Weird Al Yankovic announces "Mandatory World Tour" dates

PanARMENIAN.Net - Following the success of last year's "Mandatory Fun", Weird Al Yankovic is going on a massive world tour later this year. The singer/comedian announced "Mandatory World Tour" with a trailer posted on his official website on Tuesday, January 20, AceShowbiz reveals.

The tour opens with five shows at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood on May 12-16. Weird Al will make stops in other major cities in the U.S. and Canada during the summer before wrapping up the North American leg on September 18 at Harrah's Laughlin: Rio Vista Outdoor Amphitheatre in Laughlin.

The tour continues in Europe starting on September 24 in Stockholm, Sweden until October 6 in Dublin, Ireland. Details on shows in Australia and New Zealand will be revealed in the near future. Pre-sale for all North American dates begins January 27.

After the itinerary was posted, Weird Al took to Facebook to calm down fans who were disappointed that he wouldn't bring the tour to their cities. "I basically have NO CONTROL over where I play. 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," he wrote.

"You may have noticed there are a few holes in my otherwise packed touring schedule. 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... don't give up hope quite yet... there are still a few more 2015 tour dates to be announced," he added.

"Mandatory Fun" is Weird Al's 14th studio effort. Featuring his reworks of some popular songs including "Tacky" (Pharrell Williams' "Happy"), "Foil" (Lorde's "Royals") and "Handy" (Iggy Azalea's "Fancy"), it became the parodist's first album to have topped the Billboard 200 chart. It's currently up for a Grammy in Best Comedy Album category.