8/11/15 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live at Universal Citywalk

[Abbeybunny]

Awesome!

[Sailor-Polka-Moon]

Okay, guys, concert review time!! FINALLY!


Forgive me if it's a bit long, but I wanted to recount EVERY SINGLE DETAIL. Couldn't miss a ONE!

Six months ago I wrote a short story for my Creative Writing class called “Concerto Incognito”, about a girl named Junie who makes a complicated journey to see a certain ‘Alizarin Yarakov’ in concert – a night she felt her whole life was leading up to. I recounted even the real life story of my grabbing tickets on my cellphone, sneakily while in my Creative Writing class one January morning, one hand writing notes on the lecture and one on Ticketmaster until the website suggested me the best seats available: second from front row.

And yet, real life was more amazing and dreamier than any fiction I could ever write.

The Road to Al began with a bit of difficulty. In the days prior, Mom and Dad had been going through some stuff, and Mom…well… she wasn’t concert-ready just yet. Things happened way too fast that ironically were delayed for way too long, and too many emotions were going on for the both of us. I can imagine that the last thing she needed to be around was her daughter crazy in love with some Weird guy.
But I’m like—Mom. Happiness = now or never. Let’s leave the house full of difficult memories for a little while, let’s go. I know we’ve never been to Orlando where it’s just you and me (and a friend) before, I know I have pretty much zero experience night-driving or driving long distances… but let’s leave the sad stuff behind.
Let’s go.
She was hesitant to go anywhere, she was difficult, but the end result was our mutual decision of: Let’s go.


We set off for Orlando at about 3 in the afternoon. You’ll soon come to learn that I am the kind of person who is a strange balance of impulsive and yet serious about being uber-PREPARED for things. I spent the morning with my friend (whom I happily refer to as Bro) checking out Google Maps’ satellite images of CityWalk’s parking garage, where to walk out to get to Hard Rock, the works. The impulsive bit—I’ll get to that later.

I had never driven so far in my life! 84 miles to and back. The drive was full of Florida territory I’d never seen before.
These wide open spaces, and bizarre Trailer Park Stonehenge of hopefully fake trailers sticking out of the grass at an angle…
The blue skies that gave way to a quick rain (not nearly like the torrential, zero visibility rains Dad tried to warn me about- among other discouragements that thankfully never happened – so glad to be a dreamer and not a pessimist!), and then the lovely entrance to Universal CityWalk…
THEN the scenery got very interesting!

Universal was familiar territory to me ONLY by ways of Islands of Adventure—and that was at night, back in 2007. Not for a concert of any kind, either—
If I haven’t mentioned it before, this was my very first Al concert, and first concert in general. <3
That’s why my eyes took in everything, all along the Road to Al that for seven months felt like a dream on the way.

I only truly knew the dream had arrived when, after lots of rides on conveyor belt-like walkways and an escalator to take you to down to CityWalk attractions, I looked across the pond with the ferry boats floating by, and saw the beloved Hard Rock Live and Hard Rock Café, one big building with big guitars and big sounds.
(As a guitar player myself, of course the sight of huge guitars on buildings made me giddy! Not to mention the fab little guitar picks on the sparkly floor of the Hard Rock shop!)

It was still 5 o’clock yet, so while waiting for the doors to open at 7, so Mom, Bro and I wandered around CityWalk.
Mom and I go waaay back in watching cooking shows, so I pointed out Emeril’s restaurant… we passed by gift shops where they had things like leather bracelets, pearls from (and in!) the oyster, sat on stones under the trees. Bro took my picture while I was accompanying a squirrel lazily sprawling on a rock next to me—I made sure to be extra quiet while sitting next to it! It didn’t even budge!
Mostly, though: we were on the hunt for SHADE! We escaped the Florida sun just a bit, and by the time we got to Hard Rock and its big copper dome I knew I’d recognize, we took our seats on brown basket-weave chairs and the countdown to amazingness intensified.
“Al—I’m here,” I thought. Super-childish, I know, but 7 months of anticipation is a long journey, especially when it’s to see someone your heart’s been latched onto for so many years.
Poodle Hat Tour, 2003/2004, San Luis Obispo: Wanted to go. Never happened.
Alpocalypse Tour, 2013, Clearwater: Dying to go. Another ‘not gonna happen’.

But this time, everything was different, and I was soon to be in the presence of greatness.

Wandering through the Hard Rock area, I popped into the Café, asking if we could sit down at the tables outside. The lady said we could, they’re just sitting areas and you don’t need a reservation! So, sit we did, and just take in the whole atmosphere.
CityWalk, Orlando, crowds starting to pile up. Crowds remarkably weren’t a problem at Universal; there were lots of people, but with the way you enter in from the parking garages, they were all in a single-file sort of way. It was so cool being in the middle of it all.
I saw a girl I thought was Mia (‘Yup.’), and actually asked if her name was in fact Mia. I was wrong! My apologies to that girl and to Mia herself for the mixup! ;.;

The VIP check-in counter was nearby. I wish I could’ve been there—I had just regular tickets, but to me, these were FAR from regular. First tickets to see an Al concert EVER, and second row from the stage. Nope, nothing plain or regular about these!

