Al on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson 02/09/2012

[minnick27]

I assumed he had a cold or something. At this point in his career I doubt hes nervous about being on tv

[Orthography Enthusiast]

I don't think it was a cold or off-keyness. I think there was a little bit of nerves... yes, he's been performing for a long time, but he doesn't actually sing on TV that often. It's a big deal when he does, especially for a perfectionist like Al. Also I think he was kind of dialing back his singing style a bit for the more intimate setting of being taped, instead of the deep-breath-and-give-it-everything approach when he's in concert.

[algonacchick]

I thought the song was great, and Al seemed to have a really good time with Craig. I loved when he put the harmonica up to his mouth while it was still in the box. "It's a box, it doesn't do anything!" haha! Fun show.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Oh, I'm not criticizing the performance. He seemed to hit his stride within a couple of lines. It's just that having seen Al take the stage with total confidence & ownership so many times, he seemed a little tense at first.

[Wizzerkat]

I don't think it was a cold or off-keyness. I think there was a little bit of nerves... yes, he's been performing for a long time, but he doesn't actually sing on TV that often. It's a big deal when he does, especially for a perfectionist like Al. Also I think he was kind of dialing back his singing style a bit for the more intimate setting of being taped, instead of the deep-breath-and-give-it-everything approach when he's in concert.

Indeed Al is not one of those who gets invited to mainstream things too often, especially TV. As such, I think Al takes them pretty seriously.

[weirdojace]

What happened to his voice? He came in completely out of key, then got better, but he was visibly struggling to hit the notes throughout the song.

I'm gonna assume he was sick or something.

[Alinite27]

I don't really think he was off key or struggling to hit anything. I thought the whole performance was great, along with the interview.

I think it just sounded different through the technical specifications of the studio and TV.

[HalifaxKat]

He should have ditched the jacket, though.

I actually really liked that look!

[Killingsworth]

glad I'm not the only one who noticed he was slightly off key at the beginning...since we're talking about the live performance of TMZ, I've never been able to pick out Al's accordion parts of this song...he might as well not even be playing it...it just doesn't stand out in the same way that it does on the "Franks' 2000" TV" performances on the last two tours...it's obvious he's playing a MIDI accordion, so is he playing the banjo/steel guitar parts or are those just prerecorded tracks?

[weirdojace]

I don't really think he was off key.

He was. It's not an opinion thing.

It happens, not a big deal. We know Al can sing fine.