Brought to you in blurry, badly-exposed phone camera-o-vision!

June 11, 2018 8:38 AM

Fresh off their “Ridiculously Self-Indulgent Ill-Advised Vanity Tour”, the most versatile band in the world is made up of drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, bassist Steve Jay, guitarist Jim “Kimo” West, and keyboardist Rubén Valtierra. On this tour, along with their lead singer / accordionist (a guy who goes by the name “Weird Al” Yankovic), the band focused less on the parodies they’re best known for in order to show off their lesser-known original material and, for the first time, cover songs...

Each night on the tour, during the encore, the band pulled off a straight-up cover of a rock standard. Below is the complete list of covers played.

Video provided when available. Quality varies. Feel free to fill in the blanks. (Setlist source)

Intro stories and jokes are left in and occasionally repeated on different nights.

(If you only watch one, the May 6th epic troll in Sante Fe, NM is the one to watch.)

FEB 27 BARDAVON 1869 OPERA HOUSE Poughkeepsie, NY
Smoke on the Water (partial)
(Deep Purple)

MAR 1 TARRYTOWN MUSIC HALL Tarrytown, NY
Blue Suede Shoes
(Carl Perkins)

MAR 2 FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO - FOX THEATER Mashantucket, CT
I Saw Her Standing There
(The Beatles)

MAR 3 THE MUSIC HALL Portsmouth, NH
Johnny B. Goode (snippet)
(Chuck Berry)

MAR 4 WILBUR THEATRE Boston, MA
Do Wah Diddy Diddy
(Manfred Mann)

MAR 4 WILBUR THEATRE Boston, MA
Dirty Water
(The Standells)

MAR 7 PLACE DES ARTS - THEATRE MAISONNEUVE Montreal, QC
Honky Tonk Women
(The Rolling Stones)

MAR 8 DANFORTH Toronto, ON
Tutti Frutti
(Little Richard)

MAR 9 DANFORTH Toronto, ON
Wipeout
(The Surfaris)

MAR 10 20 MONROE LIVE Grand Rapids , MI
All Day and All of the Night
(The Kinks)

MAR 11 MICHIGAN THEATER Ann Arbor, MI
Should I Stay or Should I Go
(The Clash)

MAR 13 UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO CENTER FOR THE ARTS Buffalo, NY
Blister in the Sun
(Violent Femmes)

MAR 14 STATE THEATRE Ithaca , NY
Uncontrollable Urge
(DEVO)

MAR 16 CAESARS ATLANTIC CITY - CIRCUS MAXIMUS Atlantic City, NJ
867-5309/Jenny
(Tommy Tutone)

MAR 17 THE PARAMOUNT Huntington, NY
Psycho Killer
(Talking Heads)

MAR 18 AMERICAN MUSIC THEATRE Lancaster, PA
Hello There
(Cheap Trick)

MAR 20 MUSIC CENTER AT STRATHMORE North Bethesda, MD
Refugee
(Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)

MAR 22 APOLLO THEATER New York, NY
Close To You
(The Carpenters)

MAR 23 APOLLO THEATER New York, NY
Cinnamon Girl
(Neil Young & Crazy Horse) (First time Weird Al played guitar on stage!)

MAR 24 PALACE THEATRE Greensburg, PA
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
(Elton John)

MAR 25 PLAYHOUSE SQUARE - OHIO THEATRE Cleveland, OH
Play That Funky Music
(Wild Cherry)

MAR 26 LEXINGTON OPERA HOUSE Lexington, KY
Freebird > Yoda
(Lynyrd Skynyrd)

MAR 28 THE BROWN THEATRE Louisville , KY
China Grove
(The Doobie Brothers)

MAR 29 THE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS - THE PALLADIUM Carmel, IN
Rebel Yell
(Billy Idol)

MAR 30 VIRGINIA THEATRE Champaign, IL
Stuck in the Middle With You
(Stealers Wheel)

MAR 31 HOYT SHERMAN PLACE Des Moines, IA
Accordion Boogie
(Charles Magnante)

