World of Weird Al Yankovic

Yeah, like when I saw him in Wilkes Barre and we all waited by the bus and he had a car out front. But good luck!

Well, I'll be leaving for Boulder in about 2 hours or so. I still can;t believe this show is happening!

I'll be wearing an open Hawaiian shirt over a "Craigslist" t-shirt in case anyone going to this wants to say "hi" to me.

Another thought just occurred to me. As a CU student, I've lived in Boulder for a few years now. What if the two Nirvana cheerleaders turned out to actually be girls I know? It might be kinda awkward, but anyone who knows me from CU might EXPECT to see me there.

Just got back from the show. Here's my attempted review.

The line for people who paid for $32 for general admission tickets direct from the Boulder Theater was about 100 times longer then the people who paid $50+ for theirs but at least it started moving quickly once they opened the doors. As I walked into the box office to get my will call ticket, a guy tried to scalp me some tickets but I just said "no thanks". That's the first time I've ever seen that happen at a Weird Al concert and it was a rather bizarre experience. Waiting in line, I talked to an older gentleman and we ended up comparing the Firesign Theater albums to Arrested Development and Better Off Ted in terms of "nuanced" comedy. While this conversation took place, I saw Bermuda, Jim and Ruben walk by before the show started. I called their names and waved to each of them and they were kind enough to wave back. Bermuda was talking to somebody and Jim and Ruben were walking together. I got in and chatted briefly with a guy I knew in high school who got a job here and then went right past the bar into the stage area.

As it turned out, this was one of Al's many standing room only gigs this year. Given my vague familiarity with the venue, I found that to be a little strange.

As I mentioned, I've seen Seth Meyers do stand up here and I've went to the live Nerdist podcast that was held here. Neither of those events were standing room only. I guess their comedy shows have seating and their concerts don't.

I forgot that Al still does standing room only gigs at this point in his career, but this might have been his only non-fair one in since at least the Alapalooza/Bad Hair Tours. Still, it was the most surreal and unbelievable experience I've had at any Al concert. I had a great view and I was so close to Al himself that I honestly had to question whether what I was seeing was real a few times during the performance.

Knowing Boulder as well as I do, I think the Fox Theater on University Hill would be a great stop for future tours if Al winds up doing another standing room only gig in Boulder again. The Fox Theater may be mostly geared toward rap acts, but Al pulled off this gig so successfully that he could easily play there even if he does stick out like a sore thumb from the other up and coming acts that have played there in recent years.

I was a little disappointed by the video screen they had at the Boulder theater. It looked too pixely up close and too much like a mini football stadium Jumbotron than some of the sleek, clearer video projections I've seen at other shows.

The acoustics in the theater were good, but not great. I heard plenty of Al, Ruben and Bermuda but I heard Jim better on some songs than others and most of the audio tracks were drowned out. I barely heard Steve at all.

Naturally, Wanna B Ur Lovr was not performed at this gig because of the standing room only arrangement and the clips that played before it were cut as well.

Polka Face was still a good opener despite the odd acoustics making the performance feel like something may have been missing. Also, I don't know who else has noticed this, but clips from the "official" animated Polka Face video are now included in concert video montage of the original songs' live action videos. For instance, at this show the animated clips from "Right Round", "Day N Nite", "Blame It" and, I believe, the ending reprise of "Polka Face" but for some reason not the opening are now shown in concert but the rest of the songs are accompanied by their original video. Maybe this has to do with certain legal rights/clearance issues with those original videos? There may be more, but those are just the ones I remember at the moment.

TMZ sounded great. It's still a fun parody to sing along to.

Al's intro to the first drum solo was something to the effect of "Hello, Boulder! This is going to be a real rock show, isn't it? You know what that means? DRUM SOLO!" Then, going into "You Make Me" Al stared right into the audience during the whole beat before he hit his keyboard the second time. The song itself sounded great and still full of manic energy. I got a real kick out of seeing the rest of the band wearing Kanye West style "shutter" shades (especially when Bermuda put them on for the drum solo).

It turns out the cheerleaders for SLN were girls I don't think I've ever met at CU or anywhere else in Boulder, but they were both blonde and could easily pass for identical twin sisters. His water barely splashed the top of my hair and glasses when he threw it into the crowd. I kinda wished I'd thought to get some shots of the band for this one, but I did that last time and I didn't want to get my camera too wet.

During "Skipper Dan", Steve seemed to be "conducting" the crowd with his fingers on how to clap along. The rest of the performance was pretty standard as were Party In The CIA and CNR.

