‘Weird Al’ Yankovic

‘Weird Al’ Yankovic

A Weird Al set shouldn’t work as well as it did in a festival setting — on the same stage that welcomed Mayer Hawthorne right before him and Flying Lotus right after, Yankovic drew a crowd just as big as either of them, and just as passionate, too. He brought such a weird, manic, infectious energy to the stage that I couldn’t help but be in awe at him. Half the fun was watching Yankovic himself, of course, but it was also entertaining to look around at the audience reactions. It was obvious there were some people there who had no clue what they were in for — a group in front of me freaked out when they heard the opening chords to his “I Want It That Way” parody and proceeded to try their best to sing the original words until one of their friends let them in on the joke. The crowd joyfully shouted back “aluminum foil” during his “Royals” take. While some parts didn’t play as great for the festival crowd — like when he took an extended break to run some of his skits, including his Whiplash bit with J.K. Simmons and his 30 Rock parody — others worked weirdly well, like when he played video of all the Jeopardy! categories leading up to his name-checked one and the audience got progressively more excited as each one was revealed. Weird Al may not be made for the festival stage, but he certainly knew how to hold one. –James