APR 2 MAYO CIVIC CENTER PRESENTATION HALL Rochester, MN
Are You Gonna Be My Girl
(Jet)

APR 3 PANTAGES THEATRE Minneapolis, MN
All Star
(Smash Mouth)

APR 4 PANTAGES THEATRE Minneapolis, MN
Squeeze Box (with an actual squeeze box!)
(The Who)

APR 6 VIC THEATRE Chicago, IL
Beat on the Brat
(Ramones)

APR 7 VIC THEATRE Chicago, IL
Last Train to Clarksville
(The Monkees)

APR 9 PABST THEATER Milwaukee, WI
Beer Barrel Polka
(The Andrews Sisters)

APR 10 PABST THEATER Milwaukee, WI
Breakdown
(Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)

APR 12 HONEYWELL CENTER Wabash, IN
What I Like About You
(The Romantics)

APR 13 WALKER THEATER Chattanooga, TN
We're an American Band
(Grand Funk Railroad)

APR 14 MILLER THEATER Augusta, GA
Peaches
(The Presidents of the United States of America)

APR 15 TABERNACLE Atlanta, GA
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
(The Rolling Stones)

APR 17 NASHVILLE COMEDY FEST – WAR MEMORIAL Nashville, TN
Gimme Some Lovin'
(The Spencer Davis Group)

APR 19 GILLIOZ THEATRE Springfield, MO
Glad All Over
(Dave Clark Five)

APR 20 LETOURNEAU UNIVERSITY BELCHER CENTER Longview, TX
Sunshine of Your Love
(Cream)

APR 21 MOONTOWER COMEDY FESTIVAL – PARAMOUNT THEATRE Austin, TX
Particle Man (partial)
(They Might Be Giants)

APR 22 WAGNER NOEL PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Midland, TX
Land of 1000 Dances
(Chris Kenner)

APR 24 STAFFORD PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Stafford, TX
Crocodile Rock
(Elton John)

APR 26 TOBIN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS San Antonio, TX
Viva Las Vegas
(Elvis Presley)

APR 27 THE MAJESTIC THEATRE Dallas , TX
Fire and Rain
(James Taylor)

APR 28 ORPHEUM THEATER Wichita, KS
Werewolves of London
(Warren Zevon)

APR 29 FOLLY THEATER Kansas City, MO
I Wanna Be Sedated (Al plays guitar for only the second time!)
(Ramones)

MAY 1 PARAMOUNT THEATRE Denver, CO
It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
(R.E.M.)

MAY 3 AVALON THEATRE Grand Junction, CO
Born to be Wild
(Steppenwolf)

MAY 4 TUACAHN AMPHITHEATRE AT TUACAHN CENTER FOR THE ARTS Ivins, UT
Vertigo
(U2)

MAY 5 FOX TUCSON THEATRE Tucson, AZ
You Really Got Me (partial)
(The Kinks)

MAY 6 LENSIC PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Santa Fe, NM
Sweet Home Alabama > epic trolling > Albuquerque
(Lynyrd Skynyrd)

MAY 8 MESA ARTS CENTER - IKEDA THEATRE Mesa, AZ
Suffragette City
(David Bowie)

MAY 9 MCCALLUM THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Palm Desert, CA
Mama Told Me Not to Come
(Three Dog Night)

MAY 10 THE THEATRE AT ACE HOTEL Los Angeles, CA
Radio Radio
(Elvis Costello)

MAY 11 THE THEATRE AT ACE HOTEL Los Angeles, CA
Girl U Want
(DEVO)

MAY 12 HUMPHREY'S CONCERTS BY THE BAY San Diego, CA
This Is A Call
(Foo Fighters)

MAY 15 CREST THEATRE Sacramento, CA
I'm Down
(The Beatles)

MAY 17 GOLDEN STATE THEATRE Monterey, CA
The Elements
(Tom Lehrer)

MAY 18 TURLOCK COMMUNITY THEATRE Turlock, CA
Funeral for a Friend
(Elton John)

