Glen Ellyn, IL
 Concert Review And Pictures

(Poodle Hat Tour)

I just went to the March 27, 2004 show in Glen Ellyn and it was EXCELLENT! This time, I went with my friends Gail, Barb Jimmy and Renny. This was the first time they have been to a "Weird Al" concert. We were all very excited. We got in the car and went to Glen Ellyn. As usual, we got there an hour early, so we stopped for some dinner, then went to the venue. It was a really small venue, we had 5th row center seats, but even if we had worse seats it would be okay because you can pretty much see him anywhere you sat. I explanied to Jimmy, Renny, and Barb that since there are two shows shows here, he will cut the show a little short and will not play all of the songs. We went to the later show. Al did not do: "Party At The Leper Colony," "Your Horoscope For Today," "Melanie," "Dog Eat Dog," "One More Minute," and "It's All About The Pentiums." But it still was a great show!

First the comedian came out and he was okay. I didn't think he was that funny. Then we waited for the show to start. It was amazing how close we were. We heard "Fun Zone" start and everyone started clapping. It was a lot of fun because we were in a college and 4 college students were headbanging and danceing throughout the whole show! 

Al came out and did "Angry White Boy Polka." Nothing out of the ordinary, everyone was really energetic, especially Jim! He was jumping and singing, he was haveing a great time.

Then Al screamed "HELLO GLEN ELLYN!" and everyone screamed and cheered. Al tried to start talking to us when...a cell phone started ringing. Al said "Excuse me, but if you don't mind, can you turn off your cell phones." The cell phone kept ringing. I, being to 4 other concerts knew that it was his cell phone and I screamed out "IT'S YOURS AL!" He looked in my direction, then looked away. Jim West started walking over to Al, and leaned over by his pocket and Jim says "Al, your cell phone's ringing." Al looked in his pocket, took out his cell phone and said "Sorry, I gotta take this call." Then "A Complicated Song" started up. It was a lot of fun. I didn't get very good pictures, the venue was small and there was too much smoke!

Then, there was a costume change, we watched some funny clips, then Al came out and did "Wanna B Ur Lovr." This was possibly the best performance of the night. Al was so into it. Al came down into the audience, and at one point he went right up to a woman 2 or 3 rows in front of us. He did the hip thing when he said "KABLAAM" That got a lot of laughs. It was great. He was screamming at the end and crawling on the stage. The performance was, in a word, excellent. He was sliding down the railing and singing to every girl he walked by. When he sang "Do You Mind If I Chew On Your Butt?" I don't think the woman behind me could breath she was laughing so hard. This was my favorite. We had a lot fun in this one.

Al went back for another costume change, we watched some more funny clips, then Al came out and did "Trash Day." It was a lot of fun to see this one again. Al went over and leaned on Steve Jay's shoulder and everything was great. Al did these funny moves, I can't explain them, I guess you just had to be there to understand what I'm talking about.

Another costume change, more funny clips, and then the medley started:

"Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies"- Al was really into it. Bermuda's drums sounded great.
"Jerry Springer"- Another favorite. A lot of people were singing with him, including me.
"Jurassic Park"- They showed the clip of Barney getting his head bitten off. 
"Free Delivery"- Always one of my favorites because it is an unreleased song. Everyone was laughing and had a great time. Everyone loves it when he comes out in that pizza delivery outfit.
"Theme From Rocky XIII (Rye Or The Kaiser)"- Excellent, this was a lot of fun because those 4 college students were having such a great time and Al was singing to them a lot. The accordion lift was excellent, along with the leg kicks with Steve Jay.
"Ebay"- I love the way he looks when he says "My house is filled with this crap" This song got a lot of laughes
"Ode To A Superhero"- Ed (stagemanager) came out and held the harmonica for Al and they gave each other funny looks. It always amazes me everytime I see this. It's amazing how Al is playing a Harmonica, Accordion, and sing all at the same time.
"Lasagna"- Jim's solo was great. Jim was definatly having a good time tonight.
"Pretty Fly For A Rabbi"- It's fun to see how many people who know this song, because they sing every single word. Al did a few headbangs with Jim.
"Gump"- The leg kicks again amaze me. I can't believe how flexible Al is.
"My Bologna"- Al looks around happy to see everyone still loves his first hit. He did a few headbangs with Jim again.
"Eat It"- Once again, I can't believe how flexible Al is. This time, when he did his back bend, his hair touched the floor! Again, he did the Michael Jackson foot thingy.

After the medley, another costume change. We watched some more funny clips then Al came out and did "Smells Like Nirvana." Everyone loved this song. Especially the 4 college students. There was so much laughter when Al gargled and threw the water and cup into the audience. Al looked down and saw he had another cup of water, so he picked it up and threw that into the audience as well.

Another costume change, and then "Amish Paradise." It was a lot of fun. When Al was giving us the signal to wave our arms everyones arms went up. Al found one person who wasn't waving there arms and started waving at him. That person still wouldn't wave his arms, so Al stopped singing and stared at him until he started waving his arms. Then Al started the show up again. It was great. Everyone was laughing. There was really cool lighting in this song.

"Couch Potato" was his next song and it was great. We had so much fun. I love the "You can watch anything you want to man." at the end. He ended it by flashing a peace sign at us.

Al went back and changed costumes again. On the screen we saw the beginning of the "Fat" music video. So, we all knew that "Fat" was going to be next. The spot light was on Steve in the beginning with the bass solo. Al, Jim, and Steve did the "Fat dance". Everyone laughed when Santa came out with a hoe and when Al puched Santa. When Al did the big jumps everyone jumped up when Al hit the ground. It was a lot of fun. Then the band did their solos while Al ran off the stage.

We called Al back for an encore

Ruben came in wearing a Darth Vader costume. He did his powerful moves and then went to his keyboards and played.....Chopsticks! It went into "The Saga Begins." Al held the "He's" in "He's a ghost" for 21 seconds. Amazing. I don't think there was one person in that audience who didn't know the chorus. Everyone was singing, you could barley hear Al. It was a lot of fun.

Then Darth Ruben tried to trick us with clapping, and succeeded. Al came out, with his accordion, and started swaying his head. It was time for "Yoda." Once again, everyone was singing "Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo-Yoda" It was a lot of fun. When Al said "Okay You sing it!" and we were all singing "Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo-Yoda." and Al found one person in the audience and pointed at them and said "You're Not Singing!" It was so funny. Everyone was singing as loud as they could. Then the famous Yoda Chant. I did the Yoda Chant with him. Everyone laughed when he said "Everybody Now!"

The show came to an end and we went outside by the tour bus Renny's response to the concert was "Wow." It was definatly an amazing show even if he cut out six songs. Hopefully one day Renny, Jimmy, and Barb can have the experience of seeing a full show. 

Skip came out and told us that Al isn't feeling well and will not sign autographs. So we all went home.

It was a great experience and if you haven't seen Al in concert yet, I highly recommend you see him. Al puts on one excellent show. If you want to see the pictures of this show, scroll down.