Photos: Weird Al Yankovic @ Family Arena

Weird Al Yankovic performs on June 3, 2011at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri in support of his album "Alpocalypse." © 2011 Todd Owyoung. (Todd Owyoung)

Polka, parodies and a parade of costumes characterized Weird Al Yankovic's crowd-pleasing performance at the Family Arena.

Weird Al Yankovic performs on June 3, 2011at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri in support of his album "Alpocalypse." © 2011 Todd Owyoung. (Todd Owyoung)

Weird Al Yankovic performs on June 3, 2011at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri in support of his album "Alpocalypse." © 2011 Todd Owyoung. (Todd Owyoung)

Weird Al Yankovic performs on June 3, 2011at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri in support of his album "Alpocalypse." © 2011 Todd Owyoung. (Todd Owyoung)

Weird Al Yankovic performs on June 3, 2011at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri in support of his album "Alpocalypse." © 2011 Todd Owyoung. (Todd Owyoung)

Weird Al Yankovic performs on June 3, 2011at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri in support of his album "Alpocalypse." © 2011 Todd Owyoung. (Todd Owyoung)

Weird Al Yankovic performs on June 3, 2011at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri in support of his album "Alpocalypse." © 2011 Todd Owyoung. (Todd Owyoung)

Weird Al Yankovic performs on June 3, 2011at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri in support of his album "Alpocalypse." © 2011 Todd Owyoung. (Todd Owyoung)

Weird Al Yankovic performs on June 3, 2011at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri in support of his album "Alpocalypse." © 2011 Todd Owyoung. (Todd Owyoung)

Weird Al Yankovic performs on June 3, 2011at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri in support of his album "Alpocalypse." © 2011 Todd Owyoung. (Todd Owyoung)

Photographer's Notes:

Cameras Used:

  • Nikon D700
  • Nikon D7000

Lenses Used:

Not that I would have expected otherwise, but this show was a huge amount of fun to photograph. Photography at the front of the stage was limited to just one song, Weird Al's latest polka medley, “Polka Face.”

However, that one song clocked in at about eight minutes, and photography was allowed from front of house after that. Beyond that, any single song that concludes with a shower of bubbles has this photographer's approval.

There was no hard photo pit for this show, simply a gap between the seated floor audience and the stage, and a generous one at that. I shot mainly with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 on the Nikon D700, which provided a great range. To supplement, I shot with the Nikon D7000 and the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 for a few tighter frames.

After the first song, I switched to the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 on the D7000, which provided a nice 300mm effective focal length shooting front of house.