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Weird Al Yankovic 07/07/2000

SHOWID 150514

Show Reviews

richegreen
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I attended my 7th Weird Al concert on Friday, July 7th at Westbury Music Fair in Westbury, NY (on Long Island). I went with my friend Dave S. It was his second concert...New Haven in 1996 was his first, and my friend Brett joined us at the 11th hour, since my other friend Jamie had to cancel about an hour before we were gonna leave.
Well, we got to Westbury around 6:30. Security put a pretty big barricade around the loading dock this year...it was tough because we could see ALL of the band members coming in and out but we weren't close enough to talk to them without screaming....and I guess they were too busy to come over and say hi, but I at least got a wave from Jon :) but we hung around anyway. Jay Levey drove up in a car with a NY plate reading "Al Charm" and went in with two children, but since I've never met him it didn't even sink into me who he was until after security let him by the baricade. I met up with Dave R and Christina and introduced them to my friends and we just hung out and talked for about an hour then decided to go in since the line was getting very long.

I was on the aisle seat in the 6th row back. For those that don't know, Westbury Music Fair is a theatre-in-the-round, meaning that there is a circular stage in the center of the arena, and there is seating all 360 degrees around it (think of a hockey arena), and the stage rotates during the show (slow enough to not make the band dizzy...it takes about 2 complete songs to get all the way around), and backstage access is provided by a door at the end of one of the aisles, so there's no way that anyone can get on or off stage without going down this aisle which was right by my seat. It's really nice the way they have seating too, because I was LITERALLY 10 feet from the stage...these seats had an even better view than when I was in the 3rd row in Asbury Park! Well our section was armed by Katelyn and her group of concert newgoers, as well as my not-QUITE-as-enthusiastic-as-myself friends so I think we were pretty much the loudest section in the entire theatre!

The show opened with Mr Bullhorn.......it's my 3rd time seeing him, so you can refer to my other reviews. At least he didn't spend QUITE as much time with the pre-scripted kids on stage and actually told about 4 funny jokes (as well as a sickingly hilarious song about killing cats), but it was mostly the same act.

so then there was an intermission and Fun Zone started up.....I've never seen so many audience members singing along! The opening clips (as well as every other clip in the concert) was exactly the same as the April-May leg.

So then Gump starts up and Al comes walking down the aisle (he walked right by me!!!) and gets on stage just in time for the first line. For you shirt-watchers, he was wearing this black shirt with red chili peppers on it! That one's new to me! Danny is back, and he had a smile on his face the entire concert! Steve and Jon were playing as usual, and Ruben wasn't playing on Gump. I guess Al didn't realize quite how tight they were on stage, because when he was doing his kicks, Danny actually had to take a jump back because Al almost kicked him in the face!

After Gump the stage went dark and there was about 30 seconds of downtime...Al got confused because his accordian wasn't on top of the amp; instead Mongo was holding it over by the soundboards, so it took a while before they made the connection. So Al greets us with "Hello Long Island! (Hi Al!) Is everybody ready to polka?" and they go into it. Ruben comes walking down the aisle doing hand claps above his head and then walks all the way around the stage before finally settling in at the keyboards. I noticed a couple of flubbed lines during PP, but nothing too memorable. There weren't any bubbles tonight.

"I know what you all REALLY came here to see tonight -- DRUM SOLO!" so we all just start yelling out "Go Jon! Bermuda rules! Yeah Berm!!" and all that and he hits a snare, then STARTS to play the series of toms, but stops after one and a half hits because the audience was just so loud, so he stands up and bows.

Jerry Springer started off with a completely different opening solo. I didn't think that Al knew that Danny was gonna be doing something different, because he just GLARED at him, then turned to our section and just had this "WTF" expression on his face while he walked to the edge of the stage with his palms raised into the "what??" pose and just stays at the edge of the stage looking at us until Danny finally plays those last five notes that are in the usual solo, so Al just runs back to the mic and starts singing the song. He's still conducting himself with his hand, but I don't think he tounge-twistered any lines tonight. Go Al!