The little Hard Rock gift shop was so cool. The aforementioned guitar picks on the shiny floor was something Bro pointed out, and I just squee’d at it. There was a quick restroom visit (so clean!! o.o) down a staircase that looked like it was done in red velvet, and lots of rock memorabilia and photos, like of one rocker’s smashed-up guitar in a frame. I thought that was a cool way of capturing a music moment-- of rebellion, or something-or-other. XD

When it was about 6:30, the crowd started to REALLY form, and a security guard called out that the line starts at the bottom of the stairs leading up to Hard Rock’s doors. I went down to the bottom of those stairs, joining some other people, along with Mom and Bro. And someone asked us: “Are you with this group?” As in, were Mom, Bro and me in the same group as the strangers we were standing next to? No.
BACK OF THE LINE. We moved to where the end of the line was so far, and sat on a little concrete wall. Jasmine flower hedges and Hard Rock behind us, palm trees and big blue skies and pond with ferry boats in front of us.
I stared up at the big blue sky and recalled the previous night, which was troublesome and had a lot of arguing and some tears. My dad never trusts me to do ANYTHING on my own, like huge trips to (relatively) faraway towns to do something completely different.
I said a silent, mental, deeply heartfelt thanks to God, for bringing me here without a hitch even if all the odds seemed against me—and for bringing me to Al.

6:38. 6:40. 6:55. I wasn’t wearing a watch, so I kept prodding Mom’s wrist. “What time is it now?”
“…5 minutes.”
“5 MINUTES!! *”OMG” glance at Bro, who gives a “YEEE” glance back*”

Did I mention that this concert is a first for the THREE of us?

The line grew. And grew. AND GREW. I looked over and saw a guy whose profile bore a powerful resemblance to John Lennon’s (as Mom curiously pointed out in a whisper to me), saw a girl wearing a skirt full of light-sabers on it, watched some guy walk past wearing very bright blue knee-socks. As well as seeing that the line was so long, the back of the line was right across from us—the security guard now warning us of the approaching time: “It’s gonna get WEIRD! Back of the line starts here, here… … things are gonna get weird!”

…Before I knew it, time passed and it was time to walk through little metal detector boothy-things, and have security take a peek into my purse – twice – and take just a few more steps through the front room of Hard Rock Live…
And I caught my first sight of Military!Al. You know, the Mandatory Fun promo one everyone knows by now. Staring gorgeously into space, looking all strong and… Mandatory. And the Fun was SURE coming very, very soon now, and my heart started racing now! I was HERE, where I’d seen so many fans take pictures of when THEY were about to see the greatness in person!! *.*

I took my seat, second from the front row of (very comfy!) little chairs. My eyes fluttered from one screen to another, and the center one (which was clearest!). And the lighting set up which so far was already amazing, and got me wondering what it was going to be like when Al would show up and they’d all go off in every color.

What a beautiful memory we were about to make.

Fan Momento Gone Right: I got up and got my picture taken standing in front of the stage!! This was easy, and a darn short walk, considering where our seats were! Bro joined me for a second stage photo.
Fan Momento Gone Wrong: A guy sitting behind me talks to me. He’s with someone I presume to be his wife, and she’s got an Al book in her lap full of Al pictures new and old. Before I came along, they were looking through photos – then, Mr. Dude says, “Why don’t you jump on the stage?! Go on, go on!”. Dare I do it? I had seen quite a few fans’ photos where they were in fact sitting on the stage and posing for immortal Instagram selfiedom. I asked the guy, who I trusted once I learned this was his fourth concert (and I said this was my first) and he probably knew what he was talking about, “Will you cover for me?” This was my chance to do everything a fan should enjoy at a Weird Al concert—why not!?!
Because when I pretty much flew up the stairs to the stage, the security guard’s voice called me back down: “Miss! Miss! Miss!”.
That’s why.

D:

Ran down like the ditzy, crazy loon that I was.
I felt REALLY stupid, but somehow… not regretful. Part of the concert experience and all. (Mom sooo did NOT agree, telling me I shouldn’t have done that and I was silly to. This lecture would continue for a couple of days after the incident…) But I sure know I’m not trying that move again! Thanks a lot, Mister (no, I’m not mad!).

