Weird Al Yankovic @ The Meadows Racetrack
Weird Al Yankovic, Jun 1, 2013 Saturday @ 8:00PM EDT The Meadows Racetrack & Casino Washington, PA
Weird Al Yonkavic started the show off weird for most of us but normal for him with a large according strapped to his chest and his lose fit Hawaiian shirt that we ave come to know and love. The stage was filled with crew members, extra guitars and instruments, amps, lights and his three other band members. The set up included a huge TV screen behind the stage and two screens, one on either side of the stage. We were lucky enough to watch the show in the very front row seats. The show started of with Polka Face, a parody of Lady Gaga's Poker Face with an awesome video montage in the background. Then Al performed Frank's 2000" TV, TMZ , You Make Me and then the stage went dark, the screens turned on and a small show started of Weird al interviewing some people. After watching and waiting intently for the next song to start the stage began to light up as Weird Al came out in his stripped sweater, jeans and straight blond hair and started playing Smells Like Nirvana. They did an amazing job on this song.
Next on the set list was Skipper Dan, Party in the CIA, CNR, Canadian Idiot and Wanna B Ur Lovr. Canadian Idiot was one of my favorite songs in this set of songs, they played it really well and the the lyrics were hilarious. I came to this event with my Wife and a few friends and we were already excited to see the show, I mean, Weird Al live, we were totally stoked and the cherry on top was being able to sit in the front row. Things got even better us in this part of the show. In the middle of Wanna B Ur Lovr Weird Al started making his way down the stairs in front of the stage and onto the dirt of the racetrack, he walked about 15 feet to a fence that he climbed over to where we were sitting and sang to my Wife and I (about 2 feet away) and then began to get deep into the crowed, dancing, singing, shaken his booty on someone and standing on someones chair. He continued to sing and dance making his way back to the fence where we were sitting and sang to us again, this time for a little longer. It really felt like we were the only people at this show. It was an amazing experience to be part of something like that. He climbed back over the fence, walked up the stairs and back on stage as the song ended. The Lights went out.
As the lights turned back on they started playing an exciting mash up of Money For Nothing, Beverly Hillbillies, Whatever You Like, Another Tattoo, eBay, I Want A New Duck, Theme From Rocky XIII, Spam, My Bologna, Ode To A Superhero, Lasagna and Eat It was performed without a pause. This was great for me because one of the albums of Weird Al's that I owned as a kid was The Food Album, so I almost remembered every word to Lasagna, Eat it and Spam. It was awesome to hear those songs played live and singing along to them.
From the first beat of this next song, we knew exactly what was about to happen. We all started cheering, yelling and getting excited. Weird Al and the band all came out in black suites, black hats and long black hair and began to sing Amish Paradise. It was everything I thought it could be. A million times better to be able to watching and seeing it live rather than on a CD (and the song was so much fun to listen too already) and so much fun to sing along to it. Next up on the set list was Craigslist, Perform This Way then he came out on his segway and baggy jeans and performed White & Nerdy. Next to Amish Paradise and Fat,even though it's a somewhat newer song, White & Nerdy was up on my favorite list from the first time I heard it. Great song, if you have not heard it before you have to give it a listen. your going to love it. The stage went dark and the big screens came on with some crazy entertainment from Al himself.
The screens started to dim, the stage lights started to light up and Weird al started to walk from the back of the stage to the front wearing a HUGE red jacket with a bunch of zippers, XXL pair of pants with chains and a huge pair of suspenders. He started singing the song Fat. They really nailed the look from thriller just really Fat. Awesome song and very fun stage performance on this one. As Fat ended Weird Al and the band said the end of show sign off and walked off the stage. A quite chant started, it got loader and started to pick up some speed "We Want Al" "We Want Al" the crowed and fans were very enthusiastically chanting. I think it gave him the energy to do two more songs. They came back on stage and played The Saga Begins. The last song they played was Yoda, I wasn't expecting as big of a production on this song but they went all out on it. About 10 people came out in full blown costumes from Chewbacca to Darth Vader and everything in-between. Everyone put on a beautiful performance. It left the sweetest taste in my mouth as the show ended. Everyone on stage, Weird Al, the rest of the band, all the staff and stage hands came out and took a bow.
"Thank you Al for the unforgettable performance" -Jonny
www.WeirdAl.com/