Music

“It is a bigger production and a bigger band. I didn’t do that specifically so that I could play arenas. I just thought that’d be a fun thing to do.”

By Marc Hirsh

July 16, 2026 | 9:28 AM

6 minutes to read

It might seem strange to view “Weird Al” Yankovic as one of the most significant chroniclers of the last half century or so of popular music. But simply by covering songs and artists recognizable enough for the musical aspect of his jokes to land — whether it’s direct parodies like “Eat It,” “Smells Like Nirvana” and “White & Nerdy”; more general artist-imitating originals like the Devo-biting “Dare To Be Stupid” and the palindromically Dylanesque “Bob”; or his chart-surveying polka medleys — the singer/accordionist has provided something like a warped archaeological record of the biggest hits of the last few decades.

“A lot of people say that my albums are like pop culture time capsules,” said Yankovic via video chat on a break from his Bigger & Weirder arena tour, which lands at the TD Garden on Saturday and invades Tanglewood on Tuesday. “So if you wanted to see what pop culture was like at any era between the ’80s and 2014, just pick up one of my albums and that would give you a good overview.”

If 2014 sounds awfully specific, that’s because that was the last year that Yankovic released new music other than medleys and movie one-offs, like the closing-credits song to 2022’s Emmy-winning fake biopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.” It’s a distinct change in how he did business for ages.

“Things have taken my attention. I’ve been touring a lot. Doing the movie was a major commitment. It’s not like I’ve given up on writing new songs,” he said. “But for the time being, my focus is elsewhere. I’m developing a Broadway musical right now, I’m doing other things. So I haven’t given up on it. It’s just that right now, it’s sort of on the back burner.”

Boston.com caught up with Yankovic last week about playing arenas, his startling longevity, and what it might take to get him together with Keith Lockhart.

Boston.com: First of all, honor to meet you. I’m sure you get that all the time.

“Weird Al” Yankovic: Not from you, so thank you.

I was a 12-year-old once, so let’s get right into this. You are playing arenas now. What has that been like?

It’s been pretty amazing. It’s kind of mind-boggling that I’m playing bigger places now than I ever have before in my life. My last studio album came out 12 years ago, so it’s sort of ironic that now my career actually seems to be peaking.

How have you had to adjust what you do in order to fill that space?

Well, yeah, it is the Bigger & Weirder Tour, so it is a bigger production and a bigger band. I didn’t do that specifically so that I could play arenas. I just thought that’d be a fun thing to do. But as it turns out, the promoter was very excited about this tour and therefore we’re playing a lot of large places. [chuckles] I still can’t believe that we sold out Madison Square Garden and the Forum in L.A., and we’re playing arenas virtually every show. I started out driving a little minivan around the country, and now we’ve got three buses and four trucks on the road. It’s pretty crazy.

There were interviews with the Beatles early on where somebody asked John, “How long do you think this is going to go?,” and he said, “Maybe ten years, but it may end in three months, you don’t know.” Ringo was talking about basically using his money to buy a bunch of women’s hair salons, because that was the financially responsible thing to do at that point.

Sure, sure.

Was there any thought to that, that you might be operating on borrowed time?

Well, always. It was drummed into me, particularly in the early part of my career, that what I did was novelty music. And people that traffic in that genre generally have an extremely short shelf life, so I wanted to make sure I grabbed a golden ring every time I went around the merry-go-round.

So I was putting out an album every year in the ’80s, just because I figured, This is my one shot, this is my one chance. And after my fourth album [1986’s “Polka Party!”] didn’t do quite as well as my third [1985’s “Dare To Be Stupid”], I thought, Okay, well, maybe this is the end, maybe now I’ve reached the top of the bell curve and I’m going to slowly slide into obscurity. 

But then my fifth album [1988’s “Even Worse”] was my best yet. It took me a while before I realized that my career would have peaks and valleys, and I shouldn’t get too upset when I’m at a valley or too full of myself when I’m at a peak.

You’ve been staggeringly loyal to your band ever since the very start. [Bassist] Steve Jay and [drummer] Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz were both around early enough to be on your first album [1983’s “‘Weird Al’ Yankovic”], [guitarist] Jim West joined not long after and your new guy, [keyboardist] Rubén Valtierra, has been around since 1991. Why have you stuck with them so long, and why have they stuck with you so long?

We just get along really well. I got very lucky to find those guys so early in my career. They’re very grounded, they’re very professional, they’re nice guys, there’s no drama on the bus, there’s no “Behind The Music” kind of hoopla going on and they’re some of the best musicians in the world. I attribute a lot of my success to those guys, because they make me look good. That’s the number one hint for being successful, is just surround yourself with really talented people.

A lot of what you do now is far beyond what you were doing at the early stages of your career. You weren’t quite as exacting, trying to nail every single sonic nuance of the records you were parodying. When did you realize that your band had that gear in them?

I think we really locked in about “Dare To Be Stupid.” The first album was just kind of by the seat of our pants, and I put accordion on I think every track, just because I figured that I was the accordion guy and that was my hook. But that meant that it wouldn’t sound exactly like the original recording.

On the second album [1984’s “‘Weird Al’ Yankovic In 3-D”], the production was much better and sharper and we were going more in the direction of sounding just like the original song. I like to think that we’ve gotten better on every single album that we’ve ever put out.

I’ve spoken to Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart a few times, and when I’ve asked him who’s on his dream list of performers to play with the Pops, you came up. How do we make that happen?

We did an orchestral tour back in 2019 where we played with a full symphony orchestra every single night, a different orchestra in every city. So if we ever do that again, I would love to do that.

How does you parodying a song change your ability to listen to it as its own thing?

Honestly, if I hear a song that I parodied on the radio, I’ll generally change the channel because I don’t want to put the original lyrics in my head. It’s hard enough for me to try to remember my own lyrics on stage.

The “Weird Al” Yankovic: Bigger & Weirder 2026 Tour will be at TD Garden Saturday, July 18, and Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, Tuesday, July 21. Tickets remain available for both shows.

This interview has been edited and condensed. Marc Hirsh can be reached at [email protected] or on Bluesky @spacecitymarc.bsky.social

Marc Hirsh

Music Critic

Marc Hirsh is a music critic who covers a wide variety of genres, including pop, rock, hip-hop, country and jazz.

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