8/28/15 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Race Track

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BullMoose
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Re: 8/28/15 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Race Track

Post by BullMoose »

I know nothing about how horse racing betting works, but 20,00 seems like a lot.
But I'm digging the names Canadian Exchange and Dancers Kiss!
Horse names in racing are always so silly.
July 25, Moncton NB at Casino New Brunswick
(First concert ever, yo~)
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Re: 8/28/15 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Race Track

Post by yankochick38 »

Tacky but no WBUL. Straight to unplugged
Weird Al Yankovic is one busy daddy
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Re: 8/28/15 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Race Track

Post by BullMoose »

I'm so sorry, Chickie ;(
July 25, Moncton NB at Casino New Brunswick
(First concert ever, yo~)
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Re: 8/28/15 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Race Track

Post by remmy »

boooooooooo
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Re: 8/28/15 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Race Track

Post by Annie27 »

I'm sorry Alicia.
Concerts: 5/30/15
6/24/16
3/25/18
7/06/19

"I have to assume my enemies are idiots"- Al Yankovic
Devoted Al fan since the very young age of two
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Re: 8/28/15 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Race Track

Post by TMBJon »

Drew and I left work at 3pm and met Alicia at Union Station in LA, then we drove three hours down to Del Mar. We avoided almost all of the traffic thanks to Waze! We got to the track in time for the second-to-last race. Other than a few seconds watching some horses walk by, we mostly ignored the racing aspect and instead got ourselves into position near the front of the concert stage, which was way off to the side of the racetrack. Drew and I went to get some burgers while Alicia held down the fort. It was the first time I've seen Al in a standing room only setting. There was a guy who brought a beach chair and was obnoxiously sitting in the very front, taking up the space of about six people. He didn't get up until Fun Zone which was really annoying because Alicia was trying to position herself against the railing in case he did come down for WBUL. Eventually the show got started and Alicia got a nice position by the center railing. (There was essentially a center aisle where no one could stand, leading from the stage back to FOH sound mixers.)

Al started Tacky from behind the stage. There was no real lobby where Al could interact with stragglers or passers-by since it was just a stage in a racetrack parking lot. Al walked around the backstage area, past the SLN cheerleaders and some crew members. Finally, he came through an opening in the fence, and walked along the front of the stage. He ran down the center aisle toward the mixing booth, then back up onto the stage. I can now confirm what I said in May, which some people have disagreed with since, which is that the fan in front of Al was blowing during every song not just a few.

A few odd things I noticed: After the polka, Jon tripped on a wire or something on his way off the riser. He caught one falling drum, and then stayed on stage for most of the video clip break, setting things back up. During Dare To Be Stupid, Al forgot to put his hair in a ponytail so it was flowing free the whole song. In Amish Paradise, during the line "churning lots of butter," Al made it very clear what the euphemism was supposed to imply in case anyone hasn't figured it out yet. Very exaggerated "butter-churning" motion... For the encore, the 501st brought out a handful of characters I'd never seen/heard of before. Darth Vader was there, and a couple of Stormtroopers, but then there were also some other characters including what looked to me like a Red Stormtrooper??? I dunno, maybe someone more familiar with Star Wars can explain.

Having only seen one other show so far this tour, the very first one on May 12, I was very impressed with how much they've improved this set. It feels much tighter and less disjointed now that they've gotten comfortable with this material. The medley really felt like a medley, not just a series of excerpts of songs (though I still think it needs one more 80s parody). Al is a lot better at performing all of the new Mandatory Fun songs, but especially Word Crimes!! And the acoustic medley is still really amazing! A great break from the theatrics of the rest of the set, and a chance to show off the raw talent of everyone in the band. This show was only shortened by one song, as Alicia mentioned already, but it really flew by. I really enjoyed the experience of seeing Al in a standing room setting, if only for the chance to jump around during Smells Like Nirvana. Unfortunately, no mosh pits broke out.

After the show, we were wondering how much luck we might have finding the buses since, as I said, we were just in the middle of a huge parking lot so there's no reason to think we would be able to stake them out. However, much to our surprise, on our way out we passed a gigantic sign which said "BUSES" in huge red letters. We figured this was too good to be true, but we followed the sign and sure enough it did lead to the backstage entrance. We later found out this was a bit of good luck because the sign was actually pointing toward the public bus stop to take you into San Diego. We waited by the backstage fence, which was covered with durable vinyl making it hard to peek over though we still did. A group of people with backstage passes were already gathered inside the fence to meet Al, and that lasted about an hour. While waiting, we met a fan named Liv from New Zealand who was there alone, so she hung out with us while waiting for Al and told us about her experiences camping out to see Jimmy Fallon and SNL live tapings. She seemed cool, and we invited her to join WOWAY. Hopefully she does! :w

Over the course of the hour, we got to say hello to Jim, Rubén, and Jon for a few minutes, who were all very nice to talk to us through a fence where they could only see the top half of our heads. Eventually, Al finally did head back to the buses and so the few people waiting with us were able to say hi. First, a group of Cal Poly students carrying a huge Cal Poly banner posed for a picture with Al. Then as he was going back in, he saw my hand sticking out over top of the fence so he came back to say hi. It was awkward because he couldn't see us, just my hand, so I went around the fence and then he recognized me and came out to say hi.

