Decades into his career, “Weird Al” Yankovic proved that he still has some pluck in him during his performance at New York’s famed Apollo Theater on Friday, making his public guitar-playing debut.
“Eat It” maestro Yankovic, whose accordion skills are a matter of public record — nay, legend — stepped out from behind the bellows to unleash his six-string fury on the audience with a blistering cover of the Neil Young classic “Cinnamon Girl.”
Explaining that the occasion was “a very, very special night,” Yankovic noted that “on this next song, I’m going to make my guitar playing debut.”
“My whole life, I never learned to play the guitar and I figured, you know, I’ve been in entertainment, I’ve been a recording artist and a professional musician for most of my life, and I should know how to play the guitar,” Yankovic continued. “So, for the last several months, I’ve been studying and learning how to play the guitar so that I could debut it at the Apollo on this next song.”
And then Yankovic went on to prove that it was several months well spent, as he nailed Young’s guitar solo on the song with buzzsaw ferocity.
Yes, it was only one note, but as is often the case, it’s not what you play, it’s how you play it.
Well done, Weird Al. Could a cover of Van Halen’s “Eruption” be far behind?
Watch Yankovic string the crowd along in the video.