Yankomaniac wrote:Dave mentioned that Bermuda said tonight's show would be a little different or something and there was a spoiler. Figured it was a song switch or something, no?
Sorry man, you had to
be there to fully appreciate it. There is no possible way I could do justice to what happened in words.
So, we left at about 3:30 and it worked out well. Last time I went to the Mann in 2003, I recall a ton of tolls and traffic to get there, well my car's GPS must be really awesome because this time it recalculated a million times to avoid traffic and I only ended up paying two toll, totaling $6.50 to get there. Still it took us three hours to get there, so I'm glad we left early. Would have been there a half hour earlier if I actually had the correct address.
Parked, walked to the gate and said hi to JW, then walked back to the car to drop off contraband iPad, then walked to the gate again and met Mike. I got an exclusive baseball card or a whole stack of them. Mary and Dana joined us shortly after, then I went to the bathroom and came back and James was there. Then I went to get food and came back and Bob and Mary Kathleen were there. Then we all took a group picture without Mike.
When we got to our seats I was a little further off to the side then I wanted to be, but there were 4 seats empty next to me, so we moved at the first video clip to get a much better view. Then right as we moved the people with the our seats arrived but we ignored them and they sat where we were sitting. All through the show people were showing up. Arrive on time people. You paid for the whole show.
Al came right down the aisle next to us for "Tacky." I don't think he saw us because there were some obnoxious people getting in his way. Right as the polka was about to start, a "Please Stand by" graphic came on the video screen, so Al asked us twice if we were ready to polka.
We were blinded by the strobe lights in DTBS. It was so bad that I had to look at the ground during the song. A few people sitting near me put on their sunglasses. Shortly before "Fat" I noted a girl about 12 sitting two rows in front of us enthusiastically mouthing the whole video clip to her siblings and parents. She was having such an awesome time, it was so much fun to watch her. Though they all left right after the the James Brown thing, so I don't know what was up with that.
Mary Kathleen got a lap dance during WBUL. He climbed on the little barrier thing that separates the pit area from the rest of the venue. During "Eat It" someone sitting close lit up and through second-hand smoke I was able to appreciate the mellowness that is the unplugged medley.
After the show, to my surprise, I got to join the Mandatory Czar pass holders and meet Al. We were brought backstage and down a set of stairs, and the line snaked into a room. From the end of the line we could see the table Al sat at to do the signing. Darth Vader and the stormtroopers were in the room, and a few of the storm troopers were walking around entertaining everyone in line. They had a good sense of humor.
I got a poster signed and asked Al to sign my baseball card. Then I asked him if he would put me in a choke hold and he agreed way too quickly and asked how tight did I want him to squeeze.
Waited outside by the buses with the gang, but the buses were behind a fence, and when venue staff asked us to move across the street, I figured he wouldn't come out for the others who were waiting. Everyone waited patiently though for another half hour or so, until Al's bus drove away.
On the way home, I figured out that Pennsylvania must have replaced all the toll booths with red lights (and all the toll booth revenue with red light cameras!) which meant I spent the next 20 minutes stopping every 50 feet for another red light, until I got on the highway that brought be back to Jersey. Got home at 2:20 a.m. but was totally worth it!
Dave