World of Weird Al Yankovic

Plans may change on this show depending on what's required in my college classes, but for right now I'm planning on this one. Looks like after the Nashville-Atlanta, they'll be heading toward Florida area for a week, then coming back up at Charlotte, if those other dates stay the same. So, that will be a week or so chase there.

Anyway, for now, I'm coming to this.

Got my ticket for this today. With the steep prices at the front of the theater, I took a seat near the back that was much cheaper. I did like how the theater floor was elevated throughout, so this should be a good seat.

I've seen Al perform here before, and it's a great venue to catch a show. Last time we were halfway back in the theater, dead center. This time we'll be front row.

Hopefully the venue will do a better job on preshow entertainment, as last time I was there they had a comedian (while funny) that decided to go blue as his last bit was wrapping up and drop an f-bomb. Mind you, I don't care because I'm an adult, but it was obvious to anyone not legally blind that the theater was full of kids. Poor taste IMO.

Hope You Enjoy It wrote:I've seen Al perform here before, and it's a great venue to catch a show. Last time we were halfway back in the theater, dead center. This time we'll be front row.

Hopefully the venue will do a better job on preshow entertainment, as last time I was there they had a comedian (while funny) that decided to go blue as his last bit was wrapping up and drop an f-bomb. Mind you, I don't care because I'm an adult, but it was obvious to anyone not legally blind that the theater was full of kids. Poor taste IMO.

Al doesn't usually allow preshow entertainment to share the stage at his concerts anymore; I'm pretty sure I read something about it in his tour rider. I'm sure situations like that are part of the reason why.

Yeah, I think that's the main reason why there are no more opening acts. I remember hearing about a particularly inappropriate opening act whose microphone had to be turned off, and as he walked off stage, he flipped off the crowd. Needless to say, I don't think Al is all that comfortable any more with the idea of not knowing what kind of opening comedian the venue will provide.

Plus, the show is already so long being around 2:15. That, along with the unpredictability, I think, are why the opening acts were dropped. The few that I saw were horrible anyway.

Good show tonight. Al did Franks. The coffee shop was the Starbucks on McMullen Booth Road. Al flubbed a bit at the beginning of Frank's, but that will happen some when you have performed it in a few days. For some reason, Jim's guitar wasn't plugged in at the beginning of Beverly Hillbillies. Kinda brought the show to a stop, and then Ruben tried to adlib a bit on the keyboard for that part. Blue boots again for Perform This Way. Not quite sure what is up with that. Anyway, rest was pretty standard fare.

Great show tonight. The crowd was lively and Al really seemed to feed off the energy. The only downside had nothing to do with Al at all; some loud-mouthed asshat thought it was his duty to shout and laugh at the top of his lungs at EVERY single thing. I had to restrain my brother from getting up from his seat and causing a scene, and believe me that isn't easy to do.

As was said by Alinite, the sound guy forgot to plug in Jim's Fender for Beverly Hillbillies, but they recovered nicely by the end of the song. It did let a bit of steam out, but the crowd was very appreciative after every song tonight. It was easy for Al and the band to feed off that energy and finish out the show strong. I thought Al sounded great tonight and he really belted out some high notes in WBUL. They left the stage to a much deserved standing ovation.

What a good show! After seeing Al for the first time at St. Pete in July, 2010, it was nice to see them again. Hopefully, they will tour down here for a few more years. As already mentioned, the crowd was very vocal and into the show and the band looked like they were having a good time.

Jim's guitar amp snafu in 'Hillbillies' was unfortunate but didn't slow things down too much and the band worked their way through it like they were used to it. WBYL was a riot with Al spreading the love all around! The lady sitting behind me was laughing so hard I thought she might pass out. The security guys at Ruth Eckerd Hall (at least they had REH shirts on) seemed quick to pounce on folks taking pictures in the first few rows where we were seated if they were easy to get to, but ignored those who were more difficult to reach. I'm not sure if they were REH people or Al’s since I thought I'd seen one (a large guy with short, thin hair) at the Mahaffey Theater last year.

We waited around outside in an area near the stage entrance for about a half hour after the show and some of the folks out there were singing Al songs. Then, the REH courtesy van pulled out and we were told that the band had left in it. Oh well, perhaps some of them will be at the guitar concert Jim West is giving at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa (http://www.uutampa.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) tonight (Fri. October 7th) at 8pm. He will be playing his Hawaiian 'slack key' repertoire and tickets are $15 at the door.

My son picked up the latest copy of “Classic Drummer” magazine at B&N the other day. It includes a nice interview with Bermuda.

Al doesn't travel with security, the Yanko-circus is pretty big already. Could it be possible that both REH and the Mahaffey contract with the same security firm? Or, of course, twin brothers.

Hey, I was at that St Pete show last year!

Be sure and report on Jim's slack key show if you attend.