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Weird Al Concert Story
Aug. 18th, 2010 07:09 pmNot too long ago, I started watching podcast content from a guy who goes by the name "Mouseketeer Greg". He always has the BEST times at Disney Land and was able to catch them on video. I asked him how he managed to get all these excellently "Magic Moments", and he freely shared the secret with me.
Be a dork.
Be THAT GUY who jumps out and dances with the parade as it goes by. Be THAT GUY who has a long in-character conversation with the costumed cast members. Be THAT GUY who recites the ride dialog at The Haunted Mansion. And when you are THAT GUY, unafraid of looking like a dork or feeling foolish? Awesome things just *happen* :)
The Dork Rule has worked for me on several occasions. Last night, at the Weird Al Yankovic concert, was one of those times.
It was a pretty large group of us; There was me (of course), Crystal my wife, Haley & Hannah my nieces, Brittany my Other Niece, Todd & Andrea my long-time friends and Alpha-Geeks, their daughter Kaiti, and Tina my old High School chum. I had made sure that we all wore our loudest Hawaiian Shirts because that's what you do when you go to see Weird Al is you WEAR your loudest Hawaiian shirt. No Ifs, no Ands, no Buts.
So we got to our seats (which were not the best seats but most assuredly not the worst seats) and discovered that we had been somehow assigned seats int he Happy Drunken Asshole section by mistake! The blue-haired young guy sitting *directly* behind me had a piercingly loud booze-laced voice that made everybody within a 15-seat radius look back at him with every "WOOOOOOO!" he screached. He was *very* excited to be there.
Many people asked him to be quiet. Some even asked him to PLEASE tone it down. Brittany swore that if he didn't knock it of she was going to punch him. And even when the show started, he did not calm down. If anything, it made things much, much worse because now he sung along with every song - off key, off tempo and with only 80% of the actual lyrics.
And that, m'friends, is when I had had quite enough.
During the song "You Don't Love Me Anymore", a beautiful ballad that had at least three different people turning to tell this guy to PLEASE keep it down, I turned around and decided to just WATCH this guy sing. My original intent was to just watch him till he stopped or said "Stop looking at me!", but then I saw him and what he was really doing.
He really, REALLY *loved* Weird Al. This wasn't drunken obnoxiousness. This wasn't malicious mockery. It wasn't even anarchistic rebellion. It was straight-up, unfiltered, genuine JUBILATION over the fact that he was at this concert! It was kind of infectious! I started to sing along with him, coaching him on pitch and tempo. We really had a... a *moment* between us there, and it was kind of beautiful!
At the end of the song, we were both smiling like crazy. He said "Hey man, are we good?" And I said "Yeah, man, we're good..." We shook hands. "Just try and keep it down a little bit, okay? This is the first time some of these people have ever seen Al! This girl..." I motioned towards Tina "This is her first time and she's having a real hard time enjoying it because you're just to loud! So just, y'know... just try and keep it down a little bit?"
"Oh, sure, sure... I got it..." he said. Then he shook my hand again, pulled me in closer and concert-whispered to me something that SOUNDED to me like "Me and my buddy... we're gonna get you after the show".
*GULP*
"Uhm... okay? Just try and keep it down, okay?" I figured that I could slip away in the crowd before two drunks could peat me up, right?
The show continued, and the guy behind me... well, he was nice. He kept on talking to me, asking me if I was a big fan, talking about or favorite songs... and all the time I would turn to tone him down every time he got a bit out of line. I figured he had just drunkenly forgotten but his threat, or was luring me in to a false sense of security. Either way, i wasn't letting it spoil my evening. This was Weird Al! This is the concert I have seen EVERY TIME it has come to the greater Seattle area since 1990! If I am to take a beating, I'll take a beating! Meanwhile, I'm having a good time!
Al comes out and does his "Want 2 b UR LOVR" song, where he comes out in to the audience. He was a mere THREE SEATS AWAY FROM US singing! The guy behind me and I were all "HOLY CRAP LOOK AT THIS!!!" and full of excitement! At the end of the song he were both comparing how awesome this was and how it's the closest either of us has ever been to Al in our entire lives and OMG this is just so...
"Hey, man! Wouldn't it be awesome to meet him?"
Well, yeah... it would. That would be me, Brian Pierce, meeting yet another of my Top 5 Idols of All Time! And since I've met one and another two of them are dead... yes. Meeting him WOULD be awesome.
"Hey! Guess what? Me and my Buddy, we get to go back stage after the show and meet him!"
That is SO AWESOME! No wonder you're so super-psyched and stoked! Congratulations, man!
"You wanna come back stage with us and meet him?"
Okay, now at THIS point I remembered the original encounter. The whole "Me and my Buddy, we're gonna get you after the show" exchange. So this is how it's going to go down? You lure me back stage, one holds me, the other kicks... I've seen this movie! How can I get out of this? What Would Chuck Norris Do?
