08/26/08 Monroe, WA: Evergreen State Fair

Insert Coin(s) to Continue · Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:05 am

That was such a great show. It rained the whole time, though. I mean, wow, I'm drenched.

Post by **algonacchick** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:07 am

Well, I'm glad you had a good time, despite the rain, Ryan! Of course, this is Al we're talking about, so of course you had fun! Thanks for stopping in and posting.

Post by **Driew_La_27** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:28 am

QUOTE (Insert Coin(s) to Continue @ Aug 26 2008, 10:05 PM) That was such a great show. It rained the whole time, though. I mean, wow, I'm drenched.
[/quote]

I was glad that the Salem, Oregon show was inside (although it was in a rodeo type building made out of aluminum so the sound was not theatre like but atleast we'd be dry if it DID rain.

Insert Coin(s) to Continue · Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:36 pm

Al was really cool about it. After the show, he thanked everyone for sitting around for two hours in the rain. He made it sound as if WE had the hard job.

Post by **algonacchick** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:52 pm

That just makes me love Al all the more. He is the coolest, and although everyone who went to this show didn't throw themselves in front of a truck, like Ben Folds said, they watched a concert while it rained the whole time! That's dedication!

josheee · Post by **josheee** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:21 pm

Last night's concert was insanely fun. Seattle's Garrison Titan was lucky enough to be able to be Al's Stormtroopers once again, so I was able to do another Weird Al show. It was such a good night, and was really cool after seeing the Coquitlam show the other night. Definitely a great last show of this tour for me.

I got to the fair early to make sure I had the details for my group all figured out. The tour buses were parked on the Evergreen Speedway, and the guy at the security checkpoint asked me to park near them. He said "Why don't you gun it on the way out there and see what you car can do". I was a little hesitant at first because I thought he was joking, but I said "Really?" and he said "Yeah, go for it". So, I took my car up to about 85 before the turn just for fun. I would have liked to have done a full lap, but the stage was right in the middle of the second straightaway. I think it would have ruined the show a little if I'd tried it.

The rest of our group arrived and we practiced the routine (the band has it all choreographed now) in the parking lot behind the stage. After that, we spent the first half of the show listening from the catering tent which was a good shelter from the rain. I heard the crowd going nuts during sevearl of the songs (especially "Pitiful"), and cheering for songs...and knew that this was an audience FULL of fans. They were so much louder than the casino show the other day (and I don't think that was just because they were also three times as big). While we were practicing our "sweet moves," the cheerleaders practiced their routine in their dressing room, which was next to ours. We agreed that they are better dancers than we are, but think that they should try it in armor sometime.

When it was finally time to go on stage, we climbed the (very) steep stairs in the rain and filed into our lines. Al gave an amazing performance and people went nuts as usual. The lights made the rain look even heavier than it felt, and I can see why Al made the comment towards the end of the show. People looked very cold, but still very happy just the same.

Here is one of the photos from our friend who rented a very nice lens for the show. I'm the one in the middle on the left. She'll have many more from the show online later.

There's also video (we had permission to shoot it, but I'm not sure if I can post it here. Maybe a mod will let me know):

After TSB, we filed back down those crazy stairs (two of our troopers lost a piece of their armor on the way down and had to go back looking later). We changed and hung out on the side of the stage in the rain to watch the rest of the show. For the last three songs (Fat, Cell phones and Albuquerque), we hung out in the little "moat" between the stage and the audience. We were getting soaked out there....but no one cared. It actually made the whole thing even more fun somehow. I was 6 feet from the rack of 12 speakers on the right and even though I had earplugs in...my ears were still ringing for the rest of the night.

Al, Jim, Bermuda and Reuben did a meet and greet, with an really large number of people after the show. I didn't see Steve...but got a chance to say a quick hi to the other guys. I was in my t-shirt, so I'm not sure anyone from the band knew I was one of the trooper people. That was ok with me. There was a big line, and some of the people in it were standing in the rain, so I didn't want to stay around being chatty and taking up their time. Our group snapped a quick picture, got a few things signed and we were on our way.

It was a really great time, and the last few days have been awesome. Now begins the long wait for the next album and of course, the next tour!

Post by **ludovica64** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:53 pm

Wow what an interesting account. Thanks so much. That really adds a different perspective.
Maybe I should ask my friend Cara, who was one of the SLN dancers in Scranton to write a few lines for the forum about her experiences? I never thought of it before. I'll ask her.

Post by **algonacchick** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:03 am

Thanks for the great review, josheee. How exciting! Gosh, I'd be so nervous, being onstage with Al, and you were standing right next to him! It is going to be a bit of a wait until album 13, but we'll all have memories of the various shows we attended on what's been an awesome tour to help us cope. Can't wait to see more pics!

wayword · Post by **wayword** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 3:47 am

Another fabulous report. Thanks so much, Josheee! And you're a storm trooper, too. You look very fetching in your armor. How awesome that you got to perform with Al. Thanks again for sharing your unique experience.

josheee · Post by **josheee** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 7:47 pm

It is definitely amazing. I've been going to Al concerts since I was a teenager (I'm 33 now), so to get to do that was really amazing. The first time we did it, I was full of nervous excitement, and couldn't believe it was happening. The next couple of times...I think I may have been more concerned about getting the moves right. Still, I was grinning like an idiot under that helmet the whole time.

ludovica64, the cheerleaders have a much more difficult set of moves than we do, so yeah...it would be cool to hear what one of them has to say. I've often wondered where they get them and if they're fans, or just local cheerleaders who know how to dance. I know the ones in Monroe were really excited to be there, and they went out and watched the show in the rain just like we did after their song was over. That was cool to see. The ones in Puyallup a few years ago (not last year's) didn't seem to be as jazzed to be there.

I'm still waiting for the images. Our photographer took a ton of pictures, and she's going to have them uploaded soon (there's this gaming convention called PAX in Seattle this weekend and we're all going to that as well, so I imagine it will be sometime next week after that excitement is over).