World of Weird Al Yankovic

According to weather.com, Saturday in Columbus is supposed to be partly cloudy with a high of 83 and a low of 64. Perfect!

bellminer wrote:According to weather.com, Saturday in Columbus is supposed to be partly cloudy with a high of 83 and a low of 64. Perfect!

AWESOME!!!!! Cannot wait.

Im really hoping for

Spoiler:

Frank and YDLMA

. (This is the only time I'll get to see him this year)

Woot! Getting ready for a two hour drive to the show!

Bummed to hear the buses are locked up. We were hoping for a meet and greet. Next time we'll go back to Kettering...

We're here. Only 8 hours on the road. I love my PT Cruiser!

At the world famous Holiday Inn Express by the Airport

I'm here too! (duh!) Going swimming if anyone needs me. Then Chinese food for dinner, and the concert. Woo!!

Dave

Worth the 10 hour drive. Totally worth it. Would do again. More when more coherent as must repeat tomorrow. Work's gonna be NO FUN Monday morning.

(yeah I was wrong earlier. 6 am to 4 pmis 10 hours, not 8 )

Got up st 5:45 and stumbled myself into the car by 6:00. Went to Dunkin Donuts for coffee for Jackie, and tea and bagel for me. Don't remember too much of the drive before 9:30 as I was on and off sleeping while Jackie was driving. I just know it pretty much rained the whole time until we stopped for gas and I finally woke up. The rest of the trip was sunny and really pretty. No traffic either. Jackie drove the whole time. We only stopped for gas twice and at Cracker Barrel for lunch and giant Smarties.

Decided to stay outside of Columbus, after reading some scary reviews of hotels in Columbus that made Camden, NJ sound attractive. Picked the world famous Holiday Inn Express in Gahana, as it got good reviews, and free parking. And since every hotel in Columbus would have required us to pay for parking, total cost broke about even.

We arrived at the hotel at 4:00 and it's nicer than the reviews I read. The guy at the desk asked what brought us out to Columbus, and when i told him, he was excited. He let me know there was a pool we could use to pass the time. Very nice guy.

We rested up, then went for a swim. The pool was very big for a hotel pool, and the water was warm. Plus we were the only ones there, so we had the whole pool to ourselves. Then we went back to the room, got changed, walked to the Chinese food place down the street and had dinner.

We were only about 10 minutes away from the venue, so we headed over at 7:45 because doors opened at 8:00. When we got there the line was super long, but by the time we parked, they started letting people in. Was surprised to see scalpers all over the place. The only other time I saw them for an Al show was at the Beacon Theater in NYC.

Quickly said hi to Greg as he walked past us to get to the end of the line, then saw Jeremy in the other line and said hi to him too. Met up with Greg again, and traded cards, then headed for drinks and our seat. I got stopped by at least 5 different people I didn't know who wanted to take a picture of my Al tattoo! It was crazy! And they all were genuinely super thrilled to see it. Never had that many people stop me. Maybe one a show at most back home. Everyone here is very friendly, I'm not used to that.

Saw Fred in the audience and said a quick hello, then found our seats. Second row, off to the side by Jim. There was a giant speaker. right above us. While we waited for the sun to set, we walked to the father and son sitting next to us who had come from Ashland, KY, to see the show. It was there first, and they were quizzing us on what to expect. They were nice to talk to, and I was watching them out of the corner of my eye during the concert, and they had a great time.

We had a very energetic YMM and YDLMA for our alternate songs. Al did a wild boneless boy dance during YMM. During the SLN forgotten verse, everyone sang along so loud, you could hear them over the music, and let me tell you, the music was LOUD where we were sitting. I knew we had a good audience then.

For YP, we got the Free Hugs and Atlantic Records still Sucks shirts. Steve switched bass guitars middle of the song, not sure why, he wasn't acting like anything was wrong. The bass was so loud during DTBS, I could actually feel the wind coming off the speakers!

I managed to avoid getting any streamers land on me during CI, despite practically sitting next to the cannon. Al once again wanted to chew on the butt of the woman sitting directly in front of me during WBUL. There were three storm troopers, one biker scout, and Darth Vader for TSB. Got drenched with confetti after the show to make up for the missed streamers.

After the show, the 501st was out posing for pictures outside the vending area, I talked with Fred, and Susan, until they split, then headed over to the gate. All buses were behind a gate and black netting, and Greg said that Al didn't sign last time, so I really wasn't expecting anything. We passed the time talking with some other fans, narrowly avoiding death several times by cars driving on the sidewalk, and counting the number of different colored taxis that stopped by hoping for a fare. For the record, it's three: Orange, Yellow, and Blue.

And the wait paid off, because after an hour or so, they started letting people through the gate one group at a time to see Al. And each group was given decent time. One item, one photo, one life story. We were near the end, and when we went in, Al waived at us, and asked if we had enough already. I asked him if he would draw a 4-inch line on the bottom of my foot and without hesitation, he said yes. Then he drew a line, didn't think it was long enough, so added another inch or so. Jackie got her ankle signed. Greg got a trading card signed. Then we got a group picture. It was nice not to be rushed out of there. I mean it was about 12:45 by the time we met him, and security didn't care that people were keeping them from going home and going to sleep. Again, everyone is so nice here.

Anyway, I'm really glad we decided to come out. I definitely would come out to this venue again if he plays here, and I wouldn't mind seeing more OH shows if and when I can make it work. It's looking more likely we'll go to Cleveland at the end of the tour.

Dave

Got to the venue about 6:30. There were already a few people forming a line. Decided to wait to get in line, though, until they opened at 8. Passed the time by uploading some past meets with Al from various cities on my Facebook. Met Dave as I headed through the gates. Talked to him for awhile. Then, went and found a good place on the lawn.

Great show. Was able to stand during all the songs, and sit on the blanket during the video clips. Very energetic crowd around everywhere. Very enjoyable show. Kinda surprised to see the same combo as Knoxville. Maybe they're just going with the off-setting songs now? Although, as I told Dave, every time I think there's a pattern..it changes...They still had some minor editing in the video clips. In the Snoop Dogg-Cell Phones clip and a few Al-TV interviews. That was changed for the first time in Merillville. Loved watching the show from the back with the city of Columbus in the background. Was a very unique view.

Kinda wish I would have stayed for the after-show, as I would have liked to talk to Dave, Jackie and Greg longer...and especially being in that group to see Al. Very surprised that he met here. As, he didn't last time. Although, I decided that home was calling. And with that 3 hour or so drive back to Huntington(only 15 minutes from Ashland, KY), it was time to go. Wish I could have seen Al tonight...oh well, there's always the next time...or the time after that...or the other time...

Fantastic show!

I got a LOT of GREAT photos from the front row, but I won't be able to upload them until probably Monday, so stay tuned for those.

I'll also relate my story of getting to meet Al, Jim, and Ruben after the show!

well, i finally got my weird al lap dance. i can die happy now. weird al remembered me from the other night too, so that's awesome. got to meet him for the 7th time after the show. i was also one of the people who got a picture with elvis's tattoo. it turned out a lot better than my picture with al did.