I met up with an old friend from junior high school, and her husband, and we had dinner at Constantly Pizza. We saw several people with Al shirts on, and overheard many references to Al, his music, and the concert. When we entered the theater, there were no bag or camera checks, which surprised me. In the lobby, we could see several people in elaborate costumes. One was dressed like Obi-Wan Kenobi, another was wearing a cape and a foil hat with pointy horns on top.
It was a sold-out show. There were a few people in the front row who clearly had too much to drink, and were a little obnoxious at times, but other than that, the crowd was enthusiastic. There was boy with his parents sitting behind me, who had VIP laminates (but not the meet & greet). I spoke to them for a few minutes; they were not all that impressed with the pre-show party. I could hear the guy next to me swearing a lot before the show, so I politely asked him to watch his language because of the kids nearby. He understood and apologized.
I also loved Tacky as the opening song. Al passed by Jim West in the hallway, then went outside by the band bus. He sang "are you pregnant girl, or just really fat?" to the SNL cheerleaders. I saw at least one person on the street behind him watching curiously. There was a huge cheer when he finally entered the theater.
I was sitting in the front row of the far right section of the theater. It was sold as an "obstructed view" seat, but the view wasn't that bad. I was hoping to finally have a clear view of Bermuda, but Steve was blocking my view. Oh, well. I was having trouble with my digital camera all night; I couldn't get it to focus properly. I ended up with a lot of blurry and/or overexposed photos.
There were a few times when the audio didn't sound right, and I could hear the instruments more than Al's voice. Maybe that was because of where I was sitting, because there was a speaker right in front of me? I absolutely loved the acoustic set; I think that was my favorite part!
Unfortunately, I could not understand anything he was saying at the end of the show before and after he introduced the band.
While waiting for the encore, the drunkards in the front row, along with a few other people, began pounding on the stage. I found it kind of annoying.
After the show, I said goodbye to my friend, because she didn't want to wait by the bus. Then I ran into another old friend, which was cool. When I got to the bus, it was around 10:00pm, and there were about 20 or so people waiting on the sidewalk across the street from the bus. After about a half hour, security came over to tell us that we could only get one item autographed, and no more. Also, there would be NO PHOTOS. If you don't get an autograph, you still CANNOT get a photo. They repeated it loudly several times, and made us all repeat it and agree. NO PHOTOS! Ok, we got it!
The line to see Al went from the driver's side of the bus, around the front, and then over to Al, who was sitting on the step inside the bus door. There wasn't much room at all between the driver's side of the bus and the building it was parked next to. There was just barely enough room for one person to fit through. I was near the end of the line, and there was a young man with special needs behind me, who was SO excited that he was going to meet Al. He was imploring his dad to find something for Al to sign. The young man told me that tomorrow is his 22nd birthday.
After I got an autograph from Al, I overheard security telling the young man that he could get a photo with Al. I was so glad they made that exception for him. After that, I headed back to my car and went home. I will go through my photos this weekend; maybe I can find a few that are worth posting, but no guarantees. I think it may be time to look for a new camera.
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Of course, the answer was yes! 