What I’m looking forward to at tonight’s ‘Bigger & Weirder’ Weird Al show

I‘ve seen “Weird Al” Yankovic in concert maybe eight or nine times. I’ve seen him at a county fair. I’ve seen him at Summerfest. I’ve seen him in a casino. I’ve seen him play his non-parody deep cuts in a fancy theater. I’ve seen him backed by a symphony orchestra in an even fancier performing arts center. And tonight I’ll see his “Bigger & Weirder” show in an arena—Fiserv Forum, to be exact.

So what am I looking forward to? I haven’t checked the setlists for this tour (tonight’s show is the tour’s last, by the way), but I think I know what Al and company have in store: all the hits, plenty of costume changes, and funny video montages during those costume changes. There may be an unexpected detour here and there—maybe a final-show treat?—but the “Ridiculously Self-Indulgent Ill-Advised Vanity Tour” this ain’t. Will tonight’s show end with a Star Wars encore of “The Saga Begins” and “Yoda”? Duh.

So no, I’m not looking forward to being surprised. What I am looking forward to is simple: I’m looking forward to having fun.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: enjoying the music and humor of Weird Al is a simple, uncomplicated thing. Al’s humor is forever entrenched in “smart-ass 14-year-old kid reading Mad magazine” territory. Wouldn’t it be funny if “I Want It That Way” by Backstreet Boys was about buying stuff on eBay? (“What Iiiii found on eeeeeBay.”) Yes it would. When Al’s last album, Mandatory Fun, came out in 2014, it was greeted by oodles of Extremely Serious Internet Thinkpieces: “Is Weird Al Still Funny?” “Why Is Weird Al Still Funny?” “Was Weird Al Ever Funny To Begin With?” Oof. If you have to deeply consider why changing “Addicted To Love” to “Addicted To Spuds” is funny, maybe it’s time to take a deep breath and go outside for a few days.

So that’s it. I’m looking forward to having a good time tonight and chuckling at some silly songs. I suppose I could look forward to pondering the ridiculously long legacy of Al and what it says about the music industry of yesterday and today. I suppose I could look forward to marveling at the massive cultural footprint Al has left over nearly every type of media—film, TV, and comics included. But yeah, I’m good with simply laughing along with “White & Nerdy” and “Smells Like Nirvana” and “Amish Paradise.” I churned butter once or twice, livin’ in an Amish paradise. Simple as that.

Oh, and my family will be with me tonight. It’ll be their first Weird Al show. Geez, isn’t it wild how I first saw Al at the Waukesha County Fair in 1992 when I was a smart-ass 14-year-old kid, and now, 34 years later, I’m seeing him with my wife and child? Time is funny like that, isn’t it? The way it expands and contracts. The way it slips away one minute and grinds to a halt the next. The way it both defines and defies mortality. The way it…

Oops. Never mind. Stick your head in the microwave and get yourself a tan!