I sat like a good girl in my seat again, watching all the empty seats start to fill up, occasionally glancing over at Bro a few seats to my right in the Center Right section, row D. Being in row B, Bro didn’t seem that far off from me at all. It was an awesome feeling that I could look over my shoulder and see him right there, as for so many years I’ve always seen him there whenever figuratively looking over my shoulder as my spirit-brother watches out for me.
The countdown was getting breathtakingly close now. Some random music played softly behind the big screens. The preview to the greatness I would witness came when I saw some figures walking around backstage. And then I saw the first amazing sight:

Jim “Kimo” West poking out from backstage, standing a guitar against an amplifier. He would do this a few times with different guitars, and each time I saw him, I elbowed Mom and told her who it was (please remember my Mom is slightly out of touch with pop culture and knows very, very little about Al!) because I could not BELIEVE I just saw him. The band is just as talented, just as awesome as Al is, so seeing Jim West was a sight to take in to prepare me for what would come next.

It felt like a long, long time, this waiting and anticipation building like a Taj Mahal in my chest. I was calm, don’t get me wrong—save for the constant bouncing in my seat like a little kid—but by 8:06… no Al yet… I think I saw Jon ‘Bermuda’ Schwartz back there, too, but… again, the routine of checking Mum’s watch as for what time it was, wondering if I’d see Al now, or in the next minute.

A security guard came up with a lady who’d come to take her seat, and there seemed to be something not quite right with her ticket. Then, Mom and I were asked to show ours. We were in row B, seats 3-4 – girl was in seat #2, same row.
We shuffled a couple of seats over. Whoops! Didn’t know that #3 and #4 were not aisle seats. This worked in our favor, though, as we were closer to the center of the stage and we were gonna get a way better view of sweet Al!

More waiting… my eyes locked with those sparkly, determined ones in the Military!Al picture on the screen—

And then, you guys, THIS HAPPENED:

The music on the speakers suddenly got LOUD, and despite the fact I never heard this song before, I recognized it as “Fun Zone” due to my envious nights spent reading concert reviews here and there. I remember Alicia writing this up for me when I asked, months ago, “what’s it like” … The last few “HEY! HEY! HEY!’s” blared, and then the screens went to static. They flipped back on in a second to clips of random, hilarious strangeness, and then the military-theme laden, black-and-white with spliced in images of General Yankovic and soldiers marching, cheers – you know, the promos for the Mandatory World Tour.

I’ve seen this before but it gave me the serious goosebumpies LET ME TELL YOU. The “Prepare for Mandatory Fun” sent chills down my spine, and when the static hit once more and I saw Al starting to sing Tacky and walking down CityWalk on his way to Hard Rock to come up on stage…

My heart forgot to beat. Sorry, I can’t think of any non-cliché way to put it, THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED for a split-second.

My (OK, our) Al was there. Again, recalling wise words from Alicia—“this guy I’ve been seeing in just photos and videos on the screen,” he’s HERE, he’s real and about to be right in front of me. Mom wondered aloud if he was only going to appear on video and not in person. I watched him walk and strut nearly the same path we took to come in, recognizing it right down to Hard Rock’s reddish brick-like wall outside.

Dreamboat arrived. And not a moment too soon!! I couldn’t see him come in from where I was sitting, no matter how I tried to jump up from my seat and look without bothering anyone’s view at the same time.
I caught sight of his back, and that flowing curly hair, as he went up the short staircase and took center stage.
And for the first time, I saw him NOT on video many many miles away from me, but… so close to me I could reach over and touch his toes if I wanted! (AKA Bro’s description of just how awesome our seats were, minus the “HOLY FARK!!”.)

I couldn’t take my eyes off him for the rest of the night.
He held up that accordion WITH ONE HAND. I love the attitude with which he did this—it was like, “guess what time it is, babies”.

He then addressed us:
“Let me ask you a question…”
“…”
“Are you ready… for some POLKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?!”

*Now That’s What I Call Polka!!*
I glanced at Mom sometimes, wondering if she’d recognize ANY of these ‘hits’ he parodied and polka-ified. The music videos were them were playing on the screens. I saw waaaay more of Miley Cyrus than I ever wanted to…
…As well as of the band LMFAO. Arrgh, the Speedos!! The obnoxiously bright Speedos!! (Mom was cracking up at that!!) Al’s voice and that low “I’m sexy and I know it” while he blared that accordion took the edge off brilliantly and just got us all pumped UP!

Al has an AMAZING crowd response. They were loud but not unclassy, they were so full of excitement and love for every move he made, and singing along with every word he sang. I was one of them!! Finally, I was here singing along with all the words to all the songs I know, with Al and a whole bunch of fans! His energy was contagious, and…and wonderful.

He donned a trucker hat, then, and took us through my favorite track off Mandatory Fun – Lame Claim to Fame!!
For all the years he’s said he’s “not a dancer”, I sincerely beg to differ. He can crazy-flail and shake and swing hips like nobody’s business. In this song especially, he’s this fireball of energy like WOW.

