9/12/11 - Salt Lake City, UT - Utah State Fair

[jake waters]

I will be there. If you see me, be sure to say hi.

[lc27]

Jake! I suppose I can't ever go to a Weird Al concert in Utah without running into you.
Where are your seats? I'm in row 1, #7-8, Jim's side, if you want to stop by and say hi. Otherwise, I'll probably try to hang around after the show until they kick us out, even though I'm 99% sure the band won't be doing any meet and greets.

[Muldernscully]

This is Jeff Jackson checking in for the show tonight. I'll be in section D, row 2, seats 11-14, I believe. See you all there!

[jake waters]

I'm guessing that's you, Linda! I wasn't able to get my tickets until a while after they went on sale, so I'm in section E, way back on row 23, seats 1-3.

[amzo39]

THAT WAS COOL, y'all

[lc27]

Just got back from this show. It was a typical Weird Al show - amazing and an incredibly good time!
It seems the band keeps sounding better every time I go see them.

For those wondering about the set list, they did "Franks 2000" TV" but not YMM, YDLMA, and "Hog" as was speculated in the set list topic. We got two drum solos, and the other songs were in the set as described. Gosh, the Yoda Chant is *long* now (I'm not sure how it compares to the 2010 and pre-Alpocalypse 2011 shows, since I could not attend any of those, but there's definitely a lot more in it now than I remember from 4 years ago). But that's a good thing.

I was fortunate this time to be surrounded by many hard-core fans who were really into the show. Most of the folks in the first few rows of Section D were awesome! We even had some guy dressed as Spider-Man in Row 2. Jake - unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to you this time. I spent most of my time before the concert in the merchandise line, and only got to my seat probably less than 10 seconds before "Fun Zone" started.

I waited around after the show with a couple of other people who were sitting next to me, but as usual, no meet and greet (I've never seen Al do one at the Utah State Fair).

I hope the Alpocalypse tour continues through next year, otherwise this might be my only show on this tour. I will be really sad if that's the case. But, I'm fortunate to have seen a such great show this evening.

[Muppetboy09]

Just wondering, what did Al and the band wear for "Wanna B Ur Lovr" last night?

[Wizzerkat]

I saw a pic and Al wore the jacket from your avatar, Muppetboy. I like that jacket and hope he keeps wearing it!

[Interrobang]

This is my review of the concert and my meet-and-greet with Al afterwards:

The venue wasn't that good as far as amphitheaters go. The ground was a bit gravelly and uneven, the chairs (at least where I was sitting) were just metal chairs that somebody had set down in rows, and a large cluster of wires came down from the stage past the left of where I was sitting. The place where Al went to change costumes between songs was just a tent visible off the left hand side of the stage (the flap to it was slightly open, and I could see part of the PTW peacock suit), next to the tour buses further to the left behind a wall. Before the concert, I saw Steve on stage getting ready. In the Las Vegas concert on September 10th, he seemed like he was having trouble with getting the bass guitar to work properly throughout the concert, so he was probably making sure he didn't run into any problems this time.

As mentioned earlier, there were many hardcore fans there, and during the concert the audience was very enthusiastic. As well as the guy in the Spider-man costume, I also saw a guy in a clown costume, who was being loud and rowdy before the show.

The concert started about 15 to 20 minutes later than when it was supposed to start at 7:30. I think this was because of problems with the video clips. Before the show I saw them playing parts of a few clips without the audio as a test, and it was too bright to see them well at all. I think they waited until it got darker to start the show so that the videos would be visible. Needless to say, when Fun Zone finally started playing, everyone got very excited and started cheering.

During Polka Face, what I can only assume was the upcoming video for the song was playing on the screen. Let me tell you now, it's a bit disturbing, though I imagine I'll come to like it eventually. It had a different little animation (except one that was partially live action of some sort of giant robot) for each song, and the style of it all was so varied I have a feeling each part was created by someone different.

Frank's 2000'' TV was after that, which I enjoyed more than usual because my friend Frank was sitting to the right of me, and he had never heard the song before. After that was one of Bermuda's famous drum solos. Al introduced it by saying: "I know a lot of performers save this 'till the end of the show to build anticipation, but I don't roll that way. I want to get it out of the way so you're not waiting for it the whole night, let's just do it right now. Ladies and gentlemen . . . DRUM SOLO!" I found that pretty hilarious. TMZ, played after that, is also a very nice song live, better than I would have thought.

I got directly sprayed by the water thrown in Smells Like Nirvana, though the cup was thrown far away from me.