Well, in Hartford Steve's bass died for Eddie Vedder...but this time it was TOO LOUD....he walked over behind the amps between Ruben and Jon and basically played to the back audience for the song (the stage front was facing the other direction for most of this one)

"Well it was just Independence Day, which means that Christmas is right around the corner...." okay something REALLY BAD happened to me at the beginning of this song. The way that they set up the snow machines was that they were attached to the light stands, which don't rotate with the stage. There were 4 of them and one of them was RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. They activated at the moment that the first line of the song began, so as soon as I opened my mouth to sing "down in the worksh--" I got about 5lbs of laundry detergent down my throat. I couldn't breathe or speak very well, so I just turned to the aisle and tried spitting out what I could and I was finally able to clear my throat in time for "merry Christmas to all now your all gonna die!!!' but I was still coughing throughout the rest of the song. I since learned to keep my hand in front of my face whenever I tried to sing a line (IMO, Santa is one of the most sing-alongable songs that they perform) but most of the song I was just too busy playing with the piles and piles of snow that was getting dropped on me. I took a photo of the aisle at the end of the song, which was COVERED in it too....some kids even came out and tried to make a snowman!! And from what Dave tells me, my head basically looked like Marge Simpson by the end of the song since there was so much snow...I should've had him take a picture. Anyway, I barely paid attention to the band in this song, but I'm sure they played fine.

most of the snow melted during the video clips....which btw - the audience seemed to REALLY get a kick out of 60% Chance of Rain...I thought it was really funny the first time, but I've seen those clips so many times that I barely even look up there anymore. For DTBS, I stayed in sync with Al and his hand motions the entire time....fun! For the end of the song, on the "I can't hear you part" Al actually picked up the mic and went down into the audience (regretably the stage was facing the other side of the theatre at this time) so he sang "I still can't hear you...I STILL can't hear you....I STILL can't hear you" while just looking at the audience members...then he pointed to some guy about three seats in and said "I'm talking to you buddy!" and stuffed the mic in his face and he timidly said "dare to be stupid??" and Al just says "uhm....okay then" instead of "okay I can hear you now" then ran back to the keyboard. BTW - yes, the square lead notes were missing that he normally plays at that point in the song.

In the SNL clip where Puffy Daddy says "besides, can Al do this" and starts doing that arm dance, Dave and I stood up and started dancing along to it, and stayed standing throughout the opening refrain. They had the stage begin facing away from us instead of at us like usual, but Al went over to the backside anyway and was looking right at us when we were doing the fist shakes with him.

For Germs, Al spent the entire 1st verse in the audience singing to people on the aisle then got up on stage and just did his "thing" for the rest of the song. Lots of mic-humping tonight!

(no "thank you", no "Steve Jay on the bass"..nothing) "It's so great to back in my hometown of Westbury....I remember sitting here on the porch with my dad and he'd tell me all these stories blah blah blah" shoot Ruben "uhm where was I?......Oh yeah, this is a song called OMM". The stage was facing about 90 degrees west of my section, so Al didn't go anywhere near us when he was giving out scarves (from that angle, I could barely even see him), but we did get an entertaining view of Ruben...he doesn't just take a nap in this song - he was actually rolling around and stuff. I also noticed that the camera operator was fast-forwarding thru the Keith Richards interview and cued it up at the Snoop one.....I thought that meant that they were skipping Surgeon and going straight to Medley, but Brett suggested that maybe they were gonna be doing Polkamon, and wanted the "did you see that freaky trip" to be a lead in.....anyway, Al DID come to our section to throw the boxers - he pointed to some girl in the second row and threw them to her.....So Ruben gets up just in time for that keyboard part (right after the "rip out my heart line"), but he goes into jazz music again and gets shot.....but Ruben DIDN'T fall down - he just made a "look at my big muscles" motion so Al shot him AGAIN, and then sings "then spend one more minute.....wiiiithhhh" BANG he shot Ruben a FOURTH TIME!!!! He wasn't even DOING anything that time! "...you"