He had no real intro for the second drum solo. Instead, he just yelled "DRUM SOLO REPRISE!" At the end of Canadian Idiot, I tried to grab a streamer but they floated just out of my reach. Instead, I just grabbed a big ball of them off the floor to take with me as a souvenir.

During the medley, he took his jacket off after WYL rather than Another Tattoo (and he did so in an almost You're Pitiful-like mock strip tease fashion, I might add). Bermuda sang back up vocals during "Tattoo" and got pretty into them. During "I Want A New Duck", Al said "get it?" to one specific woman in the audience in a rather quiet, almost conversational tone. Also, I noticed Al played Theme From Rocky XIII and My Bologna a little bit slower and less up tempo than usual. This might have been to make up for some of the lost time from WBUL being cut. During OTAS, AL and his harmonica holder had a great mock annoyed awkward moment together. I know they try to do this at every show, but you can't really appreciate it until you see it up close.

Amish Paradise continues to sound great live even if I had some trouble getting good shots of it and I was so close I could see the tape holding Al's beard on. Seeing the band walk on stage with their Amish garb is also particularly funny (especially how Jim tries to hide his beard under his hat and how they some of them don't seem to tape on their beards until they get on stage). Al got pretty into the "churning butter" line with his movements. However, it didn't look like anyone was really singing back up vocals to the Gilligan's Island lyrics. I could tell Jim wasn't singing. If it was Bermuda, he was particularly well hidden. If not, maybe they used a backing track.

Before Craigslist, I noticed Steve and Bermuda were having a conversation as they walked on stage and Al's harmonica holder took Bermuda aside and looked as if her was trying to rush him to his drum kit. I wonder what this could have been about. Has anyone else seen this? Craigslist sounded great as well. It more closely resembled the album version for some reason and Al's stumbling was really fun to watch. He also gave the audience more long stares and held his hand out to the crowd during the "baby, maybe you are too" line. Has anyone else noticed this? It seems like he only started doing this recently. Anyway, the coffee shop mentioned was Starbucks on Pearl. I may have guessed the name wrong but at least I was right about him mentioning Pearl especially since that was the street he was performing on tonight. He also revived the Alec Baldwin/Words with Friends joke and changed the rest of the spoken word bit to "just one second, young lady...what's with the attitude? no tip for you" I'm still not sure if he kept the "attitude" line in or not, but I thought I'd include it here just in case.

Perform This Way is still fun to watch and that peacock suit doesn't look nearly as big and bulky up close as it does the way Al describes it. During the "bite me" line, Al did a mini Fat style crotch grab. I'm glad I got a couple of good shots of this early on and got to enjoy the song rather than spend the whole time getting pictures of the band in their outfits. I wish I could say the same for Fat, but I still got to see ti up close which was great.

White and Nerdy continues to be a dynamic song AND performance number. Jim and Steve got some big laughs for some reason.

Fat was great to see up close (what I could really see anyway) but I had some trouble getting a good shot of it. Alicia was up in the very front the whole show and had a rather intimate view of Al through the whole show. This was probably where it really paid off for her, but I should probably just let her talk about it when she gets a chance.

Saga Begins and Yoda were pretty standard performances. During TSB, Al almost looked like he was going to kiss a stormtrooper on the "little hotshot" line. When Al sang "the battle droids were broken", they all went limp and did the puppet arms move like they had all powered down. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get close enough to get "okay, now just you'd" but at least I got to awkwardly high five Al at the end of Yoda when I got a chance to rush the stage with some people. Also, it was nice not to have to wait too long for the encore. Ruben came out about a minute later and did a great job of warming up the crowd.

After the show, I went out to the side of the building where the buses were and chatted with some people. A guy was doing banjo cover songs and wanted to get Al to sign his banjo with a pencil (so he could be able to erase it later). Steve, Jim, and Ruben all came out and waved to the crowd as they got on the buses. They didn't stop to chat with anybody, but After about half an hour, a guy told us to form a line by the buses and Al would be out in a little while. Minutes later, we were told Al couldn't come out because his buses were parked on the wrong side of the road (doors facing street, not sidewalk). Sadly, there was no meet and greet (unless you got a VIP pass, I guess) but the rest of us did catch a brief glimpse of Al getting on the the first bus that started and leaving for his next gig, so I just left.