The first thing Al said to me was: "Great job as the editor!" I was confused for a second, then realized he was talking about my appearance on Comedy Bang Bang a few weeks ago, which was a surreal compliment to receive. I hadn't considered that Al might see the episode, but he seemed to enjoy it. We talked for a bit about the progress on the upcoming episode that he's in - September 10!, then JW brought up Alicia's chicken hat and Al explained its evolution to now include a foil hat. I complimented Al on how tight the show is now, and then Al and the gang had to take off back to the hotel.

Liv asked us for a ride back to her hotel, and we dropped her off. On the way out, sure enough, Al's tour buses actually showed up at the front and people started unloading. We tried desperately to find another way out (lest we appeared to be creepy stalkers staking out his hotel room) but that was the only way out, so we crouched down and I don't think any of the band was still outside anyway. Still, we had to drive right between the two buses to get out.

Really fun show! Glad I got to experience a standing room only Weird Al concert! Excited for one more show on my birthday in LA!
Pix to come!
I couldn't tell a dirt clod from a plate of caviar.
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Re: 8/28/15 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Race Track

Post by TMBJon »

Group pic for now because obviously. I'll post a few concert selects later this week once I get the chance to look at them closer.

Image

L to R: Drew (MandatoryFun), me (TMBJon), a stranger, Alicia (yankochick38), and "Liv" from New Zealand
I couldn't tell a dirt clod from a plate of caviar.
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yankochick38
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Re: 8/28/15 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Race Track

Post by yankochick38 »

Jon's review is perfect. The only other thing I want to mention is when we were with Al after the show and Jon asked him if he enjoyed the standing room show and Al was like "yeah I had fun idk about everyone else though. Was hoping a mosh pit would break out but that hasn't happened since '92." I only wanna mwntion this because Al made direct eye contact with me for that second half and that eye contact lasted for like, ever, even for a little bit after he was done talking, and it made my heart happy. Also he hugged me first again. :inlove: I think he knows that I'm too scared to initiate but that I want it so he makes it happen. Also after the hug was over he still had his arm around me for a while and my hand was like next to his leg and I may or may not have accidentally touched his butt for half a second my brain is dead

It was fun being able to dance and fist pump more!! It was definitely a more casual feel than normal, like just partying with your friends and singing along with your favorite songs and the band just happens to be right there in front of you. I loved when he forgot his ponytail in DTBS and I didn't hold back at all during First World Problems. Al also got reeeeally sweaty during the show because it was really sweaty out, so he used the Inactive robe on his face a bit longer than usual, and he seemed pretty tired out when it got to Yoda so I kept trying to cheer him on and he got all smiley so yay.:yay:
TMBJon wrote:then JW brought up Alicia's chicken hat and Al explained its evolution to now include a foil hat.
JW seemed to remember the chicken hat, yeah. He was like "hey I've seen that chicken hat before" like trying to figure it out, and I didn't register what Al was saying at the time but now I'm like WHAT but he told JW that "it used to be just a normal chicken hat, but then it got modified." There were probably some words exchanged about the chicken hat's foil hat somewhere before that. WHY DOES AL CARE WHAT???? I'm so happy though. He stood so close to me and it was HIS choice and he didn't have to do that and he hugged me after he like showered but I was so sweaty and he didn't have to do that but he did and I love him so much thank you Al #runonsentence

Wait so okay like

Bermuda did say hi for a second, and I had to raise my chicken hat over the fence so he would know I was there. :P

Jon pretty much covered everything else, but I wanted to get some #FEELS across. :wub: I had great dreams last night. I'm so happy aaaaaaa
I should stop typing now since it's just fangirling at this point. Ok :w
Weird Al Yankovic is one busy daddy
YNN: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUOwVDpf5zQrXyKPPJWxs-Q
I abused my power and learned nothing!
-Alicia
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Re: 8/28/15 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Race Track

Post by Sailor-Polka-Moon »

Jon and Alicia, your concert stories were so much fun to read!! Alicia, yours cracked me up!! And... congrats *Yankochick high five*

I'm so envious of your close interaction with Al and the band! <3 It sounds like you both had uber-blasts!
Ai to warai no! SAILOR POLKA ☆ MOON!
Tsuki ni kawatte-- tanoshi mazettangeru!

8*11*15 - first concert ever ~ ♡ mandatory world tour 2015 ♡
6*9*16 - second time around ~ ♡ ♡ mandatory world tour 2016 ♡ ♡
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Re: 8/28/15 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Race Track

Post by Yankomaniac »

Fun reviews guys! Nice to get some extended time with Al and what not. The whole racetrack setting sounds like it would have been a prime set up indeed.
What a racket they're makin', Jack, they keep me up at night playin' their electric guitars!!
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