...And then he handed me the Back Stage Pass.
HOLY CRAP ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?
Ends up that the guy's "Buddy" is the son of an artist who is best-buddies with the wife of bassist Steve Jay. They had 5 back-stage passes from him, and it was up to The Drunk Guy to find a recipient for the fifth ticket! It was either me or a "Hot Chick", but he chose me because we connected and bonded so hard.
Apparently, earlier when I had THOOUGHT he was saying that stuff about him and his buddy "Getting Me" after the show was actually "Me and my buddy... we get to GO MEET HIM after the show".
So from that point forward, me and my new bestest friend sang ALL the songs just as LOUD as we liked!
After the show we went back stage.
Our Back Stage Passes were for "After Show" with crossed-out options for "Video", "Photo", "All Access" and "VIP". So I figured this was a simple meet-n-greet, kind f like Al's little after-show eating a sandwich or something with a few bazillion fans or something. No autographs, no pictures, no recording devices... just a sandwich and an "OMG I WAS AT A PARTY WITH WEIRD AL".
So while we waited in line for this After Show Thing, my new best buddy and I sang "One More Minute". Crystal called me on my cell phone to ask if I wanted them to bring me my digital camera, I told her that no I didn't think I was allowed to take pictures. "Don't forget to tell him that we went to his concert for our Honeymoon!" Oh, yeah! That would be cool! If i get the chance to actually *talk* to him, I'll bring it up!
And then we were told "Okay, next five in line... you're up".
Around the corner and in to a tent, it was a mobile Photography studio. AND THERE WAS WEIRD AL. The other four people in our group of 5 went and got their picture taken with him, then it was JUST ME AND AL.
I approached him, he said "Hey there" and shook my hand, I said "MY WIFE AND I HONEYMOONED ON YOU!". His face froze in a smile, not unlike in the movie UHF when he tells Fran Drescher that he's the new station manager and she goes off on a rant. It was EPIC AWKWARD, and then I said "No! Wait! I mean... *whew*.... okay, my WIFE, and *I*... we went to one of your concerts FOR our honeymoon! Like, we planned a trip around it! Not... you... you're AWESOME! I really -"
"Well that's great! Hey, let's take a picture here!"
OKAYTHANKYOUMISTERWEIRDAL!!!
And with that we took the picture (which I'll get in about two weeks) and I hugged everybody involved in getting me back stage to meet my Idol and then I had a slushie and then I went home the end :)
Be a dork.
Be THAT GUY who jumps out and dances with the parade as it goes by. Be THAT GUY who has a long in-character conversation with the costumed cast members. Be THAT GUY who recites the ride dialog at The Haunted Mansion. And when you are THAT GUY, unafraid of looking like a dork or feeling foolish? Awesome things just *happen* :)
The Dork Rule has worked for me on several occasions. Last night, at the Weird Al Yankovic concert, was one of those times.
It was a pretty large group of us; There was me (of course), Crystal my wife, Haley & Hannah my nieces, Brittany my Other Niece, Todd & Andrea my long-time friends and Alpha-Geeks, their daughter Kaiti, and Tina my old High School chum. I had made sure that we all wore our loudest Hawaiian Shirts because that's what you do when you go to see Weird Al is you WEAR your loudest Hawaiian shirt. No Ifs, no Ands, no Buts.
So we got to our seats (which were not the best seats but most assuredly not the worst seats) and discovered that we had been somehow assigned seats int he Happy Drunken Asshole section by mistake! The blue-haired young guy sitting *directly* behind me had a piercingly loud booze-laced voice that made everybody within a 15-seat radius look back at him with every "WOOOOOOO!" he screached. He was *very* excited to be there.
Many people asked him to be quiet. Some even asked him to PLEASE tone it down. Brittany swore that if he didn't knock it of she was going to punch him. And even when the show started, he did not calm down. If anything, it made things much, much worse because now he sung along with every song - off key, off tempo and with only 80% of the actual lyrics.
And that, m'friends, is when I had had quite enough.
During the song "You Don't Love Me Anymore", a beautiful ballad that had at least three different people turning to tell this guy to PLEASE keep it down, I turned around and decided to just WATCH this guy sing. My original intent was to just watch him till he stopped or said "Stop looking at me!", but then I saw him and what he was really doing.
He really, REALLY *loved* Weird Al. This wasn't drunken obnoxiousness. This wasn't malicious mockery. It wasn't even anarchistic rebellion. It was straight-up, unfiltered, genuine JUBILATION over the fact that he was at this concert! It was kind of infectious! I started to sing along with him, coaching him on pitch and tempo. We really had a... a *moment* between us there, and it was kind of beautiful!
