'Weird Al' Yankovic
Fun Fun Fun Fest Live Shots
Reviewed by Audra Schroeder, Fri., Nov. 12, 2010
'Weird Al' Yankovic
Waterloo Park, Nov. 5Possibly even "Weird Al" Yankovic is surprised he's still relevant, but the Fun Fun Fun Fest crowd Friday night ranged from toddlers to tweens and their parents. Folks love parody and popular culture, and that's what the 51-year-old Californian synthesizes best. The accordion maestro's opening pop starlet medley – Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl," and Justin Bieber's "Baby" – ensured he'd probably outlast those names in performance alone, just as he has for the last 30 years. The multimedia backdrop to a traditional rock band setup featured mock Al TV interviews with Jessica "Sampson," Madonna, and Keith Richards, as well as clips of Yankovic references across decades of media, testament to his lawsuit-dodging place atop the pop culture mantel. His comedic timing is still on, and he knows how to keep a crowd interested in these times of mass attention deficits. Poking fun at Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Devo ("Dare To Be Stupid") was a hoot for folks of a certain age, but die-hards had to wait almost two hours to hear "Eat It," "Amish Paradise," and "Fat." Guess ya gotta pay the price for a fat suit.
