Awesome indeed. I was up in the mezzanine for this one, got a great look at the beautiful gilt Art Deco plasterwork. Stunningly lovely theater. The sound up there was totally clear and strong, Al's vocals were crisp. He seemed to put more grit and growl into a few songs, and at first I wondered if his voice was going out, but the higher & more lyrical bits sounded fine, so I think he was just maybe pushing it a little, cutting loose & being a little more risk-taking because he doesn't have to worry about singing again for a while.
Because I was up there, and in the middle, I got to appreciate the whole stagecraft of it in a way you can't when you're up closer, noticing ways that the lighting, for example, was supporting the lyrics. "Papparazzi poppin' out of nowhere" and you get the flashing white lights. And I really got the full effect of the peacock suit in all its ridiculousness during Born This Way. Is it too much to hope that somebody in an audience somewhere will call out a request for "Freebird" when he's wearing that suit?
Tonight I was sitting near a couple in their 70's. They had a great time. He said, "He's really good!" She said, "He's a genius!" It really is an all-ages show.
We have finally come full-circle, and ended back with the snotty barista from the Coffee Bean on San Vicente Boulevard.
I don't think I mentioned it, but there were no troopers last night in Anaheim. Tonight, though there was a nice assortment, including R2D2 and a Tusken Raider. First time we've seen one of those.
Al asked the transvestites to sing during Yoda, and judging by the response, a goodly number of them must have been present.
A bunch of us met up for dinner before the show at The Waffle (much thanks to UHJeff for the suggestion), and after the show we managed to find each other again and kind of mosey around to the side, where the backstage gate was. We (all pretty much veteran tour-chasers except for one) weren't expecting to get to do more than wave at people as they left, considering it was the last show and all, but there were also some relative newbies with much higher hopes, and I think we were all hoping they wouldn't be too disappointed if all we wound up doing was sidewalk-superintending the load-out. But Steve came out and mingled, signed, posed, chatted and was generally his gracious and gregarious self... and then finally Al came out, to my great surprise. By that time the crowd had thinned out a bit, it wasn't too huge a group... but it was a very happy group. And I was one of those happy people. I didn't ask for an autograph or a photo, but I got what I really wanted: the chance to thank Al in person for the tour. I get so much happiness & enjoyment from these shows, it means a lot when I can actually say so to Al himself.