I can’t give you a complete setlist, because every song breezed by, then blacked out to a VERY cool intermission full of hilarious video clips while Al did his costume changes. I remember Mom got a significant laugh out of the AL-TV with Eminem, when Al lost it over the countless “know wat I’m sayin?”s. She, being a bit of a perfectionist for proper grammar herself, definitely appreciated that. We were in the dark, so I couldn’t see Bro, but I know he was having as huge a blast as we were.

It was HILARIOUS getting to chant along with Al ‘interviewing’ Michael Stipe on-screen: “TRUCK BACKING UP! TRUCK BACKING UP!” and hearing others do it too!!
Taking off the shoesie-woosies equals puppet puke. And much raucous laughter. Just sayin’.
…NAAHAHAHAHAHAHA the single-eyeball twitch from that Bits (?) thing he did on Instagram!! That is serious talent right there that was only slightly less creepy on the big screen!

I never knew Al wore a full-body, skin-tight (o hai girls who may have also noticed) black bodysuit under the purple squid costume for Perform This Way. Somehow, it compliments the squidness well!
That guy…has got legs. Very nice ones. I’ll leave it at that. ;D

I wondered if uber-proper Mom would get creeped out by the pieces of the actual music video of Al’s head CGI’ed onto this contortionist lady’s body doing Lady Gaga-ish things. She seemed not to be and just taking the weirdness in, which was very good towards my success of brainwashi—I mean, getting into the show.

We got rocked through Dare To Be Stupid, a song I never heard – or saw – in full until now. BLOWN. AWAY. I now fully understand why Devo was mad at him after the song was released—because he captured THEIR SOUND so well and re-invented it, Al style! Love those yellow jumpsuits, too!! 8D

Al did this breathtaking unplugged, acoustic-style set where the band sat around him, and he had on this simple outfit of black pants and an open (!!! YESITWASAWESOME but I wish I’d gotten a better view of his chest, darn those people in front of me! XD) white shirt, and he sang some Eat It and a couple other songs in this jazzy, slower sort of way. It was a fabulous chill-out from the high energy of Dare To Be Stupid and Perform This Way, and I adored how the guitars sounded (yay Steve and Jim!!). There are still quite a few Al songs I’m not familiar with yet, so it took me a while to recognize “I Lost On Jeopardy,” and I just fell in love with it in this new “unplugged” style. (The same way it took me a bit to remember “Gump” and “Bedrock Anthem” during the medley, too!)

Soon, “First World Problems” happened. Okay, here we go. The blue-grey shirt, the black slacks, and wild hair flying!! The headbanging, the HAIRbanging! The “ARGH WHY MEEE” look on his face to match the mood of the song!
Al doesn’t just sing a song, he BECOMES it.
FWP transitioned into “Foil.” And seamlessly, even with a “Now We’re Cookin’!” counter rolling in, just like the one from the video. 8D He sang it in a slightly different key, which made it new and amazing all over again, just like when I watched the video on my phone last year during #8videos8days and it made that rainy, cloudy afternoon just so much better.

And THAT blazed into “Inactive”—something I totally did NOT expect. The song didn’t have a video, but Al gave it one on stage for us. Out of nowhere, a huge recliner rolled up, Al flumped over into it and leaned back, kicked his feet up, held the microphone and sang. This song live sort of echoes around you and it is just truly something else. O.O Just shows how Al is particularly good at improvising on the spot. Big budget music video? NAH. Go see him live to see what he can whip up for songs that are video-less!

Intermission time!! More bits of AL-TV, more cuteness. Al came out all in black and donned the infamous maple leaf jacket, and we were off into Canadian Idiot.
Can I just say HOW CUTE is his dancing when he goes—“They think their silly accent is so cute~” – yeah. Adorable! His voice sounded a bit rough when singing this, but in a very good way that fit the song’s tone! He’s got quite the range, and the way of putting new life into a song every time he performs it.

The jacket came off (I love the way he discards/puts on jackets as he transitions from one song to another! A mini strip-show for the girls, woohoo!! 8D), and we were taken into a medley of songs starting with “Ebay”. You know those last few “eee….eeeeeeeeee” notes he squeaks out at the end of the song? His FACE when doing that. Adorable. <3 (Yep, this concert review is gonna be LITTERED with fangirly moments and observation. Now that I’ve warned you, sit down and shush. )

“Another One Rides The Bus” came and raised the roof. The pounding beat of that and its classic, Al beginnings, nostalgic feel!! Love love love so much love!! You should’ve heard the cheers for this one!
And the guy with the harmonica came and Al started singing “Ode to a Superhero”. By now, you’d probably think my voice was tired from singing along to…ah… everything like a little looney thing, but oh nonono my dear. I ~laaa la laaaa diddy-daaah’d~ along with Al like NOBODY’S BUSINESS I did, because that part of the song has always been so dreamy to me for some reason~ <3

The Medley was going on, I’m sure. We got All About The Pentiums, we got Bedrock Anthem, we got…
Forgive me if I’m getting each song in the wrong order, I’m going by my totally blown-away, fragmented memory here! And then-- “Handy”!! HANDYHANDYHANDYYY. I was lucky to be prepared for this by seeing a GIF a certain Moose made on the Yankochicks forum topic because OH MY GOSH. Vest came on, toolbelt came on, and… he may be a craftsman but he has Handy Hips too. That boy can MOVE.


