The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour was a concert tour performed by American musician and satirist "Weird Al" Yankovic.[1] Intended to be a more intimate and less stylized production compared to his previous concert tours, the Vanity Tour focused on Yankovic's older material and original songs. The 76-date North American tour was announced in October 2017, and included 68 shows in the United States and eight shows in Canada. Following the conclusion of the tour, recordings of the entire tour were released on Stitcher Premium.
Background
In a departure from his previous concert tours, Yankovic set out on The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour with the intention to produce a more intimate, less stylized show than his preceding concert tours, describing the Vanity Tour as having an "extremely limited appeal" by design, and inspired by the staging of VH1 Storytellers and MTV Unplugged.[2][3][4] The absence of video screens and advanced lighting,[2] along with the Vanity Tour's lack of his popular hits, costumes changes, props, and choreography present in Yankovic's previous tours allowed for a more flexible and unpredictable experience, to the testimonial approval of Yankovic himself and his touring band.[3][4] In the tour's October 2017 announcement across social media, Yankovic stated:
By design, it has extremely limited appeal. Instead of doing festivals, fairs and arenas, we'll be doing small, intimate theatres. Instead of putting on a big flashy production, we'll be trying to go for something very informal and low-key… kind of an Unplugged/Storytellers vibe. Like we're just hanging out, playing in your living room. So if you've really got your heart set on seeing fat suits and Segways and hearing all your favorite parodies… this probably isn't the tour for you. Chances are we'll be doing that kind of show again sometime in the future, just not THIS time.
The opening act was the comedian Emo Philips, who had previously worked with Yankovic in his 1989 movie UHF and 1997 TV series The Weird Al Show.[5]
In accordance with Yankovic's desired theme of more intimate and "loose" shows, the setlist for The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour was different every night,[6][7] with a focus on older material and original songs from his discography, as opposed to his staple parody songs.[8] Yankovic performed a straight cover version of a different classic rock song during the encore of each show.[9]
Promotion
The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour was officially announced on "Weird Al" Yankovic's official social media pages on 13 October 2017,[3][4] with information on tour dates, venues and ticket sales appearing on Yankovic's official website the day after.[10][11] Tickets for the Vanity Tour, which went on sale on October 20, were advertised from $50 to $70.[6][12] The tour's announcement also coincided with the November 2017 release of Squeeze Box and Medium Rarities, two compilation albums collecting the works of Yankovic.[13]
In 2021 "Weird Al" Yankovic announced a follow-up concert tour to the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour "The Unfortunate Return of the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour", performed from May to October 2022 with special guest Emo Phillips.[14]
I've loved doing every single incarnation of my live show, but honestly the Vanity tour is the most fun I've ever had on stage, so I've been dying to get back out there and torture everybody with it once again!
^"Billboard Boxscore". Billboard. Vol. 130. Nashville, Tennessee: Eldridge Industries. April 7, 2018. ISSN0006-2510. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
^"Billboard Boxscore". Billboard. Vol. 130. Nashville, Tennessee: Eldridge Industries. June 9, 2018. ISSN0006-2510. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
^"Billboard Boxscore". Billboard. Vol. 130, no. 14. Nashville, Tennessee: Eldridge Industries. June 2, 2018. ISSN0006-2510. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2018.
^"Billboard Boxscore". Billboard. Vol. 130. Nashville, Tennessee: Eldridge Industries. April 28, 2018. ISSN0006-2510. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
^ ab"Billboard Boxscore". Billboard. Vol. 130, no. 13. Nashville, Tennessee: Eldridge Industries. May 19, 2018. ISSN0006-2510. Archived from the original on May 13, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
^ abc"Billboard Boxscore". Billboard. Vol. 130. Nashville, Tennessee: Eldridge Industries. June 23, 2018. ISSN0006-2510. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2018.