MAY 19 FOX THEATRE Oakland, CA
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
(Aretha Franklin)

MAY 20 UPTOWN THEATRE Napa, CA
God Save The Queen
(Sex Pistols)

MAY 22 CASCADE THEATRE Redding, CA
No Matter What
(Badfinger)

MAY 24 MCDONALD THEATRE Eugene, OR
Classical Gas
(Mason Williams)

MAY 25 REVOLUTION HALL Portland, OR
Rock & Roll
(Led Zeppelin)

MAY 26 REVOLUTION HALL Portland, OR
Funk #49
(James Gang)

MAY 27 MARTIN WOLDSON THEATER AT THE FOX Spokane, WA
Good Lovin'
(The Rascals)

MAY 29 MOORE THEATRE Seattle, WA
Foxy Lady (Jerry Lewis version)
(Jimi Hendrix)

MAY 31 GREY EAGLE RESORT & CASINO - GREY EAGLE EVENT CENTRE Calgary, AB
Aqualung
(Jethro Tull) (snippet)

JUN 1 CASINO REGINA - SHOW LOUNGE Regina, SK
Hard to Handle
(Otis Redding)

JUN 2 RIVER CREE RESORT AND CASINO – ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE Enoch, AB
All Right Now
(Free)

JUN 3 ESPLANADE THEATRE Medicine Hat, AB
Summer Nights
(John Travolta / Olivia Newton-John) (awkward, abridged duet with an audience member)

JUN 5 BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Winnipeg, MB
Magic Carpet Ride (Steppenwolf)

JUN 6 FARGO THEATRE Fargo, ND
Rebel Rebel
(David Bowie)

JUN 8 JESSE AUDITORIUM Columbia, MO
Take The Money And Run
(Steve Miller Band)

Takin' It To The Streets
(The Doobie Brothers)

JUN 9 SURF BALLROOM Clear Lake, IA
Not Fade Away
(Buddy Holly)

JUN 10 MEYER THEATRE Green Bay, WI
School's Out
(Alice Cooper)

posted by bondcliff (34 comments total)

I was at that second Apollo Theater show, and boy howdy, it was one of the best concerts ever. I didn't get to hear every song I wanted, but I did hear most of them, and as a Neil Young fan, the "Cinnamon Girl" cover was the icing, the sprinkles, the chocolate shavings, and the cherries on top of an already delicious cake of a show.
posted by SansPoint at 8:42 AM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Damn. That’s impressive! Both the post, and playing a different song every night.
posted by greermahoney at 8:43 AM on June 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

On a personal note, I was at the second Boston show where Al freely admitted that playing "Dirty Water" was shameless pandering. He also played The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota and Albuquerque which were two songs on my bucket lest so I can pretty much die happy now.
posted by bondcliff at 8:45 AM on June 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

Nice roundup, and, holy cow, I don't know why the idea of Al doing straight-faced covers is such a surprise to me given how much close parody and style pastiche stuff he and the band are famous for but that's a delightful goddam twist. And Suffragette City is hitting me in the feels a little bit.
posted by cortex at 8:47 AM on June 11, 2018

A couple of bonus covers, not from this tour, featuring Al with other bands:

What is Life (George Harrison)

Come Together (The Beatles) (with Steven Tyler and Alice Cooper)
posted by bondcliff at 8:54 AM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Thanks for this!

"I'll take 'Highly Appropriate Covers' for $500, Alex."

"You would swear Warren Zevon wrote this song with Weird Al Yankovic in mind."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:54 AM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

I was at the Bethesda show. For the first time in my life, I bought VIP concert tickets. They were worth every penny. I made a special shirt for the occasion, and just as I had planned, this happened.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:55 AM on June 11, 2018 [49 favorites]

I was at the Bethesda show. For the first time in my life, I bought VIP concert tickets. They were worth every penny. I made a special shirt for the occasion, and just as I had planned, this happened.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:55 AM on June 11

Awesome! And now everyone on MeFi is jealous of YOU!
posted by Vindaloo at 9:05 AM on June 11, 2018 [5 favorites]

From cortex's "Suffragette City" link:

I was just at this concert, I was the guy standing up at the end because experiences that profound don't happen very often and that the rest of the audience didn't join in a standing ovation is borderline criminal. This was the single greatest moment of not only 2018, but the 21st century so far.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:14 AM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

The "Refugee" cover in Bethesda was pretty damn great. Although now I'm just intensely jealous of Faint of Butt.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:16 AM on June 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

I was there! At the Calgary show (May 31)! Thanks in part to the helpful people of a little site called Ask Metafilter!

