Even tho the concert itself was on October 27th, the story actually begins in late May/early June of that year. I was taking 2-week summer course on the Internet and computer basics then. On one of those days, we went to the University of SC at Sumter's computer lab were the instructor (Mr. Benson) turned us loose! We each grabbed a computer and proceeded to logon to the Internet- it was my first time on it by myself. So in addition to looking up websites for Phil Collins, I aslo took a chance at looking for websites for Weird Al- of whom I was still a new fan, having purchased my first Al-bum only 2 months earlier. The very first site I came across was Marty "Gumby" Lick's awesome page!
Once Dad got the internet at his office, I naturally began bugging him constantly for Internet time- and chances to find out more about Al; by this time I had found Bermuda's site as well and Al and the band were on tour. I noticed on Berm's site, the list of everywhere they had played in their entire career and was saddened to learn that Al had only played South Carolina *twice* and didn't come down South that often. So you can imagine my shock, delightment, adn joy when Berm posted the date for a Florida concert! That was the closest to home (yet) that Al was going to come that year, and to make things even better- it was on my birthday! Yes y'all, the 27th *is* my honest -to- goodness birthdate. Knowing that Al is a sellout wherever he goes, that Jacksonville is a HUGE city, and that the concert had been posted the last week of September- if we were gonna go we had to act FAST!! But as usual, there were PROBLEMS....
We were waiting for this bank to make a decision about a loan in conjuction with some real estate we own, which meant that until we got their answer (and they had already kept us waiting for a few weeks), we wouldn't know if we could go or not. Time went by, the concert got closer, the liklihood that everyone in Jacksonville would get all of the seats-good and bad- before we even had a chance grew dim. In an act of desperation, I even called up Al's management agency to see if they could shed any light on the situation- which they couldn't. At least they told me the correct way to book an artist! And that was just a week and a half before the concert...
Finally on October 22, I was waiting for Mom to pick me up from school (*still* couldn't drive yet :P ) when she stepped out of the car with this big grinm on her face- the bank had said yes and we were 'go' for concert!!! Just one final problem: it was 5 days until the concert...were only bad seats left? I got home and immediately called 'em up and guess what they said?..... They.....had.......FRONT ROW SEATS!!!!! Front row center to be exact, and they had the 3 we needed to get the family out of town and into concert! That was the dangest thing ever!! But the best was yet to come...
Cuz I was still relatively new to the whole game, I didn't know how backstage passes were handled or if they were given out *at all*! But we bought some promo photos for me and my friend Lauren (who wasn't able to come with us) *just in case* we happened to get lucky. If not, then at least we had really good pix of Al to put on the wall......So we got to our seats an' sat down. Sitting next to us was this guy Chris elias: he'd been to the past 3 consecutive Al concerts and was a pretty crazed Al fanatic. We three got to talkin with him, and at one point, Mom just *had* to tell him that it was my birthday. Chris then offered to talk one of the girls at the concession stand into getting me a backstage pass, cuz he'd been talkin' with them and Steve Jay over the past few concerts an plus, Chris had one himself! Needless to say we were in shock and he went to go 'work his magic' while we waited. Mom thought that he may be a "plant"- someone hired by the band to sit in the audience incognito in order to get public opinion. So Mom didn't really think he'd do it, much less actually *get* one. Just 3 minutes before the opening act, Chris returned *with a pass*! I'm still endebted to this guy to this day for that! Thanks again Chris!!!
The opening act was this magician/comedian guy- at least that's what he was supposed to be. He was more or less geared towards the elementary school kids- but I didn't turn around to see if there even *were* any elementary school kids there. There were only 2 things I remember that are worth mentioning. (1) He was trying to do some mind-reading trick and he called on a member of the audience. Dad (who was sitting next to me) wasn't raising his hand but was called on anyway. Poor guy, he isn't comfortable with this kind of thing, reluctantly got up. He asked Dad to name a grocery store; Dad said "Food Lion." Then he asked for a strange food and Dad said "cauliflower." Errr...this was strange cuz Dad's notorious artichoke eater in our house so that fact that it hadn't dawned on him was a little strange, but anyway. The guy then asked Dad to name a price- he said "$2." Then the guy claimed that behind the poster he had been holding the whole time had Food Lion cauliflour for $2 written on it.....It was an unidentified bar code. (2) He was doing a 'Your money magically got into this pice of food in this never-before-opened box' "trick" and called on this one guy. But we knew that this one was botched because Dad had seen the two talking in the lobby before the show. The box turned out to be a dozen Twenkies which they threw out into the audience- they didn't throw 'em our way tho.