At the end of the song, we were both smiling like crazy. He said "Hey man, are we good?" And I said "Yeah, man, we're good..." We shook hands. "Just try and keep it down a little bit, okay? This is the first time some of these people have ever seen Al! This girl..." I motioned towards Tina "This is her first time and she's having a real hard time enjoying it because you're just to loud! So just, y'know... just try and keep it down a little bit?"
"Oh, sure, sure... I got it..." he said. Then he shook my hand again, pulled me in closer and concert-whispered to me something that SOUNDED to me like "Me and my buddy... we're gonna get you after the show".
*GULP*
"Uhm... okay? Just try and keep it down, okay?" I figured that I could slip away in the crowd before two drunks could peat me up, right?
The show continued, and the guy behind me... well, he was nice. He kept on talking to me, asking me if I was a big fan, talking about or favorite songs... and all the time I would turn to tone him down every time he got a bit out of line. I figured he had just drunkenly forgotten but his threat, or was luring me in to a false sense of security. Either way, i wasn't letting it spoil my evening. This was Weird Al! This is the concert I have seen EVERY TIME it has come to the greater Seattle area since 1990! If I am to take a beating, I'll take a beating! Meanwhile, I'm having a good time!
Al comes out and does his "Want 2 b UR LOVR" song, where he comes out in to the audience. He was a mere THREE SEATS AWAY FROM US singing! The guy behind me and I were all "HOLY CRAP LOOK AT THIS!!!" and full of excitement! At the end of the song he were both comparing how awesome this was and how it's the closest either of us has ever been to Al in our entire lives and OMG this is just so...
"Hey, man! Wouldn't it be awesome to meet him?"
Well, yeah... it would. That would be me, Brian Pierce, meeting yet another of my Top 5 Idols of All Time! And since I've met one and another two of them are dead... yes. Meeting him WOULD be awesome.
"Hey! Guess what? Me and my Buddy, we get to go back stage after the show and meet him!"
That is SO AWESOME! No wonder you're so super-psyched and stoked! Congratulations, man!
"You wanna come back stage with us and meet him?"
Okay, now at THIS point I remembered the original encounter. The whole "Me and my Buddy, we're gonna get you after the show" exchange. So this is how it's going to go down? You lure me back stage, one holds me, the other kicks... I've seen this movie! How can I get out of this? What Would Chuck Norris Do?
...And then he handed me the Back Stage Pass.
HOLY CRAP ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?
Ends up that the guy's "Buddy" is the son of an artist who is best-buddies with the wife of bassist Steve Jay. They had 5 back-stage passes from him, and it was up to The Drunk Guy to find a recipient for the fifth ticket! It was either me or a "Hot Chick", but he chose me because we connected and bonded so hard.
Apparently, earlier when I had THOOUGHT he was saying that stuff about him and his buddy "Getting Me" after the show was actually "Me and my buddy... we get to GO MEET HIM after the show".
So from that point forward, me and my new bestest friend sang ALL the songs just as LOUD as we liked!
After the show we went back stage.
Our Back Stage Passes were for "After Show" with crossed-out options for "Video", "Photo", "All Access" and "VIP". So I figured this was a simple meet-n-greet, kind f like Al's little after-show eating a sandwich or something with a few bazillion fans or something. No autographs, no pictures, no recording devices... just a sandwich and an "OMG I WAS AT A PARTY WITH WEIRD AL".
So while we waited in line for this After Show Thing, my new best buddy and I sang "One More Minute". Crystal called me on my cell phone to ask if I wanted them to bring me my digital camera, I told her that no I didn't think I was allowed to take pictures. "Don't forget to tell him that we went to his concert for our Honeymoon!" Oh, yeah! That would be cool! If i get the chance to actually *talk* to him, I'll bring it up!
And then we were told "Okay, next five in line... you're up".
Around the corner and in to a tent, it was a mobile Photography studio. AND THERE WAS WEIRD AL. The other four people in our group of 5 went and got their picture taken with him, then it was JUST ME AND AL.
I approached him, he said "Hey there" and shook my hand, I said "MY WIFE AND I HONEYMOONED ON YOU!". His face froze in a smile, not unlike in the movie UHF when he tells Fran Drescher that he's the new station manager and she goes off on a rant. It was EPIC AWKWARD, and then I said "No! Wait! I mean... *whew*.... okay, my WIFE, and *I*... we went to one of your concerts FOR our honeymoon! Like, we planned a trip around it! Not... you... you're AWESOME! I really -"
"Well that's great! Hey, let's take a picture here!"
OKAYTHANKYOUMISTERWEIRDAL!!!
And with that we took the picture (which I'll get in about two weeks) and I hugged everybody involved in getting me back stage to meet my Idol and then I had a slushie and then I went home the end :)
