15. October 2026
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The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance: Introduction (Trip Report)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

I did not publish a trip report for quite a while. That week in October 2026 had been just too special not to put it into my travel diary format. 1,900 miles of driving ahead, a very interesting place in Wisconsin – and the last four shows of Weird Al Yankovic’s Bigger & Weirder Tour 2026. I was really looking forward to meet my friends, catch up with the band and having great nights with great music – even though I had quite a bit of respect of the driving distances. However, in contrast to trip reports I had published before, there will be no next morning updates and likely also not strictly next day posts. When I publish this introduction, I am quite positive that I will be able to finish the trip report in a foreseeable time. Hope you enjoy my trip with great music, interesting experiences, good friends – and quite a lot of time on US-American Interstates and highways.

 

Bigger & Weirder Tour 2026 – My (last four) shows

The key thing the whole trip is built around are the four Weird Al Yankovic shows. They are also concluding the Bigger & Weirder Tour, which started in 2025 and had 90 shows in 2026. If there was no trouble with any of my travel plans, these would be my shows 47 to 50 overall, 9 to 12 of the tour, and 7 to 10 in 2026:

# Date City / Venue Link
47 Tu 13.10.2026 Peoria, IL – Peoria Civic Center
48 Th 15.10.2026 Fort Wayne, IN – Allen County War Memorial Colliseum
49 Fr 16.10.2026 Green Bay, WI – The Resch Center
50 Sa 17.10.2026 Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum

 

The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance – The Flights

I flew over to Chicago with an SAS Scandinavian Airlines Premium Economy ticket. They give you a business class ticket for the legs within Europe. As I did feel too well, I upgraded the outbound to business class. In addition, I wanted to have flights to and from Rhinelander Airport (RHI) in Wisconsin. For that reason, I rode the only connection available, a flight to/from Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP), with Delta, operated by SkyWest.

Date Flight No. Connection Class
Sa 10.10.2026 SK 620 Dusseldorf (DUS) – Copenhagen (CPH) Business
Sa 10.10.2026 SK 943 Copenhagen (CPH) – Chicago (ORD) Business
Su 11.10.2026 SK 620 Dusseldorf (DUS) – Copenhagen (CPH) Prem. Eco
Su 11.10.2026 DL 4305 Rhinelander (RHI) – Minneapolis (MSP) First
Su 11.10.2026 DL 4233 Minneapolis (MSP) – Rhinelander (RHI) First
Su 18.10.2026 SK 944 Chicago (ORD) – Copenhagen (CPH) Prem. Eco
Mo 19.10.2026 SK 1621 Copenhagen (CPH) – Dusseldorf (DUS) Business

 

 

The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance – The Hotels

Tourchasing typically involves a lot of hotel changes. Thus, only my stay in Fort Wayne, Indiana, lead to a two night stay. Other Weird Al fans stayed in Greater Chicago and served all four shows from that “basis”.

Check-In Hotel Review
Sa 10.10.2026 Hampton Inn Plover-Stevens Point
Su 11.10.2026 Holiday Inn Express & Suites Rhinelander
Mo 12.10.2026 Spark by Hilton Bettendorf Quad Cities
Tu 13.10.2026 Staybridge Suites Peoria-Downtown
We 14.10.2026 Holiday Inn Purdue – Fort Wayne
Fr 16.10.2026 Hampton Inn Green Bay Stadium
Sa 17.10.2026 Holiday Inn Express Milwaukee Downtown

 

The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance – The Episodes

I will not publish a day-by-day coverage. Some days might even be split into two episodes. I rather decided to make each episode end with one of the four shows I visit. However, as the first part of the trip, there will be an episode about my outbound trip and my first key destination, Rhinelander in Wisconsin. The final post including the tour finale in Milwaukee will also feature my trip back home.

  • The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance – Introduction (this post)
  • The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance – from Rheinland to Rhinelander
  • The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance – Heading South – the Peoria Show
  • The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance – Heading East to Indiana – the Fort Wayne show
  • The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance – Going back to Wisconsin – Green Bay
  • The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance – Farewell at Milwaukee and Going Home

 

The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance – Travel Posts

Apart from the trip report posts, this trip in October 2026 will also lead to quite some additional content published during the next weeks and months. There are the additional posts I envisage, in chronological order (hotel reviews are listed again, even though named above). Once there is a link in here, I published the corresponding post.

  • Hertz Chicago O’Hare (Car Rental Review)
  • Hampton Inn Plover-Stevens Point
  • Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport (RHI)
  • Portal Lounge Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP)
  • Holiday Inn Express & Suites Rhinelander
  • A Visit to Rhinelander WI (Pictured Story)
  • Spark by Hilton Bettendorf Quad Cities
  • John Deere Pavilion
  • Iowa 80 – The World Largest Truckstop (Pictured Story)
  • Caterpillar Visitor Center
  • Staybridge Suites Peoria-Downtown
  • Grissom Air Museum
  • Holiday Inn Purdue – Fort Wayne
  • Hampton Inn Green Bay Stadium
  • EAA Aviation Museum
  • Holiday Inn Express Milwaukee Downtown
  • Harley-Davidson Museum

 

Bigger & Weirder Tour 2025/2026 – Other Posts

Overall, I visited twelve shows of the Bigger & Weirder Tour, two in 2025 and ten in 2026. A highlight was the concert report as a photographer in Niagara Falls, Canada.

Here is a list of all posts featuring the two on my website, given in chronological order, including reports about the support act Puddles Pity Party::

 

In addition, the tour inspired me to an episode of my Songs of my Life:

Songs of my Life: Paul Simon – You Can Call Me Al

 

Flyctory.com about Weird Al Yankovic

Here are all postings related to Weird Al Yankovic:

 

Trip Report Inceptions

Here are the starting postings of each Trip Report I posted in here so far

 

 

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