…that boy…can REALLY move. As I saw for myself, right in front of me, for the very first time when, after another intermission for an Al costume change (and the fitting old-timey “Mystery Date” clip was the very last to come on), the opening notes to Wanna B Ur Lovr came on and I could not help but SCREAAAAAAAAM BECAUSE OMG… THIS SONG….

…This song…was part of my Road to Al!! A huge part of The Dream! Would I get sang to? Serenaded about how I possibly have Yugoslavian hands? KABLAAAM!!’ed? Lap-danced?!! We shall see!

Al shuffled over and did this AWESOME, reaaally slow, little gyration with his hips that would make Elvis jealous and started singing. And I just flashed all the way back to the first time I watched him perform this song, that old Wayne Brady show clip and oooohhmigodomigod. As if he knew a longtime Michael Jackson fangirl was there, he tossed off that fedora he was wearing that matched his funky lava-red suit all in perfect MJ style. (I loved seeing this one guy always picking up Al’s jackets/hats, etc! I don’t know why, it just makes the show more real in some odd way!) Like a flick of the wrist and—fwooosh.
He started struttin’. Went all the way across to the other side of the stage first, far far away from me. Don’t worry, I was patient, and also – not getting my hopes up too high. My original plan was to maybe reach up and caress his face as he walked past me. Plan B was to lightly put my arms around his shoulders if he leaned in close to ‘serenade’ me with one of those awful pick-up lines that make the song so scrumptious.
But then, after poking a bit in the middle of the first few rows, and Al started making his way over down front row, down my way…
What happened here… was beyond any plan C, D, Z or A-L-B-U-Querque.

It was surreal... I'm still trying to piece together what my eyes saw after getting up out of my seat, shuffling past people as politely as I could, and snatching the opportunity for a WBUL treatment of my very own (after reading about so many for so long).

I remember, but-- it still feels like I dreamt it. I was standing RIGHT in front of him. Face to face.

Let me let you in on a secret I discovered when I got up close to Al…
That whole story about how he was born in Lynwood, California, yaddayaddayadda?
It’s all a ruse.

He is actually a Babe. From Babe-alonia.

…Jokes (what?! I’m not kidding here! He’s a total babe!!) aside, his eyes are BEAUTIFUL. Sparkling hazel gorgeousness, still gorgeous even with the typical Weird Al "I am a crazy person 8D" look in his eyes I recognize so well. They're a bit of a lighter brown than I expected, just... wow. He looked me in the eyes for what felt like a good while, though that Instagram clip showed me proof that it couldn't have been more than a couple of seconds.
I held my hands together all “aahhh” dreamy girl like, as if on instinct, doing what the song was telling me to do.

He smiled at me while singing. To me.

He sang-- to ME.

Sorta! I know, it was to the entire audience, but for just a moment, I felt like he was serenading me and just me.
Corny, but... yeah.

By the time he finished telling me how I “must’ve fallen from Heaven~ that explains how you messed up your face”, and nodding cutely, he touched my hand (!!! *0*!!!). Palm to palm.
I was Cinderella. I was some sort of princess. I was the lucky girl in all the fairy tales. This WAS my real life fairy tale!
And then his warm, soft palm pushed me away. I pushed back, and felt for a moment we were in perfect sync and rhythm.

I scuttled back to my seat and, with the hugest smile on my face, held up my hand. Al had touched my hand…!! His palm was so warm! Soft, too. Mom was like WOWWW and was also smiling…
My friend Bro who accompanied me to the show told me it was a gutsy move to approach Al instead of wait for him to approach me and WBUL me up as he usually does with the girls. I just remember I was probably crazy, despite how calm and sane I felt and how my heart just said-- GO! Even my mom sitting next to me nudged me to go up to him because the chance was there.

It was a moment I NEVER could have predicted and beyond my wildest dreams.

I'm still watching that Instagram clip over and over, and dying for photos to come out to see if I can keep a momento (or two or three or ten) of these unbelievable few moments with a guy I never would have guessed I'd come up so close to...

ANYWAY—it is remarkable I can remember anything clearly after this mind-numbing, fangirl-brain-exploding moment with Al happened, but the rest STILL amazed me and it was such a roller coaster!
“Smells Like Nirvana” certainly had a fragrance of Nirvana and awesomesauce. I sang the Bargle Nawdle Zouss with all the marbles iiinn mah mouuuth oh yes I did (sans actual marbles). 8DDD And OOOHH the moment with the water came!! He took, he drank, he gargled, he spit, he conquered (as I could tell from the massive SCREAMS around me at this moment). He tossed the rest of the water at us and it might’ve hit some lucky people further to my left. Yep, that’s Nirvana smell, all right!! The cheerleaders’ dancing was SO cute! I wished I was up there doing some dancing, too. I have no cheerleading skills, but I had a fluffy skirt on, so I could try to work that, had I had an opportunity!