Important sidenote: At first we thought he was calling on one of the guys behind us- but you can blame that on poor vision. It appears that for the past 2 years, my eyes had been slowly going near-sighted due to all of the stresses I endured in middle school. The change was so subtle that I didn't notice it. And as is turns out, this became a very important factor during my concert experience that night....
At one point before the concert- I watched the crew working. I noticed that one guy's shirt said "Opium Crew" in stead of "Ground Crew" like that of another guy I'd seen earlier. Also saw someone cone out and briefly touch a few of the red accordian's keys (the red accordian was the one on the cover of Polka Party! and was used in the Alternative Polka during the show). But the strangest thing I saw was this one guy who kept sticking his head out from behind the curtains and ducking back before anyone saw his face. The last time he peeked out, he stuck his whole torso out and waved before ducking back into obscurity. Because of the yellowish pre-show lighting, the guy's hair looked like a wiry reddish copper- like someone who was trying to impersonate Al by using a wig that wasn't the right color (believe you me I've had *that* experience). But because of my bad vision,, I couldn't be actually sure. It wasn't until over a year later when my vision was corrected did I realize that that was *Al* who was darting the curtains. I guess I was the only one who saw him cuz no one hollored when he showed his face. As it turned out, there would be many more unexpected things happening that night......
The concert started with a an introduction on the screen and from my seat, I could see Al waiting for it to end and the spotlight to come up. His first song was Since You've Been Gone and he started moving his hips and 'dancing'- guess he was doing some Elvis thing or something- but I didn't expect those hips! And he was just 2 seats from being directly in front of me! I also had someone else almost directly in front of me: Jim, who seemed to smile at those of us on the front row every now and then. Because he was so much closer than Al, There were times I ended up looking at him instead of Al (I'm sure Jim didn't mind the attentention ;) ). Bermuda was in the back, center and a little hard to see with the drums in front of him- about all I could see was the head. Steve was on the far side of the stage and completed the trio on stage front. He had a nice spotlight on him, but I didn't turn my neck much to see him. Poor Rubén, in the back far corner all by himself. He didn't have much light on him, but when you stood up, you could see him fine. Now back to the songs...
The next shocker was One More Minute: Al had this awesome jacket on and jumped out into the audience!! He then went straight towards a girl 2 seats from Chris (who was 3 seats from me) and SAT IN HER LAP!!! "WEIRD Al" indeed! He then started walking towards the center aisle- had to walk right in front of me to get there! So he walks right in front of me, proceeds to the center and after pulling out a fork, gets right up in another girls' FACE!! Hope he had a mint first- j/k :) Then he goes toe the other side of the front row, reaches into his pants <gasp!> and pulls out a pair of boxers, and throws them in yet another girl's face! He then gets back onstage and pretends that he can't finish the song (out of pain).
After a video break, Al came back for Like A Surgeon, but it was the Truth Or Dare version which meant that Rubén was standing directly in front of me-wearing nothing but boxers and a cone bra- and Al was on a table/bed and rolling around on it and acting very sexy-Madonna-esque. My first instinct was to scream, blush and hide my face. If Al was looking for shock factor as part of his comedy- I sure fell for it! Don't worry, I uncovered my eyes as watched the performance. I still squirm a bit when I see it on the Disney special, but hey you know me: I get embarrassed for other people for no reason.
The next shocker was a close second biggest for the night- but it also fell victim to my poor eyesight. It was Melanie. During the first half of the song, Al sat on one of the floodlights on the edge of the stage and sang directly to someone on the other side of the front row. I didn't expect him to do the same on my side of the front row. But it happened, all during the line "You were'nt impressed when I tattooed your name across my forehead/ you wouldn't listen when I promised to be true." AL sat on th enearest floodlight, looked in my general direction and began to sing. I was curious to know to whom it was he was singing- so I looked around; I figured I could tell by the person's expression. I looked to the left:wasn't them. Looked to the right: not them either. No one was screaming or anything behind me...only one place it could be...right HERE!! The dude was lookin' at ME! I panicked. I had the stupidest look on my face (and I'm known for some pretty weird faces- why else would one of my nicknames be "face"?)! I had no idea what to do, so I just crossed my legs, placed my hands in my lap like I was sitting at some formal opera or something and tried my beast to soak it up. When Al moved on- I looked at My parents and they and Chris were going nuts for me. I felt so odd. But don't get me wrong- it was fun!
