August 24, 2003

The Minnesota State Fair Grandstand

St. Paul, MN

Concert Review

The day had finally arrived! After waiting almost 3 years since my first concert back in October of 2000, I would finally be seeing "Weird Al" in concert again! It had been nearly 4 months since the show was announced at weirdal.com, and since then I had been looking forward to this day a lot! I went with my friend, and his parents, and aunt. I was happy that my friends mom was able to go to the show, because she missed the show that I went to in 2000.

We left Two Harbors at 11:00 in the morning, and arrived in Minneapolis at my friend's aunt's house where we would stay the night at about 1:30 in the afternoon. We would have to wait there 4 and a half long hours before we went to the fair for the show, which was fine with me because I didn't have any money with me for rides, so all I would have done is stood around in the hot summer heat anyways. At about 5:30 we finally left for the fair. We brought digital cameras down to Minneapolis with us to take concert pics, but at the last minute, we decided to leave them at the house just so they wouldn't get taken away by security. But at least we had disposable cameras with just incase.

It took is a good 20 minutes to get to where we would get on the shuttle that would bring us to the fair. It brought us about 3 blocks away from the grandstand, so we didn't have to walk a long ways. We got root beer floats, and went into the grandstand.

We found our seats in the 2nd row and waited for the show to begin. They actually had 5 video screens set up! 3 in the stage, and 2 on the 2 sides of the grandstand. We waited for about 20 minutes, and then the opening act came out. He was really good. He was perfect opening for a "Weird Al" concert.

When he was done, there was a brief intermission before the show started. Bermuda was there setting up the drum during the intermission, but didn't perform in the show because he was feeling under the weather. It was still nice seeing him there, even though he didn't perform.

Finally the show started. It was the usual Funzone, followed by the Flipping Channels video clip. Al finally came out and performed Angry White Boy Polka. Pete Gallagher subbed for Bermuda, and you could tell that he was having a little trouble with this song, and it threw Al off in the very beginning. The video started off out of sync with the song, but they sped it up, and it seemed to be in sync through the rest of the song.

Then Party At The Leper Colony was performed, followed by Your Horoscope For Today, which had a video that showed the horoscopes scroll by on the screen. That was pretty cool. After Horoscope, a cell phone started ringing. At first I thought it was in the audience, but then Al started talking and was interrupted by the ringing, and he looked over at Jim, and Jim gave an "it's not me" look to Al. Al then took the phone out of his pocket and the song started as he answered it. I like his idea for the "uh huh, extra cheese" part of the song! Clever!

 

Then Al performed Melanie. After Melanie, he introduced the band. He also said that this was Pete's second show, and that Bermuda was feeling under the weather, so Pete was subbing for him. Al then said that he'd like to do the next song by request. After listening to the audience shout out requests for a moment, he went over to Jim and asked him what he wanted to hear. "How about One More Minute?", then the song started.

Al went down the left aisle. At one point in the song, he pointed the mic at an audience member. The guy took the mic from Al, yelled something into it while Al just shrugged, and the guy gave the mic back to Al. I couldn't actually see Al, but luckily they were showing it on the video screens, so I just watched the screens for most of the song.

Dog Eat Dog was super fun to see live. I just love the big suit! Then Al performed It's All About The Pentiums, then Wanna B Ur Lovr. Wanna B Ur Lovr wasn't one of my favorites from Poodle Hat, but one of my favorites performed live! Near the end, Al screamed super loud! I bet people outside the grandstand could hear it without problem! After Wanna B Ur Lovr, Al performed Trash Day.

Then the Plots R Us video played, followed my the Beverly Hillbillies video. I knew this was the beginning of the medley because of last tour. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a new concert only song. Oh well. Maybe on the next leg of the tour there will be.

Smells Like Nirvana is always fun live. This time, Al "forgot" the lyrics to the "And I forgot the next verse" part of the song, and just looked around with a confused look on his face. It was really funny! He also kicked a full cup of water off the edge of the stage, as well as throwing one into the audience.
 

Amish Paradise sounded a little different in the beginning because of how Pete played the drums. It's always cool to hear a song you've heard many many times be played a little different!

Couch Potato started off with the piano music intro just like the original Loose Yourself. Then Al came out wearing the same costume he wore on Kilborn. Then Fat was performed. The band held the last part of the Fat jam super long.

For the encore, Darth Ruben came out and showed off his powers by playing with the lights to Star wars like music, then Al came out wearing his Jedi costume and performed The Saga Begins.

Ruben played The Mexican Hat Dance, and that lead into Yoda. Al presented us with a new yoda chant, which was really cool because it had a ton of new parts added to it. After the chant, Yoda started back up as usual, and the fireworks were let off. This wasn't a surprise since they announce that fireworks were going to be lit off before the show started. The fireworks must have threw the band off a little because they started playing a little out of sync with each other. The song also ended a little sooner than it usually does. Al waved goodbye to the audience, as the fireworks continued to be shot off. The continued shooting off for about 5 minutes after the show ended.

After the show, we got back on the shuttle and headed back. I wish we could have stayed longer for a possible autograph signing, but we wanted to make sure we got on the shuttle before the fair closed.

Can't wait for another show!

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Jared Marker / the27weirdal@yahoo.com