It was time for the stage to shake ‘n bake now because it was time for THE FATNESS. Who’s Fat?!! Al was!! The music video came on, I elbowed Mum so she (a Michael Jackson fan, particularly of Bad-era Michael)’d recognize and majorly appreciate. The whole crowd and I echoed: “YOU AIN’T FAT! YOU AIN’T NOTHIN’!! Y-YOU AIN’T NOTHIN’!!” (before that I heard LOTS of “Ding dong, man. Ding dong. Ding dong, yo!!”.)
Then… wow. The Fat suit in all its glory, in person. It was quadruple-chinned, it was so fat it was PHAT, it was wondrous. Whenever he asked “who’s fat”, everyone stuck out their hands and pointed to him. I probably pointed out the farthest.
It was a riot when he jumped up, came down and you hear this HUGE, thunderous sound effect when he landed. And poor Santa who wandered over all “HOHOHO-- *PUNCH*” as Fat!Al knocked him OUT.


There was a burst of confetti sometime during the show, I remember…red and white…AH!! It must’ve been during Canadian Idiot!! The “preemptive strike”! XD (During the bomb-falling whistling sound—the way Al looked up—SO CUTE!)

We were soon whisked away into an Amish Paradise.
Where they got cool hats, and his homies (that is, we) agree: He really looks good in black, FOOL.
He turned the other cheek in my direction (and I lost it laughing). How DARE he. The cheek of that!! *badoompching!*

And then this almost tragic thing happened. Al stood, still in Amishwear, and yelled out to us: ‘DO YOU WANT MORE?!?!”
He stood and listened for all the screaming CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERS. Me included, of course.

Again: “DO YOU WANT SOME MOOOOOOOORE!?”

*MORE SCREAMS AND CHEERS*


And then Amish!Al said, “WEEELLLL I CAN’T GIVE YA MORE! Due to some completely indeterminate reason, I can’t give ya anymore!” and he proceeded to introduce the band to us, one by one, and then Harmonica/Jacket-Taker/General Helper Dude came and put a light blue shiny cape on him and led the suddenly kingly (suddenly?!) Al off-stage.

This is probably a common gimmick he does, but what with my being a first-timey and all, my little heart went—what!? Already?! So is this one of those shorter sets I heard about… nooooo!! I watched him hobble off and I could hear my heart calling back to him in its tiny voice—“wait what no bby don’t go please ;.;”.



We were in the dark for a little while. Suddenly, out of the darkness, a bit of purple and blue lighting came on on-stage, and we were graced with the presence of…

Darth Rubén!!! I knew it, the show couldn’t end just like THAT without The Saga Beginning!
He played a little something on his keyboard, then gestured to one side of the audience with his hand—they went up in cheers and screams. Rubén needs his cheer section too, the whole band does! Then, he swept his other hand upward to my side, and THIS side of the audience screamed. He raised the other hand, that side of the room cheered. Other hand, this side.
He teased us like this for a while!! That naughty Darth Rubén ;D I saw him smiling a bit under that Obi-Wan Kenobi hood!

And then our brave Jedi Al came out. Looking amazing and glowing in white. He took a seat upon his stool and started singing the first lines of this song I know almost all the words to. Mum was a bit of a camera-ninja and used my phone to record a bit of it—in the recording you can hear me singing along (badly but I didn’t care!) with my Al.
And yes, I openly say ‘my Al’ because that’s how emotionally attached I feel to him! Can’t believe I let that slip out in my typing, though.

Being a guitar player who’s learned a handful of songs by now and learned how to sing along with them, and my Dad telling me how important it is to keep in tune, I tried my best to stay in the same key as Al was singing. I could barely hear myself sing (definitely for the best), but just the ACT of singing “with” Al, and the rest of the audience, was a thrill I’ve been saving my lungs for for so many years.

Those Stormtroopers could seriously bust a move. There was this one that was showing off all kinds of moves, it was hilarious and SO cool!
The transition to Yoda was so perfect you hardly even noticed it—he lifted that accordion for us, one-handed, one more time, my strong Jedi knight <3 and then at that moment, I started wishing so much I had listened to Yoda a few more than the two or three times I have so far. What if he went up to me, held the mic to my face and said, “Okay, now YOU!”? And I didn’t know the words?!! I’d definitely try to improvise with some “something somethings” to make him laugh (so I could see that gorgeous smile up close again), but… eek! Embarrassing much??

Nope— after the audience all got to join in when Al held the mic out to us, it was a guy all the way across from my left who was the lucky Yoda soloist. And just for the “Yooo~da, yo-yo-yo-yo-Yoooda!” bit, too. Super easy!! Al: “OKAY, NOW JUST THIS GUY!”