It wasn't until Smells Like Nirvana that we'd get picked on again. After Al did the gargle thing he threw the leftover water and then the cup out into the audience and right on top of me! Through my poor vision, it looked like he was aiming for the person directly behind me (or my left eye) so I ducked when I saw the water coming. My back got drenched and so did a little scratch that I didn't know was there. I don't know who caught the cup. Poor Al wore himself completely out on that song. Once he fell on the floor at the end, he was panting harder than a dog. He really does put his whole heart and soul into a performance.
Yoda, the encore yielded yet another surprise, actually two. All of the other band members had had a chance to do a solo and now it was Rubén's turn, but instead of playing, Al called him to the center of the stage. Al said, "Y'know, Rubén doesn't get much credit and regognition so let's give him a hand." So Rubén walks to the center and Al gives him a hug and while Rubén's standing there, Al then says, "Rubén's written a song for his fiancé" and Rubén immmediately darts off of the stage!! From my position, I saw him run right into one of the crew members, who tried to hold him back, but he kept on going. The whole crowd starting chanting "Rubén! Rubén! Rubén!" and meanwhile, Al is laughing his head off!
The other Yoda surprise came not from Al or a band member, but from a boy in the audience. You see, the audience had been standing up (damn near swamped the stage) all during the Rubén episode, and they didn't return to their seats until after the first verse of Yoda. Everyone that is, except one. This boy had been dancing his heart out amongst the crowd during the song, and didn't even notice when everyone sat back down. So there he was, this kid dancing like mad, directly in the pit in front of Al! Then the kid went into t spin and when he saw that he was the only one 'standing,' he jumped out of his skin and ran back to his seat. No sooner had he left, than he came back and finished dancing to the song!
Knowing me, everytime there's a speaker who comes to school, and I felt like talking with them, I hang around until the crowd disappears so I can get a word in: in other words, I like to be last. This didn't happen this time. Chris and I were hanging around backstage, along with 30 other people, waiting for Al to come out. During the wait, I saw Rubén and his girlfriend (they were not engaged- Al just said 'fiancée just to embarass the poor guy even more) surrounded by a group of maybe 10 people, so I didn't say anything to him. Damn I wish I had!! The reason was mainly the same as that which would soon annoy the hell out of me to this day: I was still on a huge adrenaline high from the concert and on top of my natural shyness being heightened by my still-then depression (damned public school system), I was star-struck. Only later did I realize that Al and the guys are so down-to-earth that I didn't have to be star-struck, but that was years later. Anyway, here I was- a happy nervous wreck- waiting around for Al to come out. Finally, he did (he'd obviously gotten out of the shower- thus the delay), but to my surprise, I was the only one who noticed that he'd come out! Everyone else was so busy talking to each other they didn't notice! While my mind was following the old reliable strategy it always did (aforementioned), my feet betrayed me. Without knowing it, I started walking towards Al for a hello, a pic, and 2 autographs (one for Lauren). My mind and feelings betrayed me the whole time- all this time I was hoping to just be myself only those damned crazed emotions hacked me up- needless to say, I felt I came off like a blabbering idiot- I barely remember what I said but I'm sure it was something stupid. At least I don't have that problem now in the newsgroup with Bermuda around. Well, after I had made the first move, other folks took notice and the line formed. After my pics an stuff, I took a pic for Chris (who'd forgotten to bring a camera) and then we just hung around, during which, we ran into Jim. My brain started wising up by then and I was actually able to have a decent conversation with him. When it came time to give him up as well (but not after more pics), I was able to catch Bermuda just long enough for a pic since he was on his way out. Didn't get to talk with him tho.
When the backstage crowd was satisfied, Al headed outside. I *do* remember asking Al if he was going to be around longer so I could get a pic with him and Dad (who wasn't backstage with us) and Al said he'd probably be in teh lobby. Turned out we ended up outside by the bus- where another line had formed. THIS time, my charred brain had caught up to the rest of me and we got in back of the line. Just in front of us was one of the girls to whom Al had given a scarf during the OMM routine. Once we caught back up with Al, we handed the camera the the guy behind us in line and got a pic with all 3 of us with Al. Then Mom told him, "Thank you for helping bring my child back and for making her birthday such a happy one." After all, Al and his music HAD helped me come out of a really bad depression (phase 1 of it anyway). So then Al looked at me, I told him "thank you" and gave him a hug. He hugged back and then after that, we had to leave.
Wonder how the next concert's gonna play out...