement him from time to time. After the opener he played, “You Make Me,” complete with some psychotic, arm-flailing dance moves causing my husband to chuckle and say, “He’s Al-tastic!”

I was laughing the entire night with the rest of the audience, a rare occurrence at most concerts, in my experience. Any songs he didn’t play during the official set were almost all acknowledged in his video interludes. He played selections from his entire catalog, which made it possible for every single fan to enjoy the show to the fullest.

“Good Old Days” came on, then “Smells like Nirvana” was played with cheerleaders to back up Al after he’d dressed grunge-like with a blonde wig to personify Kurt Cobain. “Skipper Dan,” then an amazing parody of James Blunt called, “You’re Pitiful” followed. For the mocking of “You’re Beautiful,” Al shed layers from under the blue raincoat, ending up with a sequined shirt, then a shirt that read “Atlantic Records Still Sucks,” then a “Spongebob” tee. Al then shed his pants to reveal a pink tutu and heart-patterned boxers to complete the outfit, and proving his devotion to his craft.

Amidst the video clips we saw ALTV faux interviews with Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Robert Plant, Jessica Simpson, Avril Lavigne, and Celine Dion, When I looked up the band was sporting Devo outfits to rock “Dare to be Stupid,” followed by the recent hit, “CNR.” To keep the mix going he played bit from the UHF soundtrack, “Let Me Be Your Hog,” continuing the rocking with, “Canadian Idiot.”

“Wanna Be Ur Lovr,” constituted a change into a full-on red, zebra suit. “Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies,” “Whatever You Like,” a Gilligan’s Island Parody, “Ebay,” “Bedrock Anthem,” “Another One Rides The Bus,” “Ode to a Superhero,” and the classic, “Gump” pushed the audience into the second hour of the epic set, and they were ready for more.

Complete with a red leather jacket and attempts at Jackson-like dance moves, “Eat It,” was performed, followed by “Craigslist.” Finally he played the one I’d been waiting for that I still knew all the words to, “Amish Paradise.” Just after, complete with a hoodie fashioned with the song title on the front, and riding on a Segway, Al rapped some “White and Nerdy.”

For the big finale he’d been made up and conformed into being “Fat,” “You know it!” During the song he’d jump on the stage and his audience members would pop out of their seats in unison as if to be affected by his largeness. He ended the evening with a standing ovation and smiles etched into the faces of his fans.

Persuaded back to do an encore, Al, his band-mates, with whom I suspect was his road crew, came out in Jedi, StormTrooper, Imperial Guard, and even Darth Vader costumes ready for “The Saga Begins.” To round out the Star Wars tribute, they finished with “Yoda,” which included an interlude of almost completely indecipherable chants, sounds, and chatter by Al and the band making quite the spectacle. They were in perfect unison during this crazy exchange to finish out the night.

It was “Al-tastic” indeed! The night was amazingly hilarious, and one that will never be forgotten. Whether it was your first Weird Al experience or your 50th the Mahaffey theater show definitely left fans feeling weirder than ever before!