‘Weird’ Al Yankovic Brings Catalog-Spanning Bigger & Weirder Tour To Atlantic City

“Weird Al” Yankovic demonstrated for his Atlantic City audience why in the fifth decade of his career, he’s playing to his biggest crowds and is as relevant as ever. Sandwiched between arena performances in Connecticut and Boston, the King of Musical Parody put on a show at the Borgata Casino highlighted by high-level musicianship, a catalog-spanning setlist and enough costume changes to give the likes of Taylor Swift a run for her money.

In recent years, Puddles Pity Party has opened for Yankovic and the thin, pale clown put on a performance of note. Singing the lyrics to the theme song of Gilligan’s Island along to “Stairway to Heaven” was a creative novelty. But closing the set with a cover of Queen & David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” saw Puddles absolutely nail the vocal part of Freddie Mercury and effectively lay to waste any notion that he’s anything less than a genuine musical talent.

Yankovic has toured with the same core group of musicians since his brand of pop parody burst onto the scene in the early 1980s. In the years since, drummer Jon Schwartz, guitarist Jim West, bassist Steve Jay and keyboardist Ruben Valtierra have been onstage mainstays ever since.

Given the wide range of genres Yankovic riffs on in a given night, the instrumental versatility these guys pack truly puts them on par with the best studio musicians around.

For the Bigger & Weirder Tour, Yankovic has augmented his longtime touring band with an extra handful of performers that don’t just expand his sonic scope, but also add to the theatrical execution on songs like “Smells Like Nirvana” and “White & Nerdy.” On both songs, new band members danced around in on-theme costumes that enhanced the production.

The Nirvana cover featured a prop that provided some insight into the depth to which Yankovic goes to dive into the psyche of the artists he parodies. Kurt Cobain famously played a left-handed, modified hybrid of a Fender Mustang with Jaguar pickups. Yankovic doesn’t even play guitar, so the model he used for the performance didn’t have to be all that realistic, and while a Mustang/Jaguar mix might have been a bit tough to source, he did rock out with a left-handed Fender Stratocaster in hand that had been modified to incorporate a Telecaster neck.

As Yankovic was doing his Cobain, he assumed the late grunge icon’s posture and performative mannerisms in a way that shows the depth of his character preparation truly pays off.

Yankovic hasn’t put out an album since 2014, and almost the entirety of the performance was made up of material off of his back catalog. But a highlight of the night was his famous polka medley, and incorporating material by artists ranging from Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X and Olivia Rodrigo, it was clear that the time passed since his last album hasn’t given way to satirical atrophy.

Another highlight of the performance was a mid-set medley playing on material by Miley Cyrus (“Party in the C.I.A.”), Green Day (“Canadian Idiot”), Michael Jackson (“Eat It”), Puff Daddy (“It’s All About the Pentiums”) and Robin Thicke (“Word Crimes”). Pound for pound, this segment of the performance simply provided the most red meat for the crowd, covering tons of territory and making sure as much of his lengthy back catalogue was covered as possible.

However, it also demonstrated some of the challenges that come with satirizing all of the most (in)famous artists since the Reagan administration. Between Thicke, Jackson and Diddy, the medley alone showcased material by a number of artists whose alleged conduct has deeply scarred their legacy. With that in mind, leaving R. Kelly out of his act (“Trapped in The Drive-Thru”) was most welcome.

The proper set concluded with “Amish Paradise,” Yankovic’s play on Coolio’s hit single from the Dangerous Minds soundtrack, and judging by the sound of an audience who knew the words to every song of the night, this remains his most popular fan favorite by a wide measure.

“Weird” Al returned to the stage for a pair of Star Wars-themed songs playing off all-time classics. “The Saga Begins” is a take on Don McLean’s “American Pie,” that tells the story of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and “Yoda” is a play on “Lola” by The Kinks.

Whether your heyday with Yankovic was in the 1980s, 1990s or 2000s, it’s natural to be surprised that he is still going strong, let alone playing to the largest crowds of his career. But that longevity is the key to his commercial viability in 2026.

The entire time he’s been at it, Yankovic has been making fans out of the current generation of Top 40 listeners. From joking on Queen with “Another One Rides the Bus” to the likes of Lorde with “Foil,” Yankovic has been making new fans every step of the way and the result is an extensively multigenerational fanbase that hasn’t shrunk one bit.

Based on what he pulled off at the Borgata Casino, it’s a solid bet that the army of folks who call themselves fans of “Weird” Al will only keep growing.