yep I was right - they went straight into the medley (oh well....even though they DID do Surgeon last year at the SAME theatre!!!...it was weird tho that Al was the only one that actually left the stage and the whole band was just standing there in darkness). GREAT guitar solo by Danny at the beginning (we started yelling "Danny rules! and some other people joined in). I made Al crack a smile in Fast Food because I was mocking him with his hand motions and when he saw me this big smile came on his face and he just shook his head left to right......in Spuds Al was doing all these "thrust motions" in the intro, then did his usual dance for the song....the stage got all the way around to the other side for Free Delivery, so I couldn't see much but I heard a lot of laughs. Al did the "all hail the mighty accordian" pose for Laundry Day, but held it for 2 or 3 secs while facing us (the back side of the stage) then turned around and did it for the other side. Al actually went down into the audience AGAIN (and AGAIN, it was the other side!!!) for the accordian solo thingie.....and as usual I was the only one in the theatre singing along, although Dave started singing the ORIGINAL song's lyrics for some reason (BTW I really threw my voice out screaming out the last words.....remember that it was still a bit sore from Santa....so from here on I didn't do too much singing along)......for Bus Al took the mic and just started marching around the perimeter of the stage and Steve & Ruben joined his parade (Jon was busy playing the kazoo)....for Rocky Road Danny and Al REALLY started headbanging at the beginning....the Jurassic Park video started late so it wasn't in sync with the song so the roars were late and the audience didn't start going nutz over Barney getting eaten until "oh nooooo!" was sung. Al went down into the audience again for the Grapefruit Diet dance (he wasn't across from me, but about 2 sections to the left)....in Jeopardy, they didn't get the keyboard plugged into the amp in time, so the first 5 seconds or so were missing the main melody line (but still had the backing keyboards and bass). I also noticed that Danny went over to our section and got us clapping along with him........and I don't remember anything memorable about Eat It...except that Al didn't fall over this time at the end.

Good cheerleaders for Nirvana....didn't get wet, didn't get a cup. Also, I know Al's been going into the audience aisles A LOT at this show, but he actually went running down a couple aisles at the last refrain when he goes running around with the mic stand...now THAT was weird!! Oh and Danny was actually "into" the song this time...not as into it as Jim is, but he actually didn't just stand in the same spot for the whole song this time. Oh, and for some reason they were rotating the stage at twice the speed for this song, so it both began and ended while facing my section.

Okay, now THIS was weird - I dunno why (I'll ask after I finish this review) but Bermuda didn't leave after Nirvana....he stayed in his wig and "drummer" shirt for Bedrock! He just looked so "out of character" on stage. This was another song that Al really seemed to cater to our section, even when the stage wasn't facing us.

Alright at least Berm left to change for Amish...if he didn't then it would REALLY look weird!! Al didn't flub any lines for this song tonight...good job Al! Probably the funniest part of the concert was the way that since it was a round theatre, different sections were doing the arm swings in different ways, and Al was stomping around waving his arm really big trying to get everyone to do it right and at one point he just said "okay - left, right, left, right, good" and after that everyone was pretty much in sync with each other.

A funny thing happened in Fat - when Mongo came out dressed as Santa, Al punched him a couple of times, and then went back for some more....and then Steve kicked him, then Danny gave him a push, and then Al pushed him into the soundboard area...and then *SKIP* comes over and starts beating the hell out of him, but Mongo actually started fighting back and they went at it for pretty much the rest of the song. Skip actually did a really convincing job...for the first 2 secs I thought it was some psycho fan who wanted a piece of the bodyguard! A lot of audience members actually did the bounces too....btw Jon was still wearing his Drummer shirt, but at least he lost the wig!

so "Danny Brant...Steve Jay....Ru-ben Valtiera...Jon Bermuda-Schwaaaartz! Thank you Long Island, goodnight!" the Fat Jam was pretty long tonight - Danny actually started running laps around the stage and did this really long guitar solo right near the end.

It only took maybe 1 minute at the most before the wind sounds started and Darth Ruben walked out. He went around to each individual section starting with the one to the left of me, and going clockwise, and did the simon says stand thing. When he got to OUR section though, everyone was ALREADY standing so he just looked and took a jump back in surprise! So he does the keyboard solo and Al walks down the aisle and everyone just sits down and shuts up for most of the song, so there weren't any big delays or anything....he still held the "heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's a ghost" line but nothing else that's different.