I may not have gotten to meet Al a second time, but with the show he just put on I didn't even care. It was the greatest Al concert experience I've had so far, hands down and I'm definitely glad I didn't miss this one. It was Al's first ever concert in Boulder, a town I've lived and worked in and called home away from home for the past few years and as a ticket buying fan, I couldn't have asked to have seen a better one. I guess I'll have to wait until next tour to try meeting him one on one again, but the show itself was absolutely mind-blowing. I had a blast and I have to say standing room only is the BEST way to take in a Weird Al concert for my money.

Well, I've got to upload my concert pics to my computer right now but tomorrow I will post them all on facebook.

Al does a few standing room gigs. I saw him in Baltimore in 2007 for sro and I know he started the SOL tour in a sro venue. I believe there was another this summer as well

Best night ever. The end.
PS I think I like standing shows better than sitting ones, with the exception of no WBUL.
The end.

either he needs to do more of those venues or people need to smurfin' stand up at this shows, you're at a rock show not YoYo MaMa

But its a family show. And with people standing my 8 year old cant see, and she certainly isnt standing for a 2 plus hour show.

Killingsworth wrote: Fat was great to see up close (what I could really see anyway) but I had some trouble getting a good shot of it. Alicia was up in the very front the whole show and had a rather intimate view of Al through the whole show. This was probably where it really paid off for her, but I should probably just let her talk about it when she gets a chance.

AAAAAAAAAAA Omg
Okay so I wasn't going to get all into the personal things that happened to me at the show but now I feel obligated so I hope you guys don't mind okay cool

Before that, though, I think they were filming us with a camera on one of those flexible gorilla tripod things on Bermuda's drumset, because at the very very end of the show Jim picked it up and filmed the crowd with it. Do they usually do this? Or was it not even a camera and I'm just crazy. Idk but it was cool anyway.


So I couldn't really sleep the night before, right, and I woke up at like 8am. 8. AM. ME. This was the same time zone that I'm usually in, by the way. I woke up and got ready and was ready to go to the venue at 11. We couldn't get our tickets until 4 (or so the Boulder Theater told us. Boulder Theater is a different issue.) but I wanted to be there anyway to make sure we could get in first and get a seat right in the front row. It wasn't until later that we found out that it was standing room (even though they showed a seating chart?) which turned out to be WAY better anyway. When we went and picked up our tickets, though, it was 3 for one thing, and we asked what time the doors open *for us* since we got our tickets from weirdal.com and it said we get in earlier. He went to go ask and ten minutes later he came back saying there was nothing like that happening. We were kinda upset, but at the time we figured we were there early enough anyway so we were at the front of the line. The problem was eventually solved by this very nice lady who tweeted with Al and bugged the box office people and eventually, at about 6, we got our own little VIP line. We felt bad that we had to separate from our newfound friends, especially since this line was more directly in the sun, but we got to go in like 5 minutes earlier than everyone else, I guess. Either way I claimed my spot front and center before others could get there.

I should mention that along with my mom, my best friend Jen went to this concert with us this time. Mom's a given I guess. Anyway this was her very first time. Our music tastes don't tend to overlap very often, but last night we found out that Al is that overlap. I've been trying to slowly get her into his stuff and she knows Alpocalypse pretty well at this point, but I think this concert definitely cemented that Weird Al fandom for her.

Oh and this kid came up and asked if he could have a spot between me and the lady who fixed the VIP ticket problem. It was like one of those personality test or job application questions where, on the application, you would say you would give the kid the spot for he is small and cannot see very well otherwise. However. I...said nothing. I kinda just froze. I didn't want to be mean to him or anything, but I also really. really. really wanted that spot, and I didn't want to crush him during the concert. Jen told me afterwards that I was glaring at him, but that was just me not wanting to just outright say NO. The lady has a daughter about his age and also really wanted her spot so she was able to talk to him about it with both points of view in mind. The kid did end up getting a spot near the front of the stage on Jim's side. And all was well.

NOW THEN!


WARNING: You are entering SEVERE FANGIRL TERRITORY. Do NOT continue reading if you are weak of heart or don't have a fiery burning passion for Al (which is pretty much the same thing oooooooooo)

So Fun Zone started, right. We had our standing spots right up front and center, close enough to actually reach on stage if we wanted to (we didn't really "reach," but I had my elbows on the stage with my head in my hands during the costume change clips. Standing is hard.) When a techie put out the water cup for Smells Like Nirvana, I was briefly tempted to tKe a sip but I was afraid he would come back and beat me up. I mean, being a techie myself I would completely understand if he did beat me up, but still. Anyway I was too chicken to do it.

