Bilal “Soul Sista”

D’Angelo “Lady”

And that’s not even counting all of Joss Stone’s latest offering and the Lucy Pearl stuff.

(It just so happens that Raphael Saadiq’s the only R&B producer I dig.)

Really solid review.

Plus, Weird Al is like the Bob Dylan of novelty acts.

Please excuse me sending this by email; I was having trouble registering to post the comment. But I do intend this to be a public comment, if you care to put it up. You may not, of course; it’s a really LONG comment. And I realize I may not be the only diehard Weird Al fan who comes out of the woodwork over this. If any of the others are rude, just let me know, and I’ll sic the attack poodles on them.
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Lots of questions… wearily exhaustive answers.

– Weird Al tours?

Well, last year he did his 1,000th live show. Do the math.

– How boring is a Weird Al concert?

Not at all. It’s very fast paced, lots of multimedia stuff. And Al’s band is made up of seriously excellent musicians.

– Is there any making out at a Weird Al concert?

Probably not much, but is that the only reason to go to a concert?

– Who is that sorry soul who was conceived to a Weird Al song? No, seriously how lame is a Weird Al concert?

Well, the best song for conception-inducing purposes is probably “Wanna B Ur Lovr” and that was only released two years ago, so the conceptus is probably not attending concerts yet. But give him or her a few years….

– Seriously. I mean one of the cool things about going to a concert isn’t just seeing your favorite artist perform your favorite songs by them, it’s also the occasional cover that’s thrown in to keep things fresh. Does that even exist at a Weird Al concert, when his material is essentially entirely covers?

Al does write original songs, and some of them are concert favorites. He also does a fine non-parody cover of “Radio Radio” by Elvis Costello, but only when something breaks down.

– What is his set list like and what does he do for an encore?

His set list is like a piece of paper stuck on the stage with duct tape. What did you expect?

– Is there even an encore?

Yes, and us diehard fans have fun snickering at people who don’t realize this and head out for the parking lot before Al comes back on stage.

– Is opening up for Weird Al an honor or is it just looked at as part of working your way up the food chain?

On past tours the acts who opened for him were happy to mention it afterward on their own websites, and they seem to have enjoyed the experience. This time out, there are no opening acts because Al’s show is almost 2 ½ hours long and there are limits to the capacity of your average concert-goer’s bladder, especially at venues where beer is served.

– Clearly going to a Weird Al show is for fans only. I mean, like I said, most of the tandems were father/son, not boyfriend/girlfriend, so it’s not really a date atmosphere. But does anyone wear a Weird Al concert as a badge of honor?

It’s not going to a Weird Al show that’s for fans only. It’s coming home from one. It’s not unusual for people to get dragged in more or less unwillingly, and then go home with their Al-related preconceptions busted up and tossed in the Dumpster. I’ve been to more than a few Weird Al concerts and I’m proud of every one of them (but not as proud as the fan who’s been to more than a hundred of them– when she hit #100, they threw a party for her backstage with a cake), but I haven’t noticed that most of the pairs were father/son. A lot of parents are there with their kids, true, but there are erotically-attached couples there too, even if they’re not actually attaching themselves to each other during the show. What, sharing a laugh with your honey isn’t a good way to spend an evening?

– I’ve got a friend back in Vegas who’s attended all sorts of horrible concerts. She’s seen Milli Vanilli. But at that point, Milli Vanilli was an actual viable act that was popular and cool. Weird Al has never been any of those things.

I’m having some trouble figuring out by what definition of “viable” or “popular” Al would not qualify. Of his 12 released albums, 10 of them have gone gold, including the most recent one, and 6 of them also went platinum. His last album debuted at #10 on the Billboard Top 100 album chart, and the “White & Nerdy” single went to #9. And there are those 1,000 concerts. Last year he toured for six months; there was a venue that was so happy with the attendance he drew, they booked him again a couple of months later on the same tour. On YouTube, his channel is #36 on the list of All Time Most Subscribed Musicians, and #40 for All Time Most Viewed Musicians.

As for cool, well, you have more of a point there. Al may not be cool by the definitions of whoever is defining cool this week, but he’s had more than a quarter-century career doing exactly what he wanted to do and being exactly who he is. And he’s still having fun doing it. It’s not a bad way to spend a life.

I could write at even more excruciating length, but there’s no way really to convey what Al’s like in live performance, except by actually seeing him live. And, BTW, being deaf wouldn’t necessarily get a person off the hook there. I’ve been to shows that had an ASL interpreter, and at the last show I saw the bass line made my bones vibrate. ~OE

Cheers
-JF2kVIII!