Five reasons to see 'Weird Al' Yankovic
Credit to Author: Shawn Conner| Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2019 22:00:58 +0000
When: Monday, Aug. 19, 8 p.m.
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Tickets: Starting at $45, at ticketmaster.ca
After playing the Hollywood Bowl a few years back with an 85-piece orchestra, the master song parodist decided he wanted to try something different. On his current tour, he’s backed by a 41-piece orchestra, plus three backup vocalists. Costumes (for songs such as Amish Paradise), stage props and “a video wall” (according to the Sacramento Bee) are also part of the show.
For each of the shows on the tour, Yankovic draws on local orchestras and musicians.
According to a rollingstone.com review of a July 22 tour stop in Queens, New York: “I Lost On Jeopardy does indeed sound a hell of a lot better with a swelling orchestral score behind it.”
Yankovic first shot to fame in the ’80s, with parodies of Queen (Another One Rides the Bus), the Police (King of Suede) and Madonna (Like a Surgeon). Over the years he’s stayed current with parodies of Nirvana (Smells Like Nirvana) and Lady Gaga (Perform This Way), among others. His last album of new material, 2014’s Mandatory Fun (his first album to hit No. 1), contained parodies of Iggy Azalea, Pharell Williams and Imagine Dragons.
Besides the hits (Yankovic’s biggest was White and Nerdy, a 2006 parody of Chamillionaire’s Ridin’ Dirty), Yankovic is straying into rarely or never before performed album track territory. On at least one tour stop, this meant his 21-second 1993 song Harvey the Wonder Hamster.
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