Weird Al Surprised Coachella By Crashing Yo Gabba Gabba’s Bizarre Set
This past weekend, “Weird Al” Yankovic took the stage during a performance by the Australian children’s musical comedy act Yo Gabba Gabba! at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival just in case any of the lost twenty-somethings who showed up to the set didn’t already think that they were hallucinating.
Right now, the fun-loving, festival-faring, parentally subsidized young people of Southern California are nursing their hangovers with Erewhon smoothies and sweating out this past weekend’s festivities in Equinox steam rooms upon their return to Los Angeles during the intermission of Coachella 2025. With the first weekend of the world-famous music festival in the books, music fans and music journalists alike now take their much-needed respite before the desert mega-party begins again on Friday, and, somewhere in the USC dorms, there is at least one group of undergrads who are currently asking each other questions like, “Who was that curly-haired old guy in the costume band?” and “Dude, where the fuck is my phone?”
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In the drug-addled haze that covered Indio, California on Saturday, one shining beacon of wholesome absurdity cut through the festival fog to deliver a stirring rendition of the hit Muppet Movie song "Rainbow Connection” alongside his hosts Yo Gabba Gabba!, the popular rock band Portugal. The Man, the bass guitar savant Thundercat and the song’s original composer, Paul Williams. Sadly, there’s a high chance that many of Coachella’s lovers and dreamers missed the performance because they were busy vomiting rainbows in the porta potties.
Interestingly enough, Weird Al’s Coachella appearance marked the first time that the beloved parody artist has ever performed at the popular music festival and psychedelics-users’ Super Bowl. Considering that the beginning of Coachella in 1999 coincided with the peak of Weird Al’s popularity, seeing as the show began just a couple years after the release of Weird Al’s smash-hit single “Amish Paradise,” it came as a surprise to learn that America’s favorite accordionist has never had his own set at the festival.
Nevertheless, Yo Gabba Gabba! were just about the perfect hosts for Weird Al’s Coachella debut, as the synchronicity of their respective squeaky-clean silliness created a pairing that was more light, sweet and satisfying than Biz Markie’s best stack of pancakes and syrup.
