LOS ANGELES – Radical anti-fascist song parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic announced his 26 date summer tour via an encrypted Telegram message to fans this week, as well as through pamphlets handed out in several West Coast cities over the weekend. The tour kicks off in Portland, Oregon on June 13th with an all-ages matinee at The Foggy Notion, where surviving members of Dead Moon are promoted to be on the bill. The tour will visit 24 other US cities, playing mostly historic punk rock venues as well as several DIY living room shows.
The Guerras Tour comes on the release of Mr. Yankovic’s fifteenth studio album, Third World Meowism, on legendary hardcore label SST Records. The first single, “A Noam Song (Chomsky)” (a parody of “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey), failed to chart on the Billboard 200 but was featured prominently in several noteworthy punk rock ‘zines as well as through tape trading circles.
“Weird Al” promises to celebrate all of the eras — or, guerras — of his career on this tour, playing a mix of new material (like “landlord”, his parody of Olivia Rodrigo’s “vampire”) as well as hits going back to the 1980s, including “Smells Like Antifa” and “Read It”, his breakout 1984 track about Das Capital. Yankovic will be backed up by his long-time touring band: Jim West, Steve Jay, Rubén Valtierra, and Jon “Cuba” Schwartz.
Mr. Yankovic was an early subject of the Biden administration’s landmark What If?… program, participating in NSA02622: What If?… “Weird Al” Yankovic’s First Concert Was Black Flag/Controllers/X/Fear/Plugz, Hong Kong Cafe, Los Angeles, CA, June 22, 1979?
Prior to the shift to alternate history, Mr. Yankovic’s first concert was The Knack on November 3rd, 1979.
Ronald Sampson
