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August 22, 2007

Weird Al wows Kirby

Yankovic brings parodies, and costumes, to W-B

WILKES-BARRE – Weird Al Yankovic albums are filed in the “comedy” section of record stores, but Yankovic isn’t just a funnyman with jokes.

Tuesday night at the Kirby Center, he showed a crowd of nearly 1,000 he’s a performer.

Yankovic is known for his parodies of some of the most popular songs from the past 30 years – but what people don’t know is how he transforms into those artists while he’s on stage. He’s not Weird Al – he’s Green Day’s Billy Joe Armstrong or Bob Denver from “Gilligan’s Island.”

Hearing “Eat It” is fun, but it’s nothing like seeing Yankovic in a vintage red jacket that replicated Michael Jackson’s.

Or a blue-and-green-striped shirt and baggy ripped jeans with a blond wig a la Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain during “Smells Like Nirvana.” Yankovic drank from a red cup during the song and sang while gargling, creatively showing the theme of the song: No one really knew what Cobain was singing.

But even the cheerleaders in that song didn’t compare to fan favorite “The Saga Begins” – a parody of Don McLean’s “American Pie” – that showcased Yankovic in a jedi costume along with a stage full of “Star Wars” characters, including Darth Vader with a light saber. He went seamlessly into “Yoda,” making the audience members thrilled.

Part of the entertainment is Yankovic’s incredible live band and their impressively accurate re-creations of every song. But there’s also the small things that big Yankovic fans will pick up on – and the casual fan will laugh at for the humor.

Take, for example, Yankovic’s parody of James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” – “You’re Pitiful” in Yankovic’s terms. Blunt had given Yankovic permission to record a parody (Yankovic asks each artist permission, even though it isn’t necessary because of the fair use copyright law). Blunt’s label, Atlantic Records, however, stopped the song before it made it onto Yankovic’s most recent album, “Straight Outta Lynwood.”

Yankovic sang the song live on Tuesday, stripping off articles of clothing like Blunt did in his video. The second to last shirt Yankovic revealed read “Atlantic Records Sucks.” The audience laughed – but not all understand the other reference: In Yankovic’s “White and Nerdy” video, he is seen editing the record label’s Wikipedia page to read “You Suck.” Many negative edits, interestingly enough, appeared on the label’s page after the video aired.

Yankovic finished stripping, ending with a SpongeBob shirt, heart boxers and a pink tutu – something even the youngest fans enjoyed.

During most costume changes, hysterical clips of Yankovic’s sometimes MTV special “Al TV” were shown with Yankovic mocking everyone from Jessica Simpson to Keith Richards.

Even Paris Hilton didn’t escape being a punch line. Yankovic was able to throw the hotel heiress’s jail stint and “Larry King Live” interview into a song verse.

He was given a standing applause when he left the stage in the fat suit, ending the set. But the audience didn’t sit until he came back to sing a song he “wrote” with R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe during one of those “Al TV” parodies.

“We all have cell phones/ So c’mon let’s get real,” Yankovic repeated over and over to, ironically, swaying arms and open cell phones.

There wasn’t a moment when Yankovic slowed down, not even during the extremely long finale “Albuquerque.” His longest recorded song wasn’t enough for the fans, whose thunderous applause at the end of the show proved they wished the song – and the entire set – was longer.

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