UPDATE, October 13: As promised, “Weird Al” has unveiled his tour dates, and the Boston date lands March 4 at the Wilbur Theatre. Tickets go on sale Wednesday (October 18) at 10 a.m. local time. Get the full run of dates here.
Set your Swatches — “Weird Al” Yankovic is announcing a 2018 North American tour tomorrow (October 13).
But before we all get worked up and overwork our Even Worse cassettes, Yankovic has a bit of a warning for fans. Actually, it’s more than a bit; it’s a lot: This will be no ordinary tour. In fact, he’s calling it “The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Sdvised Vanity Tour,” and for good reason — each show will be a scaled-down, intimate affair where only originals will be played.
That’s right, no parodies, no big production.
“I decided we should try something different, just for a change of pace,” Yankovic tells fans on Facebook. “So next year we’re scaling way, way back. No costumes, no props, no video screens, no computer servers. We’re just going to walk out on stage, sit down on stools, and play a bunch of old songs. Oh, and we’re going to be performing almost exclusively originals (i.e. not parodies). The deep cuts and obscure tracks. The songs that were never hits. The ones you barely remember.”
Yankovic admits that “this tour is not for everybody,” and even the promo poster boasts “limited commercial appeal.” But it will be a chance to see the legendary performer in a different kind of way, and hear the songs he almost never performs live.
“Instead of doing festivals, fairs and arenas, we’ll be doing small, intimate theatres,” he adds. “Instead of putting on a big flashy production, we’ll be trying to go for something very informal and low-key… kind of an Unplugged/Storytellers vibe. Like we’re just hanging out, playing in your living room. So if you’ve really got your heart set on seeing fat suits and Segways and hearing all your favorite parodies… this probably isn’t the tour for you. Chances are we’ll be doing that kind of show again sometime in the future, just not this time.”
Yankovic goes on to explain that certain fans have been waiting years for these types of shows, and without all the pre-designed multimedia accompaniment of his usual tours, this one means they can change the set list up each night and be a bit more spontaneous. “[W]e just wanted to take it down a few notches and have a little musical palate cleanser,” he writes. “This show will be loose, unpredictable, and maybe a little sloppy – we’ll be making it up as we go along.”
The dates for “The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Sdvised Vanity Tour” will be announced in full around noon tomorrow via weirdal.com. Read his full message below.