Crap...I wrote a nice, long post regarding last night's Weird Al concert, and when I went to submit it, it apparently got lost...I was hoping it would resurface in the morning, which has happened before, but no dice. I will try to recreate it as best I can, but it will probably be a bit briefer.

To summarize the rest of the fair, not as horrifically boring as I remembered, but not a lot of fun, either. Did some shopping, saw a hypnotist show. The hypnotist was actually more entertaining that I thought. Early in the show, a big fat guy who volunteered was sitting on a folding chair, when the hypnotist pushed down on him, the chair collapsed. This unplanned moment of hilarious humiliation delighted the crowd, there to see planned moments of hilarious humiliation. We then ate, good food, terrible service, it took us an hour and a half to eat, we barely made it in time for the concert (which ended up starting twenty minutes late).

I wasn't quite sure how the show would be; I was a big fan of Al as a youngster, and I still enjoy him, but wasn't quite sure what a Weird Al show would be like. I had heard he was an energetic performer, and put on quite a show. And I was not disappointed; it was a great concert. Lots of costume changes for the various songs (including full fat suit for "Fat"), which just emphasized his talent in being able to switch gears so effortlessly, into so many different musical genres. The crowd was an interesting lot, lots of kids, lots of parents, and lots of the Nerd-and-proud-of-it types. I was sitting next to two girls, about twelve or thirteen, with their home-made signs (which deposited quite a bit of glitter on me when they were shaking them for Al) and lots of enthusiasm. The girl immediately next to me, her excitement apparently was only surpassed by her BO; the stench was actually quite a distraction at times...but then I guess the odors are part of the excitement of a fair, no?

The show opened with a video montage, which was amusing. I liked that, alongside such things as The Brady Bunch and Looney Tunes clips, Al included stuff from more eclectic sources, like Freaks and Un Chien Aundelau (he cut to something else before the razor met the eyeball). After a few minutes of this, Al emerged.

I did not take notes or anything (it wasn't a Randy concert, after all), so I have just recreated the set list to the best of my ability...I know I've left out several songs, and I can't guarantee the order is right, but I think it will give you a good idea of basically what he performed:

--"Couch Potato," Al's Eminem parody, which really is impressive in its performance. The song is amusing, but really its Al's rapping skills, and ability to adopt a persona so antithetical to his own performing style, that impressed me.

--"Angry White Boy Polka" took on a whole new level seeing it performed, with Al's smiling face and emotive eyes intensifying the dichotomy between lyrics and music.

--"Party at the Leper Colony" Um, Al, they actually perfer "Hanson's Disease." I don't really care for this song too much.

--"Trash Day" Good performance, but an unremarkable song.

--"Dog Eat Dog" I had the Polka Party album as a kid, but haven't listened to it in well over a decade, and did not remember this song. Al had gone off-stage to change, some video clip was shown, and I suddenly perked up when the band began to play "Life During Wartime," one of my favorite songs ever. I was unaware Al had ever parodied the Talking Heads. But then Al came out, in David Byrne's trademark oversized suit from Stop Making Sense, probably my personal high point for the concert. The song was more of a stylistic parody, borrowing from several songs, including "Life During Wartime" and "Once in a Lifetime." The song was great, and also featured Al's most impressive dancing that I've ever seen. I know I have often put on the Stop Making Sense DVD and tried to emulate Byrne--It's hard! So kudos to Al...now I have to either find my Polka Party cassette, or buy it on CD.

--"Your Horoscope for Today" This is a fun song. A lot of his fans were singing along. The "kill them" moment was classic.

--"All About the Pentiums" Another enjoyable twist for Al. But does computer programming and "bling-bling" still go together?

--"Wanna B Ur Lovr" I didn't really care for this song too much on the CD, but live, it was funny enough.

--"Melonie" An oldie but a goodie.

--"One More Minute" I like this song. Unfortunately, I was listening to it from the bathroom, so I missed most of Al's wandering through the audience on this one.

--I believe it was now that Al went into medley mode. This including bits from "Beverly Hillbillies," "Jurassic Park," "E-bay," "Rye and the Kaiser," "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi," "Gump," "Ode to a Superhero," and other songs I'm forgetting now. I was glad "E-bay" was just in the medley, its not my favorite (and it doesn't help that E-bay's own advertizing has such great parodies). "Rye and the Kaiser" is one of my favorites, one of those rare breed of Weird Al songs that are both funny and also seem to powerfully evoke the same emotions as the original song ("King of Suede" is another).

--"Eat It" Of course.

--"Smells Like Nirvana"

--There were more songs, I believe, but my addled brain will have to skip to "Fat," his closing song. Fun song, great performance, love the fat suit.

--Encore: Star Wars-themed. "The Saga Begins" and "Yoda." Nice way to end the evening.

I hope that was accurate, I make no guarantees. But I did have a lot of fun, and am glad I went. Unfortunately, the concert wasn't over until ten, so when I went back to buy the Amazing Pasta Pro and other must-have items I intended to pick up after the concert, they were closed. But I did bring home some roasted soybeans (yummy), the memories of eating a deep-fried Snickers bar (not very pleasant), and great memories of Al.