“Weird Al” Yankovic Announces Over-the-Top Strings Attached Tour for 2019
Photo by Kevin Winter/GettyWeird Al Yankovic has announced an appropriately named Strings Attached tour, set to explore North America during summer 2019.
Yankovic announced the tour, his “most full-blown, over-the-top extravaganza ever,” via Instagram. In the post, he detailed what exactly will make this tour such a spectacle, and it’s much more than just the return of costumes, props and the “big video screen.” Bringing back longtime band members Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, Steve Jay, Jim West and Rubén Valtierra, Yankovic is also bringing—for the first time—female backing vocalists Lisa Popeil, Monique Donnelly and Scottie Haskell, each of whom have performed on his studio recordings. Also joining in the fun will be a full, locally based symphony orchestra at each stop.
“No, we’re not cramming an orchestra on our bus—it’ll be a different orchestra in every city,” wrote Yankovic in his post. “Sometimes it will be a ‘branded’ local orchestra (like, say, the Colorado Symphony), and other times we’ll basically just be putting together our own orchestra with local musicians.”
The Strings Attached tour follows Yankovic’s Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour, during which the comedian most-often famed for his parody tracks played a set of originals in a scaled-back setting. For 2019’s run, the set is expected to be “THE HITS,” according to Yankovic, along with “a couple songs that we’ve never played before—not even on the Ill-Advised Vanity Tour.”
Though dates and ticket information have not yet been announced, more information is expected on Nov. 12 via Yankovic’s website. Check out the announcement below and revisit Paste’s 2015 interview with the musician, our ranking of the 10 greatest Weird Al videos and that time he starred in Weezer’s music video for “Africa.”