The Clown That Left the Lawn in Tears and Laughter:
Puddles Pity Party Opens Weird Al Yankovic on the Bigger and Weirder 2025 Tour
Words by someone who definitely didn’t expect a Metallica cover in clown makeup.
Photography by Mike Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography
I’m not even sure how to describe what happened at Wolf Trap on Sunday night. Puddles Pity Party — yes, the 7-foot-tall, melancholy clown with the golden voice — walked onstage to open Weird Al and proceeded to emotionally sucker-punch a few thousand people armed only with deadpan mime work and a voice that could shake the moon. If you’ve never seen Puddles Pity Party, there’s no way to prepare. If you have seen him, you already know you can’t prepare.
At Wolf Trap on July 20, Puddles started in near-total silence. “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” rolled out like a lullaby you forgot from childhood, and the air got thick real quick. By the time he hit “Come Cry With Me,” people weren’t sure whether to laugh, cry, or stare at the stranger next to them and say, “Is this… actually happening?”
Then came the first “Who Wants to Help the Clown?” bit. It’s a recurring segment in his shows, but if you’ve only seen it online, you’re missing half the magic. Puddles steps offstage and prowls the aisles in silence, locking eyes with people like he’s about to steal their dreams or ask them to prom.
The young lady pulled from the crowd gamely and enthusiastically played a fake homemade guitar to “Crazy Train,” a full-throated cover of Ozzy’s signature song, stripped of its bravado and infused with raw pathos. No irony. No wink. Just sheer, operatic intensity. Once the young woman was back in the audience, Puddles followed with “Afraid of Nothing” by Sharon Van Etten — and the crowd was officially toast.
Watch Puddles Pity Party cover “Afraid of Nothing” by Sharon Van Etten on YouTube:
But the second round of “Clown Help” was even weirder — a randomly selected audience member dressed as a beer bottle, extended eye contact, and some deeply committed awkward hugging. He doubled down with Los Lobos’ “Estoy Sentado Aquí,” crooning mournfully in Spanish like some sad lounge singer from a lost Fellini movie, before sending the audience member back to their seat. Repeatedly, throughout his set, Puddles played up a disturbingly funny obsession with Kevin Costner — and the crowd loved it.
After the song “In The End,” Puddles did “Stairway to Gilligan’s Island.” It’s exactly what it sounds like — Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” mashed up with the Gilligan’s Island theme song, line for line. It started like a serious homage, with misty-eyed guitar notes and a slow build. And then suddenly — “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…”
At first, people were confused. Then, laughing, somehow, weirdly impressed. He hit every high note, every shift in time signature. It shouldn’t work, and yet it absolutely killed. A clown hijacking sacred rock? Somehow it felt sacrilegious and appropriate at the same time.
He closed with a medley that deserves its own concert series: “My Heart Will Go On / Enter Sandman / One” all stitched into one final explosion of operatic sorrow and pageantry. Puddles didn’t speak a word. Didn’t bow. Just stared us down, turned, and ghosted offstage.
What stuck with me the most — besides the truly unexpected emotional whiplash — was just how quiet the crowd was after he left. Not dead silence, but that kind of buzzed confusion you get after seeing something you didn’t quite understand but instinctively loved.
No one said, “Well, that was weird.” They just… nodded to each other, smiled and shook their heads. It was as if we’d all just been hit by something bigger and way stranger than us.
Opening for Weird Al is a tall order. You need to be weird enough to match, bold enough not to be overshadowed, and entertaining enough to be remembered. Puddles didn’t just clear the bar — he stared it down, while crying gently into the void.
(And Weird Al? Yeah, he was great too. But that’s another review.)
Setlist
1. I’m Always Chasing Rainbows (Harry Carroll cover)
2. Come Cry With Me (Glyn Styler cover)
Who Wants to Help the Clown bit
3. Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne cover)
4. Afraid of Nothing (Sharon Van Etten cover)
Who Wants to Help the Clown bit
5. Estoy Sentado Aqui (Los Lobos cover)
6. Come On Up to the House (Tom Waits cover)
7. In The End
8. Stairway to Gilligan’s Island (TV theme/ Led Zeppelin mashup)
9. My Heart Will Go On/Enter Sandman/One (Celine Dion/ Metallica mashup)
Here are some photos of Puddles Pity Party opening Weird Al at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap on July 20, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography.
