At 8:00 on the dot, the lights have gone down. The evening’s conductor, Arnie Roth, walks on, puts his hands up, and the “Ruth Eckerd Hall Chamber Orchestra” kicks into…
The theme from Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Next, the theme from Mission Impossible. And finally, the theme from the original Superman.
The lights come up for another 20 minutes.
There have only been two shows like it before last night, and they were back-to-back at the Hollywood Bowl, in the midst of parody king “Weird Al” Yankovic’s critically acclaimed Mandatory World Tour. After a year off the road in 2017, the Eat It maestro returned last year to tour with his originals, deep cuts, and hardly any hits, with no costumes, props, or video screens. There were no shows in Florida at all, which may explain why Yankovic’s current Strings Attached tour, described to be his “most over-the-top” run, kicked off Wednesday night at Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall.
At 8:37, the orchestra, once again, stormed the stage with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, later leading into an orchestral rendition of Al’s longtime instrumental concert opener, Fun Zone. When the man came out, sporting an unbuttoned one of his trademark Hawaiian shirts, the first thing he did was sit on a stool.
James Holzhauer finally lost on Jeopardy the other day, and even changed his profile pic on Twitter to Al in the I Lost On Jeopardy music video. So understandably, Al opened his set with an acoustic segment from that ear worm, followed by the same, from I Love Rocky Road and Like A Surgeon. “Tonight is the dress rehearsal for Ft. Lauderdale” Al said after his acoustic medley.
He confirmed beforehand that there would be some deep cuts this go-round, but him doing The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota all the way through was a huge shock. I think he only did that one on the deep cuts tour from last year. And that wasn’t even the biggest shock of the evening. After turning his shoulder towards the crowd like Elvis during One More Minute, we got a literal live debut. “June 5 is a very special day, I mean, besides being the first day of the tour. We made a little song about this very special day. I hope you all join us in celebrating.” Al requested. Most members of his immediate band reported to the front of the stage, put viking helmets on, and for the first time ever on stage, celebrated Weasel Stomping Day, video and all.
He also dedicated a transposed Don’t Download This Song to the RIAA, of whom he has done “some charity work” for. Harvey The Wonder Hamster, another live debut, and Jackson Park Express were the last ones played before the major clip shows and costume changes began. Of course, for Smells Like Nirvana, he threw on his Kurt Cobain regalia, as did bassist Steve Jay for Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Jon Bermuda Schwartz for Dave Grohl. Al’s new backup singers, dubbed as “Al’s Gals,” played the cheerleaders behind him. For this tour, he recruited some female backup singers, Lisa Popeil, Monique Donnelly and Scottie Haskell, to make every note sound spot-on. They’ve appeared on his albums before, so they’re not strangers or anything.
Of course, there was the DEVO-esque Dare To Be Stupid, as well as White And Nerdy, with Al zooming out on his Segway, and main set closer Amish Paradise. All those had Al in the outfits he wore for each video. He ended his main set by explaining to the crowd, in a James Brown style that he “can’t do no more,” since it wasn’t feasible to do so. Al was even helped offstage by a roadie, who draped him in a James Brown-blue cape.
Then out came keyboardist Rubén Valtierra dressed as Emperor Palpatine. He was later followed by the 501st Legion, the group that cosplays as Star Wars characters for charity. An entire line of Stormtroopers came out, with Darth Vader in the center. The rest of the band, minus Al’s Gals, reentered in Jedi robes to start their sing-alongs of The Saga Begins, and Yoda. Sadly, The Yoda Chant usually done at the end of the song was excluded from this performance.
Either way, Al’s got a whole tour ahead of him. He might announce dates outside North America, or even release a live album further down the line. But tonight was sold out, and this is only the kickoff.
Josh Bradley Live 