The “greatest musical spectacle ever seen,” at least according to the promotional trailer, is coming to the South Okanagan Events Centre on Sept. 9.
“Weird Al” Yankovic: the Mandatory World Tour starts off with five nights in Las Vegas May 12 and includes tour dates in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.
The pre-sale for tickets for North American dates starts Jan. 27 at 10 a.m.
Yankovic is coming off a record year as the 14th studio album for the king of parodies, Mandatory Fun, was the first “Weird Al” album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
2014 was a banner year for Yankovic as he once again did his thing, taking on the top pop artists and songs of the era, this time faster than ever, releasing eight videos in eight days to coincide with the release of Mandatory Fun.
This year Yankovic took on contemporary fashion with Tacky (Pharrell Williams’ Happy), common misuses of grammar with Word Crimes (Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines), got his hands dirty with Handy (Iggy Azaela’s Fancy) and brought some conspiracies to light with Foil (Lorde’s Royals).
The 15-time Grammy nominee, and three-time winner, has been switching up lyrics since the 90s, and after 30 years the one-of-a-kind musician/comedian is still taking on every genre and artist out there showing enough versatility to cover pop hits for decades.
He set the record for having the most songs from one album on Spotify’s viral top 10 at the same time, and Word Crimes put Yankovic in exclusive company as one of three artists to have Top 40 singles in each of the last four decades, joining Michael Jackson and Madonna as the only three to accomplish such a feat.
Tickets for the Mandatory World Tour go on sale at the SOEC on Jan. 30 at 10 a.m. Tickets will range from $37.50 to $57.50 and are available in person at the Valley First Box Office at the SOEC, the Wine Country Visitor Centre or over the phone at 1-877-763-2849. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.valleyfirsttix.com