11/05/10 Austin, TX "Fun Fun Fun Festival"

[Vargas Chick]

My pictures from Friday night. Best I could do

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Your best is pretty darn good. Thanks!

[Driew_La_27]

I just watched a clip of "Craigslist", and Al was just barely hitting those high notes, his voice was cracking a little. You think he might drop it next tour, for the sake of his voice?

I was noticing that as well--it might have to do with this being the first show and his voice not in concert mode yet. Probably half-way through that concert his voice was feeling the first night jitters.

[Alinite27]

Yeah, I noticed that too. I'd say it was definitely just the one-off concert effect. I went to 32 shows on this tour, and never heard his voice really crack like that during Craigslist. I've noticed it during Pitiful. But, yeah...I think the range is fine...just the break.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

It might just have been cold air. Outdoors, in November after all.

[Vargas Chick]

Yeah, I noticed that too. I'd say it was definitely just the one-off concert effect.

I think his voice was fine, but the sound system wasn't. We heard a lot of distortion and at times a really loud background "hum", plus his mic would cut out partially to completely.

Yeah, the night air was cool, and there were people smoking cigarettes close to the stage.

Not the best conditions to sound great in.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Here's a pretty good video of MOD EDIT: Removed bootleg

My question for the accordion geeks among us: Is Al using his old standby had-it-since-boyhood accordion here? I understood he'd retired it from touring because it had become too fragile, but is he taking it out for a spin again here?

[crazygurl14]

i wonder how long it takes Al and the band to memorize the yoda chant...

[Kristine]

i wonder how long it takes Al and the band to memorize the yoda chant...

I had it memorized after hearing it a few nights in a row. Your brain becomes wired for memorizing songs when you're a musician. I find it hard to memorize lines for a monologue, but my actor friends have no trouble. Or cooking recipes if you're a cook, etc... it comes with the territory and you learn how.

Steve's face-plant thing...
I guess he tripped over one of the guitar chords on his way back to the wardrobe tent. He was already far enough off-stage that most people didn't see it (and probably most weren't looking at him anyways).

[NH Weird Al Fan]

Here's a pretty good video of Al doing Yoda in Austin

My question for the accordion geeks among us: Is Al using his old standby had-it-since-boyhood accordion here? I understood he'd retired it from touring because it had become too fragile, but is he taking it out for a spin again here?

Here is a picture from the Mothership, showing young Al with an accordion. While the accordion used in the video you posted does look very old, it is not the same one as in that picture of young Al.

EDIT: To add to the mystery, here and here are some more pictures of young Al, this time with a different accordion. I'm guessing this is actually the one he got for his 7th birthday. This one looks VERY similar to the one in the Yoda video...the main difference that I see is that the one from his youth has 7 large white rectangular buttons next to the keys (on Al's right side). The accordion in the Yoda video from Austin has only 5 of those buttons. Unless is it possible to modify the accordion by removing those buttons, I'd say it's a different accordion.


EDIT: Al also did his traditional one-handed accordion lift in Austin, which I don't think he would do with his fragile boyhood accordion.