Perennial parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic has confirmed that he will be announcing Australian and New Zealand tour dates shortly. Having recently announced the first wave of dates of his highly anticipated Mandatory World Tour, Yankovic took to his official Facebook page to reassure fans that there are still plenty of dates yet to be announced.
Responding to comments left on his social media channels, Yankovic addressed the “holes in my otherwise packed touring schedule”, writing, “This is because some dates haven’t been completely confirmed (like the Australia / NZ dates), and some dates we’re not allowed to announce yet for various legal/contractual reasons. All I can say is, please be patient.”
Yankovic also attempted to calm some irate fans who were a bit miffed with his tour schedule. “I basically have NO CONTROL over where I play,” the parodist insisted. “There’s no reason to thank me if I’m playing your city, and there’s REALLY no reason to get mad at me if I’m not. I don’t decide what city I play, or what venue I play, or what day I play.”
“The way it works is, I tell my booking agency how long I’d like to tour, and then they put a tour together based on whatever offers come in from concert promoters,” Yankovic continued. “So if you want to twist somebody’s arm, maybe try your local concert promoter… but you don’t need to convince ME – believe me, I would love to play EVERYWHERE!”
Yankovic did not specify when he would be announcing Australian tour dates, only that they are forthcoming — his official websites indicates that tour dates for Australia and New Zealand are simply “to be announced” — nor did he indicate when he would making his way Down Under. Stay tuned to Tone Deaf and we’ll have all the dates as soon as they’re announced.
Yankovic is set to tour on the back of his latest album, Mandatory Fun, which he dropped back in July 2014. The album was famously celebrated with a whole week of music videos, including parodies of Pharrell’s mega-hit ‘Happy’ called ‘Tacky’, Iggy Azalea’s ‘Fancy’ rebranded as ‘Handy’, and a condemnation of ‘Word Crimes’ set to Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’.