The Jethro Tull cover was 96% introduction, which was warm -- Al talking about how seeing a band fronted by a non-traditional rock instrument was an inspiration to him back in high school; if a flautist could rock, why not an accordionist? The cover was about four notes long. I'm jealous of the shows where he did a longer more substantial cover.

His band is really impeccably rock solid and adaptable, which makes sense if you think about it -- one song they sound like the Foo Fighters or Rage Against The Machine, the next one they sound like The Police or Cat Stevens. And on this tour, they're diving into a setlist picked from dozens of songs, most of them changing every night.

Even the big nod to parodies, the set-ending medley was rearranged substantially; it opened with something that sounded like MTV's Eric Clapton Unplugged but was in fact Eat It. I wound up finding out a friend of mine was at the show, so I got a ride home with him. I'm someone who had 10 cassettes in 1990, and 5 of them were Weird Al albums. He was a casual fan, and his girlfriend even more casual. I can confirm this was not the tour for a casual fan.

In conclusion, Weird Al Yankovic has been a relevant figure in popular music for 35 years and should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:25 AM on June 11, 2018 [12 favorites]

I saw it in Augusta, GA, and about the only thing that could have made it better would have been the Hamilton Polka, which Al is on record for planning to never play that one live, so I wasn't really expecting it anyway.

Also there's some wonderful trolling in the middle of their performance of Albuquerque. Even if you've got the lyrics memorized and are fully prepared to sing along, he extends the donutshop bit by roughly a baker's dozen additional flavors of donuts before getting to the bearclaws.

Another thing that struck me as particularly memorable was his introduction to "Truck Drivin' Song" where he admitted that the song could be considered problematic by today's standards, even while there's confusion as to exactly which kind of problematic the song should get labeled as: having a laugh at the expense of transvestite men, at the expense of especially butch deep-voiced women, or having a laugh by blatantly ripping off Monty Python's Lumberjack Song.
posted by radwolf76 at 9:37 AM on June 11, 2018 [5 favorites]

In conclusion, Weird Al Yankovic has been a relevant figure in popular music for 35 years and should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

And the Superbowl Halftime show.
Every year.
posted by radwolf76 at 9:40 AM on June 11, 2018 [12 favorites]

Even if you've got the lyrics memorized and are fully prepared to sing along, he extends the donutshop bit by roughly a baker's dozen additional flavors of donuts before getting to the bearclaws.

And then when he gets to the "I must have lost my train of thought..." bit, he actually starts over from the beginning. I lost it there.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:41 AM on June 11, 2018 [10 favorites]

Al-buquerque is just a perfect chronicle of so many of the elements of late 20th century life that I'll one day have to explain to my 5 year old...
posted by ocschwar at 9:43 AM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

I missed the show here due to prior commitments but I’m hoping they do this again. These guys are phenomenal musicians, something that often gets lost in all the parody. And that’s kind of a tribute in itself - these guys are so good, and they’re able to nail any kind of music they take on, and the quality of their playing doesn’t distract a bit from it. (It’s kind of like on sports, when you know the officials are doing a great job because they never call attention to themselves.) Of you’ve never seen Weird Al in concert, make a point to go next time they’re in town.
posted by azpenguin at 10:23 AM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

I was at the 1st night in PDX (Led Zeppelin night), and it was truly one of the best live concerts I've seen. I had planned to make a shirt for the show, too (mine would have said "Let me play bass on Gotta Boogie!"), but sadly I ran out of time.
posted by klausman at 10:26 AM on June 11, 2018