So "da da da da da YODA! da da da da da YODA! da da da da da DA YODA!" and ....nothing because Al's getting his accordian from the side of the stage and wasn't quite ready so it took maybe 7.2 seconds. I thought it was interesting that Al sang "I left town just a week before". Now here's the sad part about the show - it's been obvious that Al had taken notice to my section, and we were definately the most energetic, so for the "now you sing it part" he ran over to us (even though the stage was facing 90 east of us) and I was so hoping that Al would give me the mic (if he did, I was ready to break into "way back when I was just a iddy bitty boy living in a box....") but instead he gives it to some guy 2 rows in front of me and he didn't even sing ANYTHING!!!! After that Al gets back on stage and just holds the mic above the section and he said "okay, now SING IT!!!" so we did. So then the chant starts...the band, Katelyn and I sing and act the chant (Danny was doing the chant, but not the motions) and we started getting weird looks and hearing remarks like "how do THEY know it??" and whispering "how come YOU aren't singing this with them?" to each other.....

so then the show's over. Jon waved right at me! Hi Jon! We noticed that Steve looked really really tired tho...and even Jon did a little bit too, but Al, Danny and Ruben were just smiling their heads off.......so then we get out and head back to the loading dock.

There was a truck accident in the parking lot, so they had to tow some trucks out, so it delayed things a bit, but about a half hour later Danny and Ruben came out. There were A LOT of fans there...not as many as last year but still at least 100.....unfortunately the Westbury security are just too nice and refused to start rumors that the band wouldn't be coming out like most places do, and instead were acting lining people up before anyone even came out, so nobody left either.....it was way too crowded to even get to Danny and Ruben, so we just hung out in the back, rather than get squashed by the mob. Finally we just got bored so I stood up and yelled "I'm a member of the Danny Brant fan club!!!" and Danny said "okay, this guy's a fan....let him in" so the fans SORT OF cleared a path to let me in, but I still wasn't close enough to Danny to actually talk to him...fortunately about 3 minutes later Skip finally came out and did his "3 rules" speech and about 95% of the fans immediately ran off and got in line, and so we FINALLY could talk to Danny in peace. We were also able to regroup with Dave R and Christina at this time....so we just hung out with Danny and he told us all about the tour and how he was originally given "the live video and 2 weeks" and we talked about the fan club that Dave started, and I confirmed with Danny the status of everything - that he'd be on for 3 weeks, then coming back in August for 1 week, and that as far as HE knows, Morristown is the official end of the tour, and that Steve and Jon really WERE exhausted and were already on the bus sleeping (NO!! that's the second show in a row where I missed Jon!!!!) and I told Danny that he sounded really great, just like a real member of the band, but I asked him about the beginning of Jerry Springer and he said "well they told me to try something new there so I just started making up some stuff....I guess they never told Al that I was asked to play something new" so I said "that's great......it was good to hear 20 seconds of new material tonight!" and then I had Danny sign my Al-team shirt (and he overlapped Al's signiture!!!!) and before we knew it, the line was just about finished so we ran to get into it before security would cut us off...infact they WOULD'VE if Danny didn't mention that we were with him. Again, Danny rules!

So, we were the last ones to see Al. He was sitting at a table in this tent that they set up, and his girlfriend was there too but she was just sitting quietly. Al was wearing this purple shirt with white flowers on it. So I walk up to him, shake his hand and say "hi Al!" and he says "how you doing" and I say "great! Thanks for asking! What a wonderful show tonight!" and he says "oh...well thank you!" so I say "do you remember me" and he says "yes! You are......uhm........I know this....your name begins with a........it ends with a........remind me, where did I see you last" and I said "we met backstage after Hartford and Asbury Park (and I give him a little bit of detail about what happened when I met him last)" and he says "oh yeah....that's where I remember you from........"and about 10 seconds later he comes up with a description that pretty much singles me out as being someone he remembered, but he just didn't have the name but I didn't want to keep playing with him since he was close enough as it was so I said "hi Al, Richard Green!" and he says "Rich! That's right.....yeah I should've remembered that"....I dunno if he was flattering me or if he really almost remembered my name, but I guess it was important that he remembered who I was, since I never really stuffed my name down his throat in the past anyway....well not my OWN name that is.....so then we talked a little bit about that one thing he remembered me for (sorry that I'm being discrete, but it's a bit personal) and I gave him an update (BTW - he also mentioned that regretably he didn't think that he was gonna be able to do a meet-and-greet after the Santa Clara show because of security issues, but that the band WOULD be in the park all day, right up until sound check....good info for those that are going to that show!), so then I give him a little piece of fan-mail that I wrote for him ahead of time, which was a 1 page paper with some details about how cool he and the band are, and why I'm a fan, and some other stuff and I said "I hope you'll have time to read it on the bus or something" but Al actually unfolded the paper and read it right on the spot, but about 3 seconds into it, one of the Westbury security guys tapped him on the shoulder and Al said "thanks Rich! I promise I'll finish reading it as soon as I get on the bus." So I shook his hand again and said "well Al. It was great meeting you again. It was a great show as always. I'll see you in Morristown for the last show of the year" and Al said "it was a pleasure meeting you again, Rich. I'll try to remember your name for next time. Give my best regards to [the fans that asked me to say hi to Al for them] and tell [them] that I said hi...and good luck to you!" and so I just waved and said "later Al!"

