I Saw Weird Al in Concert And My White & Nerdy Self Will Never Be The Same

Me just before the Weird Al concert began

You never know what art you experience as a teenager will profoundly alter your psyche. In these formative years, your eyeballs will catch a painting, your heart will be captured by a movie, or some music will transfix your dreams...and suddenly, you're never the same. "Weird Al" Yankovic's music was like that for me, though, funnily enough, I can't remember the first tune of his that I heard. I just know I was constantly listening to comedy-themed Pandora music stations in 2010 and 2011 and, inevitably, "Weird Al" Yankovic kept showing up (his album Alpocalypse dropping around this time undoubtedly bolstered his Pandora presence). Right away, I could tell this guy's music was something extraordinarily special.

For starters, his tunes made me laugh. "Party in the C.I.A." juxtaposing such a jaunty tune with grisly C.I.A. activity alone had me in hysterics. Meanwhile, "The Saga Begins" and its accompanying music video took deeply familiar Phantom Menace material and made a very dry movie something that made me endlessly titter (especially the word "croaken"). What especially made Weird Al stand out, though, was how much better his comedy songs were compared to then-contemporary YouTube musicians trying their hand at "funny" music.

Even as a 14-year-old, I was vividly aware that Weird Al's tunes were a massive step up from freshly made YouTube ditties from YourFavoriteMartian or Rucka Rucka Ali that thought "ironic" racism, transphobia and gay panic jokes, and the most unpleasant instrumental noises were enough to make a side-splitting masterpiece. Weird Al, meanwhile, could take a seemingly surefire recipe for tired edgelord material like "Santa Claus goes on a vicious rampage" and instead made it a toe-tapping delight packed with inspired wordplay (like rhyming "German Luger" with "Freddy Krueger")

Much like other personally formative artistic influences like countless A.V. Club essays or fellow comedy music legends The Lonely Island, Weird Al was Earth-shattering in demonstrating craftsmanship and silliness working in tandem. Within Weird Al's unabashedly ridiculous yet so wonderfully crafted melodies, new possibilities for what art could look like opened up. Listening to "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" or "Trigger Happy" endlessly instilled in me that one didn't have to sacrifice outlandishness for artistry or vice versa. So many positive memories, expansions of art's possibilities, and, of course, great songs in my life come from Weird Al's oeuvre.

For years, I declared to anyone I ended up talking about Weird Al to that he'd be the one person I'd want to see in a concert setting. This past Friday, nearly 16 years after his music first changed my world forever, I finally made that ambition a reality. I saw Weird Al Yankovic on stage in a concert.

This was made possible through Weird Al's Bigger & Weirder tour stopping in Dickies Stadium in Fort Worth on September 25. Now, earlier this year, I went to my first concert on my own by seeing Chrissy Chlapecka in Deep Ellum. It was an extraordinary experience (probably still my fave concert of the year just because it was so gayyyyy). This Bigger & Weirder show, though, would be my first time seeing a concert in a massive stadium setting. I've been in these environments for other types of shows (like a 2016 live showing of Show Boat), so the idea of being inside a stadium wasn't exactly a foreign concept for me. Still, it was a bit surreal to wander inside one of these expansive realms with all the concert mainstays (namely folks selling souvenirs or guiding people ot their seats) littering the halls.

A memorable image from the Puddles Pity Party performance

Sitting down in my folding chair in the floor area of the stadium, the program quickly began at 8 PM with a pre-show: Puddles Pity Party. This performer's schtick comes down to dressing like a 19th-century clown but eschewing the standard impulses to make that clown "scary." Instead, Puddles Pity Party has the voice of an angel and uses his time on-stage to sing cover and parody songs that channel some sort of internal angst. His glorious vocals convey such rich, expansive emotions that fascinatingly contrast with his vintage clown appearance. 

Needless to say, I was won over by his tunes like "Let's Give Them Pumpkin to Talk About." Plus, Puddles was still a hilarious guy. The way he kept falling back on Kevin Costner movie clips in the visual accompaniments to his songs, for instance, was so great (concluding this running gag with Costner pissing in Waterworld was inspired). Similarly side-splitting was a segment where Puddles got a guy on-stage for an "Under Pressure" cover, only to have the fellow sit down and hand him a string of Ding Dongs to eat.

Already, Bigger & Weirder landed on my good side with this enjoyable opening act. Not only was I going to revel in my favorite Weird Al songs with so many people, but I was also exposed to a new artist and fresh tunes. It was a fantastic kick-off to the evening that eventually led to Weird Al coming on stage around 8:50. The very first song was the "Happy" parody "Tacky," which included Weird Al recreating the single-take music video (a parody of the original "Happy" music video) in the backstage area at the Dickie's Stadium. Right away, Weird Al's showmanship and panache for visual joys were apparent. Any concerns in the back of my mind about "aw man, what if he isn't quite excellent as a live performer?" were obliterated right away. 

From there, the rest of the night was like a dream as Weird Al guided the thousands of people in this stadium from one tune to the next. Not only was it a dream to hear some of my favorite ditties live with a crowd, but this experience was a vivid reminder of how expansive Weird Al's career is. His ditties performed here ranged from the I Love Lucy-based tune "Ricky" to the Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie theme song and everything in between. No wonder folks of all ages turned up to this Bigger & Weirder tour. Like Tim Curry, Weird Al's had so many impactful artistic accomplishments that provide different generational entry points to his larger body of work. 

