7 Highlights From The Weird Al Concert

Weird Al Yankovic recently wrapped up a run of shows at the Venetian Theater at Venetian Las Vegas. The 2025 "Bigger & Weirder Tour" kicked off on Friday, June 13 with the final of the five shows on Saturday, June 21. And since everyone who knows me knows that Weird Al is the only celebrity I'd actually fan girl over, I got tickets for my birthday.

We got to see the almighty king of parodies on Friday, June 20. Our seats were dead center, right in front of the mixing board in the front orchestra section. Which was close enough to see nose hairs but not close enough to get sweat on during the more athletic numbers. I'd already seen Al once before but with an orchestra and not with his band. Totally different experience.

Well, he doesn't insist on speaking strictly Klingon, doesn't wear his underwear on the outside, and, as far as I know, doesn't do any rituals involving live animals. I think it's safe to say he could get weirder. For this show, he didn't. In spite of the name of the tour, Al wasn't bigger or weirder than usual. What he was is absolutely fantastic.

The first highlight came right out of the gate. Al didn't come out on stage and wait for the lights to come up, like most performers do. He started singing from the dressing room and let the camera follow him all the way to the theater. Which he entered through the side guest door where any late-comer might have been lucky enough to bump into him. (Ugh...one of the few times I'm actually early to something and I miss my chance at an "accidental" brush with my idol).

Weird Al then made his way down the aisle of the orchestra section and onto the stage. Side note: if you have the chance to see him in the near future, ditch the center seats. Get one on the aisle and you might get some face-to-face time with Mr. Yankovic.

The second highlight came almost immediately after the show began. Al took out his accordion and played his "Polkamania" medley. Which includes snips of Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy", Adele's "Hello", Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" and "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus. Because it wouldn't be a Weird Al show without the instrument he's most famous for.

So many of the show's highlights involved costuming. Weird Al goes all out when he does his parodies. Highlight number three happened when the band played "Smells Like Nirvana", which Al performed dressed just like the late Kurt Cobain. The band was dressed in 90's-era grunge flannel and two of the musicians were the famous cheerleaders from the video. Both dressed in black and shaking red pom-poms. My favorite was the janitor mopping off to the side of the stage.

After a few more songs in "regular" clothes, Weird Al delivered both of his Michael Jackson parodies. For "Eat It", he was dressed in the iconic red jacket. And impressively pulling off some MJ leg moves while playing the keyboard.

I will say that Weird Al pulling off that fancy footwork while simultaneously tickling the ivories was impressive. But it didn't compare to highlight number four. The crowd knew that "I'm Fat" was inevitably coming next. But none of us were prepared for Weird Al being clad head-to-toe in a very convincing fat suit.

Weird Al has so many iconic parodies from his over fifty years of making music. Some less successful ones have been lost to history. Others are just a fresh in fans' minds since the day they came out. The next highlight was definitely the latter, and one of my favorite Weird Al songs. Even before the music started, the crowd knew what was coming when Al rolled in on a Segway. After the roar of the audience subsided, Al delivered "White & Nerdy" .

I might be biased with some of these highlights. As I'm a big fan of clever costuming and many of the highlights involve my favorite songs from Weird Al's catalog. Highlight number six incorporated both. Weird Al performed "Amish Paradise" in a full mutza suit with his whole band dressed like they just came off the grain fields.

And finally highlight number seven, which is the entire encore performance. I'm sure Weird Al made it the encore because it took too long during the regular part of the show to put so many intricate costumes on. After his first last song, several minutes went by that eventually had the audience wondering if the band would come back out. They did. And it was like we just walked onto the set of Star Wars.

Al was dressed as Obi Wan Kenobi. His bandmates were Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Rey and Storm Troopers. They performed both "Yoda" and "The Saga Begins" for their encore. Throughout the show, even during the last songs, the band members were in full character and enjoying every minute of it. Even R2-D2 was onstage dancing!

Living in Vegas, we have so many opportunities to see amazing shows. For me, Weird Al's 2025 "Bigger & Weirder" was one of the best. He combines musical talent, humor and a stellar attention to detail in his costuming on this tour. Here's to hoping this musical genius will be at this for a long time. Thanks for the laughs, Mr. Yankovic!

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