"Weird Al" Yankovic
Starlight Theatre, Kansas City, MO
August 5, 2003
Only
"Weird Al" Yankovic could put on a show that features songs about diarrhea, constipation, large seeded fruit up your rectum, and lepers...and have the audience cover every age and gender demographic (there had to at least a few Transsexual Nazi Eskimos in the audience). This was my second time seeing
"Weird Al", and he certainly doesn't fail in the entertainment department.
The show started with some local comedian, who had a few funny bits. I forget his name, but it was something like Dave Beer. Short, fat guy who kept referring to himself as the Campbell's Soup Kid. A personal favorite was about how annoying it is when you tell people you're from Kansas and they say, "How's Dorothy and Toto?" Well, Toto got hit by a truck and Dorothy bought a chemistry set and moved to Independence. You probably have to be a local to get that joke....Independence, Missouri is the Methamphetamine Capital of the World (although I hear we're being edged out by San Diego). Fifteen or so minutes of this guy was a nice warm-up, but we were waiting to the main event.
Opening with the "Fun Zone" music, the band came out and started right in with "Angry White Boy Polka". Nothing like modern "angry and rebellious" crap done polka style. On the video screens were the accompanying videos by the Disturbed, P.O.D., Kid Rock, and others. From there it was nothing but non-stop fun and singing along. He played a nice mix of all his releases, but most of the material was taken from his last two. Songs from "Poodle Hat" included "Party at the Leper Colony", "Complicated Song", "Ode to a Superhero", "Ebay", "Trash Day", "Couch Potato" and "Wanna B Ur Lovr". A few surprises were thrown in for us old fans like "Theme from Rocky XIII" (...it's the rye or the kaiser...), "Melanie" and "Dog Eat Dog" complete with the David Byrne big shoulder suit and goofy dance moves.
Naturally, he played all the favorites like "One More Minute", "Fat", "Amish Paradise", "Smells Like Nirvana", "It's All About the Pentiums", and "Eat It". And it goes without saying that he required a quick costume change for each of these songs...especially "Fat". Between each switching of song-appropriate attire, we were treated to various mini-movie clips including his "interviews" with the big celebs from his AL-TV special, snippets from his 1989 cinematic masterpiece UHF, or zany renditions of those 1950's informational films like "Dirt is our Friend" (or something similar).
The only downer to this otherwise great show was the minor downpour of rain that drenched us all. The SAME THING happened back in 2000 when I saw him at the same venue, except that time they actually had to postpone the show due to the massive downpour and lightning storms. It was pretty coincidental though, considering one of the videos between songs was a spoof disaster movie trailer called "60% Chance of Rain".
He played a song that I really wish he'd release in some way or another..."Free Delivery" which is a parody of the Titanic song, "My Heart Will Go On". Nothing quite like a song about late night munchies kicking in, so you decide to order pizza. Crazy stuff. But I loved the final Star Wars themed segment with "The Saga Begins" going into "Yoda" with the weird "Yoda Chant" and breaking back into "Yoda".
"Weird Al" really knows how to connect with the crowd, as evidenced in "Wanna B Ur Lovr" and "One More Minute" where he walked among the crowd crooning to all the babes. Never a dull moment in the show. It's either music or movies in the background. No filler material was to be found that night.
I'd better end this now, but until the next CD or the next concert, eat lots of Twinkie Wiener Sandwiches or else you ain't NUTHIN' man...YOU AIN'T NUTHIN'!!!
