"Weird Al" Yankovic -- MTS Centre, Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

If you were at tonightlast night's "Weird Al" Yankovic concert, there was a good chance you could see me; I was the guy in the front row, seat nine, wearing the Venom shirt. Alternately, you may recognize me -- as others actually did, afterwards -- as the guy that got shot in the face by the streamer cannon.

Four high-powered streamer cannons were to be pointed upwards, firing compressed streamers at a high velocity to wow the crowd during a relevant passage. Three streamer cannons were pointed upwards. One wasn't.



It didn't actually hurt, but oddly enough it did leave a scar and a bit of a bump. Which was unexpected, but served to get the adrenaline going for the rest of the concert.



I'm pouting in this picture for emphasis only, not as any actual indicator of my mood. My mood right now is one of exhilaration and joy, radiating nothing but love for all creatures great and small; countless men have driven themselves mad or dead in their vain and fruitless search for even a fleeting grasp on the rapture and contentment I hold in my heart right now.

And no, I'm not sarcastic; not this time. This time I can be nothing but genuine.

Set List:
Polkarama!
Canadian Idiot [In my mind this song will forever be associated with streamers, now.]
Close But No Cigar
Bob
All About the Pentiums
You're Pitiful
Wanna B Ur Lovr
Medley: Couch Potato / Do I Creep You Out? / I'm in Love With the Skipper / Headline News (new verse) / Confessions Part III / A Complicated Song / eBay / Bedrock Anthem / Ode to a Superhero / Pretty Fly for a Rabbi / Trapped in the Drive-Thru / Gump / Eat It
I'll Sue Ya
The Saga Begins
Yoda
Smells Like Nirvana
Amish Paradise
White & Nerdy
Fat

Encore:
ALBERQUERQUE~!!

Oh gods yes. And now you understand my euphoria.

Alberquerque was the one song in the Yankovic canon that I was hoping against hope to see performed live, if not today than someday before I die; I would have sworn the chances of this ever happening were astoundingly low, and I have never been happier to be proven wrong.

This was the second time I saw "Weird Al" Yankovic live in concert; the first time was eleven and a half years ago, in Halifax, way back in the second balcony. And Albuquerque hadn't been written yet. At the time that was one of the few concerts I had ever seen, and it was far and away my favourite yet. But, this time around, watching Albuquerque performed live while sitting in the front row no less than twenty feet away from the man? Let me understate the matter severely by telling you that this time was way better.

I said A! (A!) L! (L!) B! (B!) U! (U!) Exactly eight beats of silence! QUERQUE~! (QUERQUE~!)

I could die tonight and know that I have now died a happy man; in fact, I had better die tonight, or tomorrow is going to seem like the most mundane and intolerable of tedium just by comparison.

I had intended to take pictures of the show, usual draconian policies and procedures be damned -- but I left my camera at home, thinking it safely tucked in my backpack with me, because I am an idiot. My sister had her camera, thankfully, so pictures will be forthcoming and edited in afterwards pending her email.

[Later Edit: The pictures are one post up.]

My little sister was in seat ten, my little brother in seat eleven; we three each bear our own interesting scars from being shot point-blank by a supercompressed streamer rifle, and of us three only my sister was even mildly perturbed by it. So for us it was an experience all our own -- and, hey, we have the scars and the streamers to prove it.

In conclusion, I give this concert two million stars out of a possible five. And if you had thought about going but didn't, next time I see you I am totally going to rag on you. Be prepared.