Directly after Skipper Dan (which was after SLN) was Party in the CIA, which, honestly, didn't sound very good at all live. However, this wasn't entirely the band's or Al's fault. I'm pretty sure they had some technical difficulties during the song. The song sounded a lot better at the Vegas show. Still, I don't like how the song sounds live instrumentally.

After that was CNR, and following that, Al announced that it was time for the request portion of the show and invited people to shout out what they wanted. I didn't shout out anything, because I knew it was futile, but I was hoping that this meant Al was going to reintroduce Let Me Be Your Hog into the setlist (this was how he introduced it in 2004). However, it turned out to be just the drum solo reprise.

All the confetti that was blasted during Canadian Idiot managed to float onto the left side of the audience, just barely out of my reach.

I wasn't sure if Al was going to come out during Wanna B Ur Lovr, because between the front row and the stage was a wall, but there was a small openable gate to the left which he went through to the audience. The seats were organized into sections as well as rows, causing there to be a large middle aisle, which Al went down. I was sitting at the far right of the section to the left of the aisle and so got a seat bordering the aisle, and at one point got really close to him. He sung to a girl a few seats to the left of me as he was getting back to the stage. Apparently the audience enthusiasm during this song got to be a bit too much for the security, who directed everyone to sit back down when they were trying to get a better look at Al as he headed towards the back of the theater.

It's really great hearing I Want a New Duck and Theme From Rocky XIII in the medley. I never would have thought he'd play either of those songs ever again, so getting the chance to listen to them in concert after them not being played for 25 years is really awesome. I also enjoyed hearing Spam come out from its ten year retirement.

After that, Amish Paradise, and after that was Craigslist. This tour I've noticed he's been saying his "open letter to the snotty barista" slower. This really adds to the effect and makes you think the character he's playing is slow and wouldn't get off that phone with his mother any time soon. This time the barista was at the Salt Lake Brewing Co. on 4th South, so I'll have to go there this week.

I saw videos of Perform This Way live before seeing it myself, and I have to admit I didn't think it sounded good live in the recordings I saw. However, either they were deceiving or Al and the band have gotten better at it since, because it was done very well live. I did like Jim's cheese suit a lot, but I'm hoping Al will replace the peacock suit soon to something more Lady Gaga like.

White & Nerdy is always great live, and the Segway fits it well. After was Fat. I was in the front row, and I have to say the concert fat suit doesn't look as good up close. It looks quite fake and unnatural. However, I know from personal experience that from a few more rows back it looks a lot better. Fat may be the only Weird Al song that isn't as good live when you're closer rather than further away.

I was disappointed that there was no confetti for Yoda in the finale, something I didn't know until the concert. It was also slightly disappointing that there was no further addition to the Yoda chant this tour (though I knew that beforehand). And I'm also still disappointed he took out cellphones. However, Yoda and The Saga Begins was still a great performance, and the audience cheered very loudly and for very long after the end of the Yoda chant.

Although the venue was less than ideal, they put on a great entertaining concert. The audience was very enthusiastic the entire time, and despite it being against posted policy, the security mostly didn't mind the people who rushed to the front from their seats to take pictures and video.

After the show, all the people who had backstage passes came to the front and were told to go over to the far left of the venue and wait. At this point, I was not one of them. However, some strangers had an extra pass because they thought another person was going to come with them, and they very kindly gave it to me. In the group of people with passes was a family of four, whom I knew (though I had no idea they were big Al fans) because one of them had gone to school with me. As it turns out, they're friends with a friend of Jim's wife. It's good to know that I have a connection if I ever want to try to get another backstage pass (which I will).

After about twenty minutes, they all let us backstage at the same time. We formed a line, which fed into an area behind the stage where Al was on the left signing items and taking pictures. I also saw Jim and I'm pretty sure I saw Bermuda in the back, but Bermuda was gone by the time I got into the area. Al recognized me from the last time I saw him and actually told me he was going to arrange for me to get a pass (I sent him some stuff through Jay Levey, but that's not important) and that he was glad I ended up making it backstage, which I was ecstatic about. Al gladly signed my White Stuff single, after which I went over to Jim (whom I had never met before) and he gladly signed it too. A photographer took pictures of both Al and me and Jim and me, and he said he'd email me the pictures (he hasn't yet, but he did email me to say he'd do it soon and to ask if he got my email address correct). After that I was quickly ushered out.

Overall it was an extremely fun night! I really hope I can catch another show on this tour before it ends.

[Muppetboy09]

And where did you see this picture Wizzerkat? I would LOVE to see it!