“Weird Al” Yankovic – Bigger & Weirder 2025 tour The man, the myth, the parody king himself landed at Foxwoods Premier Theater with an eight piece band in tow. The show I attended in July 2025 had quickly sold out back in 2024, although the venue capacity was only 4000. A week prior he performed to a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden, capacity 19,500.
He has fourteen studio albums and has sold over twelve million records. The mantel over his fireplace has five Grammys and an Emmy on it. No joke.
There was an opening act, “Puddles Pity Party”. Puddles is the alter ego of singer and performer Michael Geier. He dons a predominantly white clown costume and his entire bald head is covered in white clown paint with a too small crown atop. He has five self released albums under his ruff and there were a handful of loyal followers right up front. His diverse set kicked off with “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” and “Come Cry With Me” which involved a “Cry Cam” where fans would fake cry when the camera landed on them. “Who Wants To Help The Clown” led to Puddles selecting someone from the audience to assist him on a fake guitar for a rendition of OZZY Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” which everyone went wild for. He continued with “Estoy sentado aqui”, “Come On Up To The House” and “In The End”. His voice was enchanting but I was gettin a little bored. He merged the “Gilligan’s Island Theme” with “Stairway To Heaven”. He confessed his over the top obsession with actor Kevin Costner. He wrapped his set with a medley of “My Heart Will Go On” mashed with Metallica hits “Enter Sandman” and “One”. He was a weirdly fitting opener for Weird Al. And, get this, the guy got a standing ovation!
The main event was upon us and Weird Al fed us a generous portion with a twenty one song set plus an eleven song medley. A prerecorded version of “Fun Zone” (UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff) played as the house lights went down. We got tacky live backstage footage which fittingly led to “Tacky” (Mandatory Fun). Al then announced “The establishment has informed me we have to start with a PowerPoint presentation” which was the segue for another Mandatory cut, “Mission Statement”. His beloved accordion appeared, “Are you ready to polka?”, and he performed his 2024 single “Polkamania!”. The frontman then proclaimed “Well, it’s twelve minutes into the show, time for a drum solo”, which was just the classic bum-dum-tiss. After “Everything You Know” (Bad Hair Day), Al again addressed the audience, “I gotta apologize to all the dudes out there, this one is just for the ladies.” The song was “One More Minute” (Dare To Be Stupid) and the singer cruised the aisles of the audience before zeroing in on a fan. He removed his scarf, rubbed it on his armpits and then placed it on her neck. All while serenading us. There was a bit of an interlude where they played the “Another One Rides The Bus” scene from the film “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” on the big screen. Al took the stage in his grunge look, complete with a bad Kurt Cobain wig, and gave us “Smells Like Nirvana” (Off The Deep End) followed by title track “Dare To Be Stupid”. We weren’t even halfway through the set when we got a fast paced medley of hits: “Party in the CIA” (Alpocalypse), “It’s All About The Pentiums” (Running With Scissors), “Bedrock Anthem” (Alapalooza), “My Bologna” & “Ricky” (“Weird Al” Yankovic), “Ode To A Superhero” (Poodle Hat), “I Love Rocky Road” (“Weird Al” Yankovic), “Eat It” (“Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D), “Like A Surgeon” (Dare To Be Stupid), “Word Crimes” (Mandatory Fun), and “Canadian Idiot” (Straight Outta Lynwood) where cannons shot red and white confetti at us. And the clean up crew winced. The unstoppable weird one came out after a quick change into a fat suit for “Fat” (Even Worse). “The Captain Underpants Theme Song” had the kids in the audience singing word for word and he double faked the ending of “Now You Know”, a song written for the movie where he is portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe.
Al then announces that the next song will be by request, that he’ll pick one person. “Jim!” he called on his guitarist who requested a non parody version of “China Grove” by The Doobie Brothers because that’s what they delivered a pretty decent rendition of. A waitress delivered a drink, a towel and a quick shoulder rub to him on stage before he stood up and proclaimed “Well, that song ran thirty eight seconds short, so we can do another one.” The kids were singing their hearts out again for “It’s My World (and We’re All Living In It)” which is the theme song for the animated show “Milo Murphy’s Law”. The frontman addressed the fans again after “Skipper Dan” (Alpocalypse), “There’s weird energy in the crowd. We know what you want. It’s coming. We’ll just do it now. Drum Solo Reprieve!” It was over after four beats on the kit. The hits continued with “eBay” (Poodle Hat) and “Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me” (Alpocalypse). Another quick change into costume for “White & Nerdy” (Straight Outta Lynwood) and then another interlude that flashed images of his career on the big screen. The last image is an Amish cart going down a dusty road. The dimmed house lights slowly brightened to find Weird Al in full Amish garb as he belted out “Amish Paradise” (Bad Hair Day). A quick turnover led to a robust encore with “We All Have Cell Phones”, an unreleased song from his AL-TV days, a Bach cover of “Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565” into “The Saga Begins” (Running With Scissors) and the set ender, “Yoda” (Dare To Be Stupid) complete
with a crowd fueled “Yoda” chant. The sound was great and the performances were spot on.
Whether you love him or hate him or are confused by him, Weird Al Yankovic is still spreading the weird to his stout fanbase. His supporting cast is also devoted: Drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, guitarist Jim “Kimo” West and bassist Steve Jay have been with Al for over four decades and Ruben Valtierra on piano and keys has been on board for over three. The addition of Probyn Gregory, Scheila Gonzalez, Payton Velligan and Monique Donnelly added horns and woods and percussion and even portrayed the cheerleaders during the “Nirvana” skit. He hasn’t made an album since 2014’s “Mandatory Fun” and he’s selling out fucking Madison Square Garden in 2025. Who doesn’t need a dose of weird?
