The Palais in St Kilda, as Weird Al has said himself on many occasions, is one of his favourite places to play, having played there on each of his Melbourne visits. And what a venue it is.
This tour, eloquently named “The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent Ill-Advised Vanity Tour” is quite different to previous tours. It’s relatively subdued in terms of stage antics. There are no video screens, no jumping around, no costumes and, chiefly, NO PARODIES.
Al begins the show by telling the audience what’s been mentioned in all his radio and TV appearances and all the publicity – these are all the unpopular songs. Unpopular, that is, only to casual Weird Al fans who only really know Eat It, Fat and White And Nerdy. For the true fans, and the audience was full of them, these obscure tracks also are classics.
The show starts with the support act, in the form of comedian Emo Philips. It’s unusual for a music show to begin with a comedy act, but then Weird Al has always maintained his genre as comedy, so it fits. Now in his late 60s, he has lost none of his edge.
After a short break, the Weird Al band takes the stage. It’s amazing to note that Al has had the same band for over forty years. They are note-perfect and beat-perfect throughout the show. They are amazing musicians, able to seamlessly hop between musical genres when required. And also kudos to whoever mixed the sound for the show, the sound mix was excellent.
As mentioned earlier, the show is more low key than previous tours, with the band remaining seated through the whole show. The band launch straight into the first song, Young, Dumb And Ugly, from the Alapalooza album.
What follows is a series of Weird Al originals, including style parodies, most of which are preceded by a story. Some of the stories are factual, and some are pure silliness, and some a mixture of both. He recalls meeting his drummer, Jon “Bermuda” Schwarz at the Dr Demento show in 1980 (he even recalls the exact date – September 14). Then he switches from fact to fiction as he describes meeting guitarist Jim West and bassist Steve Jay on a cruise. He tells the audience he recruited them immediately for a 45-year exclusive contract. Al then explains the song they were playing was a beautiful song and then proceeds to play it. It’s a schmalzy swing number, and after a few lines the audience realises they are hearing Dare To Be Stupid, which was originally in the style of Devo.
After a few more tracks they play “a song that Jim Morrison wrote” and then launch into Craiglist, which is a total joy with an superbly deranged extended sequence during the barista verse. In a nod to locals, it’s “the snotty barista from a cafe in Acland Street”.
Referencing the video for You Don’t Love Me Anymore, where Al picks up the guitar but then puts it down again, Al picks up the vibra slap a number of times but then puts it down again.
After finishing the set with The Biggest Ball Of Twine in Minnesota, the band returns to the stage for an encore. Knowing Weird Al’s previous shows, I suspect the songs and encore to differ between performances (as it did in the US) so I think it’s safe to post the set list below.
Despite the lack of stage antics, the show was a wonderful journey through the deep cuts and the audience loved it. But this wasn’t just an ordinary music gig – it was comedy as well. There were plenty of laughs between the songs and Al’s lyrics are still as funny as they were 10, 20, 30 or even 40 years ago. This puts Weird Al up there with Monty Python, who are the only other comedians to be able to perform the same material repeatedly to an enraptured audience for years, unlike other comedians are forced to do new material constantly.
Set List for March 10 at The Palais, St Kilda
Young, Dumb And Ugly
Lame Claim To Fame
Close But No Cigar
Bob
One More Minute
My Own Eyes
Dare To Be Stupid
Your Horoscope For Today
My Baby’s In Love With Eddie Vedder
Midnight Star
When I Was Your Age
Skipper Dan
The Night Santa Went Crazy
Craiglist
Velvet Elvis
You Don’t Love Me Anymore
The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota
Psycho Killer
Parody Medley: Amish Paradise/Smells Like Nirvana/White And Nerdy/Word Crimes/Yoda
Trash Disco 
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