In my four years in Kansas City I’ve seen a lot of concerts. When Social Distortion came to town, I was there. When Ani DiFranco came to town, I was there. I saw the Shins before they were famous. I had a beer with Iris DeMent who introduced me to her step-daughter using a tone of voice that implied that she wanted the two of us to date. I’ve seen the Ditty Bops perform on stilts, the Brunettes perform in Olsen twin masks and Glen Kotche accompanied by forty five boxes of crickets. And I never experienced anything quite like tonight. Yes, I admit it. I broke down and went to see Weird Al Yankovic.
There are several questions that run through your head at a Weird Al show. Such as “What the hell am I doing at a Weird Al show?” or “Why did I pay forty bucks to see Weird Al?” or “When did my life spiral so far out of control that I of sound mind and flabby body decided that my best entertainment option was Weird Al?” Well, my only explanation is a) someone did recommend it in the comments and b) it’s kind of obvious that I’m a bit of a nerd.
(One day I will discuss the differences between nerds and geeks and dweebs. Weird Al is a bit more of a geek thing so as a nerd I could sit in the back and act superior. It’s a very minor victory.)
I’ll have to say of all the shows that I’ve seen in four years this one had the most extensive light show. Including a hanging video wall that was used to show the videos, UHF and various segments of Al TV, all of which were cool in either they enhanced the performance or provided cover for any of the myriad costume changes. Of course, it does raise the question of why I was paying to watch videos that I saw on MTV for free two decades ago but who am I to judge. There were costume changes a plenty, at times it was song, costume change, next song with the whole band changing. On that, if you are going to look like another band you should at least try vaguely acting like them. If you are dressed like Kris Novaselic from Nirvana you really need to play bass while pogoing and for crying out loud don’t even dare dress like Tom Morello from Rage and play guitar flat footed.
Oh, and in one of those things that I have to swear on my honor that I am not making up, he also had two women performing a sign language translation for the deaf. I am dead serious here. On the floor right next to the stage these two women would trade off signing the words to the song. I have never seen that before and probably never will again. I’m still trying to figure out how it worked.
I know the music critic in me needs to give the show crap but it’s a rather tough proposition coming from someone who owns several lightsabers. He put on a nearly two and a half hour show that was fun and never had me looking at my watch. In the middle of the set he went into short attention span theater where he would just play a minute of each of a dozen or so of his songs and it worked. Given my other entertainment options on a Tuesday night in KC I had to say this was my best choice. And hey, I finally got to hear “Smells Like Nirvana” live. That’s what’s been missing in my life.
Well, that and dancing Stormtroopers. Can’t fault anyone after they bring out the Stormtroopers.
There are several questions that run through your head at a Weird Al show. Such as “What the hell am I doing at a Weird Al show?” or “Why did I pay forty bucks to see Weird Al?” or “When did my life spiral so far out of control that I of sound mind and flabby body decided that my best entertainment option was Weird Al?” Well, my only explanation is a) someone did recommend it in the comments and b) it’s kind of obvious that I’m a bit of a nerd.
(One day I will discuss the differences between nerds and geeks and dweebs. Weird Al is a bit more of a geek thing so as a nerd I could sit in the back and act superior. It’s a very minor victory.)
I’ll have to say of all the shows that I’ve seen in four years this one had the most extensive light show. Including a hanging video wall that was used to show the videos, UHF and various segments of Al TV, all of which were cool in either they enhanced the performance or provided cover for any of the myriad costume changes. Of course, it does raise the question of why I was paying to watch videos that I saw on MTV for free two decades ago but who am I to judge. There were costume changes a plenty, at times it was song, costume change, next song with the whole band changing. On that, if you are going to look like another band you should at least try vaguely acting like them. If you are dressed like Kris Novaselic from Nirvana you really need to play bass while pogoing and for crying out loud don’t even dare dress like Tom Morello from Rage and play guitar flat footed.
Oh, and in one of those things that I have to swear on my honor that I am not making up, he also had two women performing a sign language translation for the deaf. I am dead serious here. On the floor right next to the stage these two women would trade off signing the words to the song. I have never seen that before and probably never will again. I’m still trying to figure out how it worked.
I know the music critic in me needs to give the show crap but it’s a rather tough proposition coming from someone who owns several lightsabers. He put on a nearly two and a half hour show that was fun and never had me looking at my watch. In the middle of the set he went into short attention span theater where he would just play a minute of each of a dozen or so of his songs and it worked. Given my other entertainment options on a Tuesday night in KC I had to say this was my best choice. And hey, I finally got to hear “Smells Like Nirvana” live. That’s what’s been missing in my life.
Well, that and dancing Stormtroopers. Can’t fault anyone after they bring out the Stormtroopers.
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