Office of the Don #14: Tales of the “Weird”
Greetings, Wonder Hamsters!
I’ve been a big fan of “Weird Al” Yankovic (not Yankovich, thank you) since his first major chart hit – “Eat It” – started making the rounds when I was eight years old. I was a trailer park kid, so I wasn’t able to get any of his albums in stores. Nope. But, I had plenty of friends who made me copies of his releases on tape. That’s right - I was playing it illegal waaay before NAPSTER. I did what I wanted! I robbed and pillaged! I pretended real life problems and video game problems were synonymous! And I ruled the world!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
*ahem*
Sorry about that. I guess the spirit of the Al is infecting me a little.
Anyway, to make a long story short (too late), I’ve been a fan since I was eight. Last night I had my first opportunity to see him live in concert with my wife and a couple of friends.
In a word – WOW.
To say I went to a concert is an understatement that makes calling a HUMVEE a gas-hog an accurate assumption. When you go see “Weird Al” perform, what you attend is a multimedia experience.
For two and a half hours, we were subjected to his Royal Weirdness on stage performing a lot of his hits (most of them from his latest album, Straight Outta Lynwood). During that time, this man – who is pushing 50 – exuded an energy and limberness I’ve never seen in a human being before. Incredible! There were a lot of costume changes, but this is where the “multimedia experience” comes into play. During his costume changes (sometimes they came after each song) a three-screen display would show clips from several of his “AL TV” specials, as well as clips from movies, cartoons, and awards shows that he has been featured in. With all of this bombarding your senses, there was not a dull moment.
And the performances for each song were mind-blasting! As I said before, he had all this maniacal energy not typical of a 48 year-old man. He never wavered, never faltered. Even when wearing layers that would have dropped a lesser performer from heat exhaustion, Mr. Alfred Matthew Yankovic brought the crazy.
My favorite performance was when Al came out to do “The Saga Begins”. Why? Ask the Star Wars geek within me, as he was screeching the entire time when a small squad of Stormtroopers came out with Darth Vader leading them to center stage. Then, the coily-coiffed one and his band came out in Jedi robes to perform the song (with the exception of keyboardist Rubén Valtierra, who was dressed as the Emperor). At that point my inner geek fainted, and I had to slap him around to get him out of his stupor. Geek side revived, I was able to enjoy the rest of the song.
The rest of the concert was nothing short of exuberant. All five of us walked out of there last night hopped-up on all of the raw energy that was flying around that venue. I’ve been to plenty of concerts in the past few years, but I have never been to anything like that before. I left The National (in Richmond, Virginia) invigorated, giddy, and it felt good. It was like a roller coaster – intense, fast, and exhilarating. And it was over too quickly.
Next time he’s playing nearby, I’m going for another ride.
The Don dares to be stupid, much to his wife’s embarrassment.
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