Okay anyway Fun Zone! I had prepped Jen beforehand that there are 16 "HEY"s, and she did it all right and I was so proud. When Al came out I squeed. When I get really excited I tend to jump up and down a lot, so I'm glad I was standing. When he came up to the mic he STARED ME RIGHT IN THE EYES and I knew it would be the best night ever (so far). Insert general Polka Face fangirling here (YOU know). When those bubbles come out and he's smiling you just KNOW you're in for a fricken fantastic night. Polka Face is my favorite.

I forget exactly when it was, but I feel like it was either before or after TMZ when we started smelling, er, what we called "fields of reefer." Al made a comment on how he could tell this was gonna be a REAL rock show.

So many things happened and it's kind of all a big blur except for when the UP IN MY FACE things happened but. Since we were SO CLOSE I tried my best to not sing along with most of the songs and go for back-up vocals instead. And by that I mean I did the back-up vocals for Skipper Dan since that's really the only one I have ALL of the back-up vocals memorized. Oh also I was dressed like Skipper Dan because Skipper Dan is my favorite and I was wearing the chicken hat (the uje) who has only recently been named AND nicknamed. His name is Billy the Chicken but his friends call him Pollo.

Also we were so close that sometimes I would just watch Al play his accordion and I got lost in the bellows. Al makes accordions dreamy, I don't know what it is. And we were SO CLOSE that we could actually hear the accordion just by being right in front of it instead of through the speakers. It was so great.

I remember some points where Al would walk to downstage right and downstage left and I couldn't even see him in my peripherals anymore so I just watched Bermuda play. It was fine since I got Al the rest of the time anyway so it's cool. I also wanted to watch Bermuda because you can never really see him when you're sitting but THIS show I could see his face the whole time. Best.

Also, we were so close that I was fearing Canadian Idiot and Craigslist and Smells Like Nirvana a bit because I didn't want to get hit in the face with a microphone stand? Soooooo
But I think he sensed how close everyone was and was extra careful to avoid hitting someone in the face. So that was nice of him.

There was a lot of spittle. You know how Al spits a lot when he sings? Yeah, since I had my face up to look at him and the spittle was going downwards, there were points where it would naturally land on my face. One time it got in my eye and I was kinda sad, but it's balanced out by the time it landed on/in my mouth. Every time it happened I just laughed and laughed anyway. It happened to Jen a few times too. She didn't seem to mind either. "It's like we were making out!!" xD Gawd. I laughed a lot last night.

During White & Nerdy he made eye contact with me during one of the "la la la white and nerdy"s. You know. Sometimes I would forget to look at Al because he would keep going DSR and DSL and I would just watch Bermuda and Ruben instead of following him! So I don't know by the time he got back to DSC he would make eye contact with someone else. I don't know. xD Whateeeeva

During Amish Paradise he stuck his butt right in my face. I died.

Also you know how Al does things with his crotch? (dat sentence tho)
Well anyway when Al does things with his crotch I go "WOO" and yeah. It's kind of a thing we have. Also I feel like he does more crotch things when he knows I'm there so we can do our version of a secret handshake more often. Yep that's what I'm going with now. Al and I have a secret handshake and it involves his crotch and me going "WOO." I'm going to die. xD
Anyway.
Ohmygod you guys.
So you know that part during Fat.
And he just
He humps the air?
And he goes "WOO"?
Ohmygod I died. A ghost Alicia is typing this all on ghost Alicia's iPhone I swear.
And he knows what he's doing. You can TELL he knows what he's doing.
It gets to that part.
And he struts right on over, right in front of me. There's no mistaking him for being in front of anyone else BUT me, he's that close.
As a random guy so nicely put it, Al " ed [me] in the face."
And every time he humped, I went "WOO."
Pretty much the most action I've ever gotten in my life right there. xD
He knows.
I swear to you.
He knows our secret handshake and I love him for it.
Immediately after, he walked away over towards someone else and I collapsed on the stage in laughter. xD BEST.