One era of Weird Al fans may know him from Alpocalypse. Other younger devotees may have discovered him through Milo Murphy's Law. Still others know him from his days with Doctor Demento. However you first knew him, Weird Al's performance that night catered to every era of his discography.

The dense array of possible areas someone could say "I discovered Weird Al when..." was reinforced through the two-ish-minute videos that played on the stadium screens when Weird Al and his team changed costumes between numbers. These videos focused on Weird Al's various movie/TV cameos, as well as certain faux celebrity interviews he conducted years ago and Vines he made. Getting to see my gender inspiration Amy Adams rocking out to "Dare to be Stupid" (from Nightbitch) and a snippet of Weird Al's cameos on two of my favorite TV shows (The Simpsons and BoJack Horseman) was already enough to make me love these compilations. Seeing the Texas-based crowd lose their minds at a King of the Hill clip where Hank and Bobby reference Weird Al, though, was also joyous. Us Lone Star residents just love that boy (even if he ain't right).

I could prattle on about "OMG I LOVED THIS SONG" regarding the various tunes Weird Al performed. After decades of doing live concerts, he's such a sturdy and reliable pro at this form that it's no surprise he killed it. I do, however, want to highlight two particular sections of the concert that made my soul ascend to another level of giddiness. My favorite Weird Al song is "Skipper Dan." It's one of the first tunes of his I discovered; I absolutely adore its mixture of witty dark comedy and melancholy regret. I was convinced beforehand he wouldn't play it here simply because it might not be as famous as his most legendary parody tunes.

The "Skipper Dan" performance that blew my mind

But then...midway through the show, those familiar opening chords of "Skipper Dan" played. It was happening. And I screamed. Oh, I screamed with excited joy. I was like that one guy in American Utopia who stands up and cheers when David Byrne and his troupe begin performing "This Must be the Place." I couldn't contain my euphoria over getting to experience my favorite Weird Al tune in this setting. Even better, Weird Al performed the entire song with its awesome accompanying music video. Naturally, I belted out every word like it was second nature I'd been doing religiously for the last 15 years. How amusing that a song with such a mournful center would get me so hyped, but that's the magic of Weird Al.

Then there was the encore portion of the concert, when Weird Al and his crew came out to do two final songs. As the person next to me predicted before the concert began, this encore included "The Saga Begins" ("Yoda" was the other encore tune). The whole stadium was locked in during the entire concert, but "The Saga Begins" and the "Fat" music video were the two times during this two-hour voyage when it felt like every single person on the premises was speaking in unison. We all had these lines memorized. We were all Star Wars fans. All of us, from so many different walks of life, from every corner of Texas, suddenly united in singing along to Weird Al's inspired "American Pie" riff.

"And Qui-Gon said, "Now listen here! Just stick it in your ear! I still...will teach this boy."

It's a beautiful thing finding those communal art experiences that truly put a whole army of people on the same wavelength, like we're piloting the Jaegers from Pacific Rim. "The Saga Begins" did just that, from the moment Weird Al began crooning "A long long time ago/In a galaxy far far away..." Also, something neat I noticed in this performance was two women-identifying members of the band (one playing the guitar masterfully, the other on tambourine) were dressed like Rey. Their costumes were great, but also, wow, it's cool that there are more Star Wars wardrobe options in 2026 for ladies singing along to this song than when the tune first debuted. The days of Leia's two outfits being the only garbs are over. Now, for anyone of any gender looking to dress like a Star Wars lady, you can dress as Rey, Jyn Erso, Bix Caleen, Mon Mothma, Rose Tico, Captain Phasma, Mae & Osha, General Holdo, and so many others.

After this adventure was finished, I strolled outside the Dickie's Stadium and navigated the troubles of securing an Uber back to my hotel that didn't cost an obscene amount of money. I began walking in the direction of my hotel to try to see if the closer I got (and the farther away from the Dickie's Stadium), the cheaper the rides would be. Normally, this excursion would've inspired stress in my bones. Here, though, I was riding such a glorious high from the Bigger & Weirder tour that nothing could bring me down. Residual joy from singing "Skipper Dan" with countless other souls was lifting me so high that no ride-sharing calamities could weigh down my soul.

When I first heard his music, Weird Al unlocked new possibilities for what could make me laugh and what comedy songs could look like. Years after that introduction, Weird Al once again unleashed new horizons for my life. This time, it included unveiling to me new ways I could be joyous and connect with other people. Singing along to Weird Al's songs and absorbing his showmanship with countless other individuals, that unlocked a new level of happiness in my soul. All the hype about stadium concerts turned out to be true, especially when the "Everything You Know is Wrong" singer is at the center of the show. He's weird. He's silly. He's a genius. This two-hour concert extravaganza reinforced all those truths and then some.

Addendum: Just before the concert began, I was talking to the person next to me about how one of Weird Al's many feats is that he's outlasted many of the artists he's parodied. Cut to maybe an hour later, and Weird Al's performing his 2024 compilation tune "Polkamania!", which saw the singer doing bite-sized parodies of the biggest tunes of the preceding ten years. One of the tunes lampooned in "Polkamania!" is Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You." The moment that song came up, my concert neighbor and I looked at each other with an "oh boy" look as I remarked, "speaking of people Weird Al's outlasted." While Sheeran's career embarrassingly imploded, people are still humming Weird Al tunes like "The Saga Begins" and "White & Nerdy." Sometimes, there's justice in the world.