The stage darkened, the lights went funky colors, starting with an ominous red. The Yoda Chant had begun, and seemingly (to us) out of nowhere, judging from Al’s bewildered expression and shifty eyes as he started the da din-din da, daa-din-din-dah, and broke out in the chant’s building up to its full level of WOW. NEVER have I appreciated the Yoda Chant like I do now! I now know the beauty and epic-ness of the Chant live. Hoooo my goodness it gives you the CHILLS it’s so awesome (and hilarious). Al ranges from serious, tribal rain-dance-maker all the way to little fireball of energy, and with a bit of Jerry Lewis thrown in (“La-la-la, NICE LADY!”) – I looked at Mum, a longtime Jerry Lewis fangirl by the time she was my age now, wondering if she caught it and appreciated the reference to the sweet, ingenious funny-man in her life back then.

With the last “Nahh-kuh-tah – DAH!” to finish, and the HUGE applause and cheers (and ironically, silence on-stage), Al took us back into Yoda. He sang, then as the song finished, did a spin, fell on his back and kicked his Jedi feet and… and then the awesome but quite sad part came along, ‘cause I knew Yoda meant the end of the show.

“THANK YOU, ORLANDO! I LOVE YOU ALL, GOOD NIGHT!”

Good night, sweet Jedi knight!! We all got up and the crowd started to dissolve as they made their way to the exit. I was so jealous of those going to the VIP area and going to meet Al—by this time, my plans of mingling with the VIP people and engaging in my super-secret Operation: Meet Al mission had totally fallen apart. Could also be due to the entire concert blowing me away, rattling my senses in the best way they could EVER be rattled, and just being in what I recall Al-Gals referred to as the “Al-Induced Haze” – this extended feeling of being on Cloud 9 and lost in his voice and his appearance right in front of me and, in my very special case tonight, in his eyes that were at the forefront of my mind’s eye (apart from trying to remember where the car was in the E.T. section of the parking garage).


Bro wrapped me up in a HUGE hug as I met him in the crowd. He claims he was protecting me from security noticing me and possibly going after me for stepping up so close to Al earlier (“’cause your favorite guard over there MIGHT just remember you as that crazy girl climbing the stage!”), but he was not so discreet in his excited “AAAAAAAAAAA” and I joined in with my own excited scream of DIDTHATJUSTHAPPENDIDTHATJUSTHAPPENTHATWASSOINCREDIBLEOMG!!!!.
Mum was still recovering her hearing – this is what first-row-behind-front-row will do to you, am I right? And Bro pointed out later on that we were JUST under a massive speaker so no wonder Mum’s eardrums got blasted (OK, mine did too, but I adapted very quickly! Not bad for a first-time concertgoer, eh?!).
Mum, another first-time concertgoer, admitted to me just before the show started that she was feeling awesome and as excited as I was. This is why I didn’t worry too much when she complained of her newfound deafness after the show—at that time, I’d asked her how she was doing. Feeling better? How was she feeling?
She said: “Happy.” ;u;

Bro wanted to get me a shirt from the VIP table, despite the fact we are not VIPs, but the table was gone—darnit. Obviously though, it was for VIP check-in and all. I could barely see anything once we were outside, in the dark.
In retrospect: I received the same Mandatory Fun t-shirt he wanted to get me (that he’d seen a fan wearing that night!) in the mail just a week ago. It is gorgeous and seems to be a men’s shirt, but it is small enough for me, therefore I will rock it as best and as girliest as I can. Hollaaaaa. 8D

Lovely drive home down a country-ish road. Florida Turnpike. Courtesy of Google Maps, who decided it was not safe for me to go back the way we came on I-4, and took me through a somewhat upside-down path back home through the Turnpike and a toll (yay SunPass drive-thru time!! No flinging coins or, if you’re my Dad, cash-cause-it’s-all-we-had-that-one-time into the darkness!) and super-quiet, near-empty roads. My first long night-driving mission! I was counting miles with Mum and didn’t even feel sleepy ‘til we were aaaalmost home. But still… remembering the way Al smiled at me, took my hand… still feeling the warmth of his palm on mine… sooo not even going to even LOOK at the turquoise bracelet and ring I was wearing earlier that night (though it wasn’t the hand I was wearing those on that he touched).

The feeling that I missed Al so much (despite the fact this is the closest I ever got to him and do not know him personally- my heart is SO disagreeing with me as I type this) overtook me and, the very next night, I attempted to get tickets to the Clearwater show.
This happened, but then didn’t happen as, due to everything settling down at home now and Mum quite done with concert-ing for a while and it was now time to take care of family things and emotional recovery from other family things, I could not make the trip to Clearwater. Ran out of time, and out of chance.
I gave my tickets to a very kind and particularly generous fan who actually was looking for me in the audience that night at Hard Rock.
Fred, you are ALL kinds of wonderful person! Thank you for all the sweetness you’ve shown me that Al fangirls can only dream of!