During The Saga Begins when he goes to sit on the stool real fast, the microphone stand wobbled and my hand immediately shot out to catch it in case it fell but it didn't which is probably good. He did the thing where he just lets the audience sing the second to last chorus and he was smiiiiiliiiiin~

And then Yoda. Ohmygosh Yoda. Yoda is usually such a great experience as it is, even though it's the last song, but it's the one where Al smiles the most and his hair's all sweaty and messed up but that's okay and he just has so much fun and I love watching that and having just as much fun along with him. Yoda's my favorite. He did this thing where he made very brief eye contact with me while he was singing at the mic, like only a second's worth, but I knew what it meant. Just a bit after that he came down in front of me and played his accordion right in my face and I rocked right along with him. So I think that means we're best friends now.
At the very end he did this thing with Steve where they stood back to back and tried to keep each other up. I could only see Steve's face as this was happening but his expressions told the whole story. xD They ended up falling down but Al was still rocking out. It felt like I was watching glasses-bangs-and-mustache Al. Sooooooo BEST. I recently watched TWAS with Amerah so I was half-expecting Al to shout "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARVEY!!" but. xD

It feels like there was so much more that happened just because we were SO CLOSE but I can't think of any other huge things that happened.

OH WAIT DUH ASDFJKL;;

So afterwards we were waiting by the buses and it felt like he might actually come out and I was excited to finally get a real picture with him AFTER ALL THESE YEARS but alas the bus door was on the wrong side of the street so he couldn't come out. I feel like that's kind of a lame excuse and maybe something else bigger was happening that they couldn't say so they said that since there was an area where they could set up a folding chair or something but idk. They had their reasons and it's okay, it just felt like a weird explanation. It's like in The Sims Medieval when you try to get your sims married but they can't make the animation happen in the exact position they're in so the wedding is called off and you have to keep trying to get them married and married forever. So I'll just have to keep trying, I guess! (:

ANYWAY
The big point here
The guy was saying that Al would walk right by but he wouldn't stop to sign anything and we were like okay.
Jen had her head around the corner for a few minutes to see when he was coming and I was trying to be nonchalant with my phone
Suddenly he walks around the corner and is smiling and waving and I'm like "oh!" on the inside because I wasn't expecting him right at that moment
And he smiles at me and waves and says "Bye, Alicia!"
In the moment I played it cool and smiled and waved back
But as soon as he got to the bus I turned to Jen and we fangirled so hard. xD If I didn't die earlier, I definitely died right then. I'm pretty sure we're best friends now.
I didn't know he knew my name.
He knows my name. (:
...
How does he know my name. Oh no. xD

In that moment, I didn't care that I didn't get a real picture with him. I had been talking earlier about if he came out to sign stuff I wouldn't want him to sign anything and take a picture with him instead, since a picture means more to me than a signature. I think that one little "Bye, Alicia!" meant a thousand times more.

He knows me. We're biffles. We have a secret handshake. We're cool. xD

He's just doing these things to me to make me spend more money on concerts. It's working. xD

If I could just GET A JOB now.

Hey! Hey biffle!
I have ~2 1/2 years of high school theater tech experience! I've been to enough of your shows so I know how they go! If you ever need another techie, tweet me yo. I promise I won't even fangirl or anything. Pinkie swear.
(They probably want someone who's been to college, tho. And probably at least 21 years old as well. Oh well, I'll just keep building up my tech experience then. :B Guess you'll just have to deal with me fangirling for a few more years at least!)


TL;DR: Best Night Ever (So Far). (:

QUOTE
ANYWAY
the big point here
The guy was saying that Al would walk right by but he wouldn't stop to sign anything and we were like okay.
Jen had her head around the corner for a few minutes to see when he was coming and I was trying to be nonchalant with my phone
Suddenly he walks around the corner and is smiling and waving and I'm like "oh!" on the inside because I wasn't expecting him right at that moment
And he smiles at me and waves and says "Bye, Alicia!"
In the moment I played it cool and smiled and waved back
But as soon as he got to the bus I turned to Jen and we fangirled so hard. xD If I didn't die earlier, I definitely died right then. I'm pretty sure we're best friends now.
I didn't know he knew my name.
He knows my name. (:
...
How does he know my name. Oh no. xD

In that moment, I didn't care that I didn't get a real picture with him. I had been talking earlier about if he came out to sign stuff I wouldn't want him to sign anything and take a picture with him instead, since a picture means more to me than a signature. I think that one little "Bye, Alicia!" meant a thousand times more.

what Alicia said about Al knowing who she was was the exact way I felt when Al said my name
I mean
your favorite person knows your name and who you are
When Al said my name i actually thought i did something bad but then I later on found out he reads my tweets so yeah we're pretty much bffls too

That was the best review ever!! I hope I get to see him in concert again soon. The few brief seconds at the book signing was and yet was not enough even though I did get a hug