Yoda (song) - Live Performances

Live Performances

In concert, "Yoda" has been played at the end of every show for the tours promoting Yankovic's albums Dare to Be Stupid, Off The Deep End, Alapalooza, Bad Hair Day, Running with Scissors, Poodle Hat, and Alpocalypse. Starting with the Touring with Scissors tour in 1999, the song has been preceded by that album's Star Wars-themed single, "The Saga Begins." For the Straight Outta Lynwood tour, the band moved both songs to the middle of the set, and instead the finale was "Albuquerque." For his tour beginning June 2010, "Yoda" has again been played as his final encore. While the album version of "Yoda" uses the same instrumentation as "Lola", Yankovic will often add accordion accompaniment to the song when performing live; this can be seen on the video releases "Weird Al" Yankovic Live! and "Weird Al" Yankovic Live! – The Alpocalypse Tour.

Since 1991, an a cappella chant (affectionately nicknamed the "Yoda chant") has been present during performances of this song. Midway through the song's performance, the band slowly ceases playing and goes into the chant, which Yankovic wrote himself. Originally the chant consisted mainly of mnemonic syllables used by Indian tabla players, which Al thought sounded interesting, accompanied by synchronized movements from the band. It has changed over the years, and currently includes, among other things, a piece of the classic Hawaiian War Chant, a few phrases from The Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird," and "Big Shoes" written by Al's bass player Steve Jay, with lyrics in the Djerma language. For his tour beginning June 2010, a few lines from Grim Grinning Ghosts have been added as part of the chant. For concerts in Australia the Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi chant is added.