Not sure why the links not working, it's working for me.
Very pleasant ride out considering it was on Long Island and there's no easy way to get there. The only real traffic we hit was as we were cutting across Manhattan but that's inevitable. Planned to take the trolley but when we got to the trolley lot it said residents only and no trolley stop, so we went to the venue which worked out nicely because there was a free parking lot next to it, just took forever to wait for someone to leave.
We ate at a restaurant directly across the street from the venue which sat us outside in an alley. It's much nicer than it sounds, as it was painted to look like an European cafe, or at least what I imagine a European cafe looks like as I've never been there. It was also dog friendly as there was a giant bowl of dog treats out front. Jim and Rubén walked by and took a few pictures of us eating. There's a picture of me and Jackie eating dinner on Jim's Facebook page if anyone wants to check it out.
Talked to Michelle right before the show started. I didn't know she would be there but she noticed me as I was sitting. We had row 4 off to the side, which was nice as I could angle my seat to see better and stand whenever I wanted. I also had a really good view of Steve and an awesome view of Rubén. I didn't plan to take pictures but when I saw I had good shots of Rubén, out came the camera. I was paying attention to Steve and Rubén a lot during the show and I saw a few things they did that I never picked up on before. Al started "Tacky" in the restaurant next door which amused the diners. The people around me were having a great time and I sang along to the whole show.
The cheerleaders in SLN were doing a bunch of really high kicks and ended their routine with a split which was very impressive. Michelle got a line sung to her in WBUL and it was on the big screen so I took a few pictures for her. Al walked over to some girl during the song and she started dancing with him. She was holding a cup so Al grabbed it from her and took a sip. There was also a drunk woman in cat ears that was dancing at the front of the stage, and Al played to her too. he stormtroppers were hamming it up and all bowed to Vader when Al came over to him and did "I guess I'll train this boy." During "Yoda" JW snuck up next to me and we shared a moment and sang "Yoda" together. It was really cool that he did that, and a highlight for me.
After the show, I bought an AP t-shirt as I recently realized I didn't have any to wear. R2D2 was in the lobby briefly. We stopped and got some Italian ice, then waited by the bus for over an hour. I met Adam who remembered me from alt.music.weird-al and once gave me directions to Roosevelt Field Mall, where I acquired the signature for me first tattoo. We also hung out with another guy who's name I didn't catch who knew Luke Ski and Devo Spice. Rubén came out and asked if the gellato store was still open and everyone said yes, then 15 minutes later he came back and told us it wasn't open and we were liars. He then left because no one could pronounce his name correctly.
Bermuda came out and talked to us for a couple minutes, signed a few autographs then headed off to get some rest. Rubén came back out and asked us what his name was, and everyone said it wrong again, so I yelled ru-BEN and he had me yell it a few more times then he came over and shook my hand and gave me a hug. Then he signed autographs for everyone. I saw R2D2 get decapitated which was disturbing, and then finally after over an hour, there were only , we were told Al would be signing, one autograph, no pictures, all the standard rules so far this tour. they pulled the tractor trailer out followed by the bus, which stopped and parked on the street. Jim came out at the same time, so I chatted with him and he asked how I enjoyed dinner and then said he was going to NYC today to take pictures for his new album!
Al was wearing a One Direction shirt, and looked and acted well rested. I was last in line, and JW told security not to chase us away, so we got to chat a few extra minutes with Al.
Dave