So these guys are like the new NRBQ? Sorry, the NNRBQ?
posted by non canadian guy at 10:53 AM on June 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

"Peaches" is only a degree or two off of a standard Yankovic tune when you think about it. That being said, his rendition is delightful as hell.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 11:06 AM on June 11, 2018

Great post, thanks bondcliff.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:11 AM on June 11, 2018

The "Cinnamon Girl" guitar solo is fabulous.
posted by jferg at 2:29 PM on June 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

My very first concert was Al opening for the Monkees (sans Mike). I think I was all of 13, maybe 14 and that show blew my mind. Al changed costumes almost every song, there were props, pyrotechnics, the works! Then his set ended and the Monkees (sans Mike) came out and my father all but disowned me when I asked if we could leave now. Turns out he was a superfan and only put up with my bullshit comedy guy so he could geek out to 3 of the 4 guys who sang Neil Diamond songs on a sitcom. They played for two more hours. Didn't even do any songs from HEAD...
posted by gideonswann at 8:07 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

MAY 8 MESA ARTS CENTER - IKEDA THEATRE Mesa, AZ
Suffragette City
(David Bowie)

JUN 6 FARGO THEATRE Fargo, ND
Rebel Rebel
(David Bowie)

2018, I'd like to take back all those mean things that I said about you.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:55 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Wierd Al put on one hell of a show to be sure, but let's not forget Emo Philips and his ability to stuff and entire wardrobe into his pockets. He is also brilliant at poking fun of the town he performs in. I am not really sure who I enjoyed more that evening, Emo or Al. That's a good thing.
posted by caddis at 7:04 AM on June 12, 2018 [4 favorites]

I am so, so sad that I did not get to go to any of these shows. I'm glad these videos exist so I can get a small taste. All I've ever wanted is to see "Albequerque" performed live.
posted by rednikki at 8:02 AM on June 12, 2018

One more, though the audio quality is lacking.

JUN 10 MEYER THEATRE Green Bay, WI
School's Out
(Alice Cooper)
posted by bondcliff at 11:10 AM on June 12, 2018

Weird Al played both of my favourite Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers songs! I'm (even more) in love!
posted by h00py at 6:03 PM on June 12, 2018

Some jerk on YouTube who goes by "ayankovic" just posted this audio-only video* with high-quality snippets of every cover done on the tour. Had this been released a few days earlier it would have saved me a lot of time. Jerk.

This gives me hope that maybe there's some sort of album in the works.

*I guess that's an oxymoron.
posted by bondcliff at 8:01 AM on June 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

bondcliff: I read somewhere that all the shows on the tour are going to be made available for streaming, possibly purchase, though I think they’re only going to be streamable on Spotify.
posted by SansPoint at 8:48 AM on June 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

More than anything else, I want a recording of Al's mid-tempo jam-band live arrangement of "Dare To Be Stupid."
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:48 AM on June 15, 2018

You can stream every show on the tour starting June 24th!

On Stitcher. Ugh.

I've half a mind to make a burner email, sign up with the promo code, rip the audio of the Apollo show, and then delete my account.
posted by SansPoint at 7:53 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Pssst, Faint of Butt.
posted by bondcliff at 10:49 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

was shameless pandering. He also played The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota and Albuquerque

The incredibly loud shriek coming from the floor when he started playing Biggest Ball of Twine was me.

Best. Night. Ever.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 3:29 PM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

I know you can now stream all the concerts for money or whatever but:

JUN 8 JESSE AUDITORIUM Columbia, MO
Take The Money and Run / Taken it to the Streets.

Some good commentary on the rhyming of TTMAR on that one and a pretty good Michael McDonald voice on the other.

JUN 5 BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Winnipeg, MB
Magic Carpet Ride.

And yes, I'm just gonna keep adding these until the thread is closed, I find all of them, or I stop finding new ones on YouTube. This thread is my legacy.
posted by bondcliff at 10:04 AM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]