so Ruben was sitting at another table there drinking a glass of wine, so I finally got to say hi to him. I didn't notice at all at the show, but his right eye was really red. I asked him how he was feeling, and he just half-angirly said "why do people keeping me about my eye??" and I said "well it's because we care" and he asked "where did you hear about the black eye anyway...were you at any shows last week? Did you notice how much I was touching it tonight (note - no I didn't, but Brett mentioned that he did)" and I told him "I heard it in the newsgroup" and he said "oh.....yeah...the Al geeks. Good to know that my eyes are their life. Well, tell them that it's not as bad as it was, but it's still hurting." and I said "okay...hope you feel better. Have fun on the tour!" and he said "thanks for coming".......and 5 secs later I realized that I STILL haven't told Ruben my name...oh well...

so then I saw Danny come in and I said "hi Danny! You STILL rule!" and he said "hey wassup! We're just about done here...a lot of people but it didn't take too long (note - this guy has a nonstop source of energy!!)" and it was right about that point that everyone else in my group finished up with Al so one of the security guys said "okay, we gotta tuck Al into bed now. Show's over" so Danny said "c'mon walk back to the bus with me" so we went with him and the next thing I was thinking was "OMG I'm gonna get a bus tour!!" so we walked over, with us and Ruben and Al and his girlfriend and the security trailing (I dunno WHY I didn't say anything else to Al at this point.....) but Skip was standing in front of the tourbus and before Danny even SUGGESTED anything he said "sorry, no tours tonight....we've got guys on the bus that are already asleep" so Danny and Ruben and Al got on the bus and waved goodbye so we waved back......and then we went home!

Quick review - not the BEST concert of all time, but Al's voice has NEVER been better (Skip didn't even say anything about trying to not make Al talk too much) and the music seemed all well organized and together....it would've been kewl if they did Polkamon or something that isn't in the regular setlist....but oh well......this show was still about 26x better than the last one I saw (Asbury Park)! Also, I thought it was really kewl the way that Al kept on going into the audience all throughout the show, rather than just in OMM...it really helped to knock down the invisible curtain between the front of the stage and the audience.

Set I

Fun Zone
The "Weird Al" Show Theme Song
Gump
Polka Power!
"Drum Solo"
Jerry Springer
My Baby's in Love with Eddie Vedder
The Night that Santa Went Crazy
"60% Chance of Rain"
"Dirt is Everywhere"
Dare to be Stupid.17)
"Public Service Announcement / King of the Hill / Titanic / Naked Gun / SNL Puff Daddy"
All About the Pentiums
"What Are Germs?"
Germs
"Piano Interlude"
One More Minute
"Snoop Dogg Interview"
The MEDLY! [Beverly Hillbillies / Fast Food (Thank You) / Addicted to Spuds / Free Delivery (My Heart Will Go On)
Laundry Day / Pretty Fly For A Rabbi / Another One Rides The Bus / I Love Rocky Road / Achy Breaky Song / Jurassic
Park / Grapefruit Diet / I Lost On Jeopardy / Eat It]

Set II

"The French Prince of Bel Air / Lousy Haircut / Steven Tyler Interview / Livin' in the Fridge / Fred Huggins"
Smells Like Nirvana
"Dental Hygiene"
"Michael Stipe Interview"
"Flintsones"
Bedrock Anthem
"Ironic"
"Cher Interview"
Amish Paradise
"safety Tips"
"Fat Intro"
Fat
"Useless Star Wars Intro Silence")
"Star Wars Organ Intro"
The Saga Begins
"More Star Wars Organ Musc
Yoda

Set III

 

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