Finished writing this 2 weeks after all the magic happened. Yep, it took me THAT long to get everything down and written, even though I’m STILL lost for words.

Al, thank you. For everything!
And thank YOU, dear reader(s) for getting to this point in reading my long, long story and not deciding to just TL;DR it!

And again, to Al: I love you and miss you so much – please, please come back to Florida soon!!

[TMBJon]

Janna!!! So glad you had such a memorable time. This review was worth the wait, and I read all of it!
I wish I could have "liked" so many specific parts of the review, but overall it was such a great story!
And it got me really excited for the show I'm going to tomorrow night!!!

[BullMoose]

And then-- “Handy”!! HANDYHANDYHANDYYY. I was lucky to be prepared for this by seeing a GIF a certain Moose made on the Yankochicks forum topic because OH MY GOSH. Vest came on, toolbelt came on, and… he may be a craftsman but he has Handy Hips too. That boy can MOVE.

I'm glad you had an amazing time, Sailor Polka!! I could feel your enthusiasm in your writing, . IT is certainly something everyone should go see sometime - a Weird Al concert. Sucks you missed concerts in the years leading up to it, but third times the charm! A really GOOD charm! I hope you didn't wash your hand too soon after

[Capybara]

It all happens so fast. It's hard to find words that can capture the pure and utter joy of a concert, and you did it perfectly!

[Annie27]

That was a great review. You're so lucky he sang to you during WBUL, I guess I was too far from the stage.

[Sailor-Polka-Moon]

Janna!!! So glad you had such a memorable time. This review was worth the wait, and I read all of it!
I wish I could have "liked" so many specific parts of the review, but overall it was such a great story!
And it got me really excited for the show I'm going to tomorrow night!!!

Jon-- er, Don ;D!! -- thank you so much! And major thanks for your patience! <333

HAVE FUN tonight!! Uwaaaa I wish I was there toooo!!

I'm glad you had an amazing time, Sailor Polka!! I could feel your enthusiasm in your writing, . IT is certainly something everyone should go see sometime - a Weird Al concert. Sucks you missed concerts in the years leading up to it, but third times the charm! A really GOOD charm! I hope you didn't wash your hand too soon after

Moose, it ROCKED so much omg!!
I think the difficult road really made this night all the more rewarding, and all the sweeter! Third time was THE charm indeed!

;D Naaah it was quite a while after, keeheeheehee.

It all happens so fast. It's hard to find words that can capture pure and utter joy of a concert, and you did it perfectly!

Eeee thank you Jackie! I tried my best!! <3

That was a great review. You're so lucky he sang to you during WBUL, I guess I was too far from the stage.

hjkfdlsjfdl Annie you were THERE?!!! AAAaah where were you?! If I knew, I would've said hi to you!! ;w;

[rockabillynurse]

Aww, what an awesome review! Thanks for sharing Janna! I know exactly what you mean about "missing him" when it's over. I actually sort of struggled to get back into my real life for a few days afterward, I just wanted to live in the moment during WBUL at the show. I spent so much time scouring the Internet for any sort of proof (and found some!) and it started to consume me. But time marches on and I've returned to a more healthy appreciation for Al, haha. But you are not alone in your feelings!

[Sailor-Polka-Moon]

Aww, what an awesome review! Thanks for sharing Janna! I know exactly what you mean about "missing him" when it's over. I actually sort of struggled to get back into my real life for a few days afterward, I just wanted to live in the moment during WBUL at the show. I spent so much time scouring the Internet for any sort of proof (and found some!) and it started to consume me. But time marches on and I've returned to a more healthy appreciation for Al, haha. But you are not alone in your feelings!

Yaaaay!! ;u;


And I need to THANK YOU for finding that moment with Al recorded on Instagram!! That was a Godsend, seriously. ;3;

I'm still rummaging through the internet for more photos, videos from that concert, just to see it all over again!
No one's posting any just yet, it seems... ;n; ...... but my eyes are still so very open! If anyone wants to share, it would be SO very appreciated!!

[rockabillynurse]

Yaaaay!! ;u;


And I need to THANK YOU for finding that moment with Al recorded on Instagram!! That was a Godsend, seriously. ;3;

I'm still rummaging through the internet for more photos, videos from that concert, just to see it all over again!
No one's posting any just yet, it seems... ;n; ...... but my eyes are still so very open! If anyone wants to share, it would be SO very appreciated!!

Oh goodness, no problem! I was in full FIND ALL THE THINGS mode anyway, haha. I haven't found any footage of my moment (although I know the footage exists, the man right behind me was filming) but at least someone else got theirs! Your brain (well, mine at least) kinda shorts out so having the outside perspective is so nice