Weird Al Concert

[darthskellington]

So I don't think I've mentioned that I'll be in a Weird Al concert tomorrow. No, I'm not attending the concert....I'm participating in it. For his current tour Weird Al has been requesting the participation of the 501st. I lucked out and was able to snag one of the few spots to participate. Al ends his concerts with The Saga Begins and YODA. At the beginning of the Saga Begins, a group of about 12 or so costumed characters will walk out on stage, then nod their heads in time to the music, and then generally dance around and rock out to the song. We've got a full compliment in Dallas, so we will have a Vader, R2, possibly a couple Fetts, and several Stormtroopers, Sandtroopers, Biker Scouts, as well as two Royal Guards. The trick with the whole event was we needed matched pairs of characters so they woud be balanced on stage (ie....2 guards, 2 bikers....4 sandtroopers..etc).

Anyway, really looking forward to this event, and hopefully meeting Al.

Warren

 

[darthskellington]

Erica and I had a great time Friday night at the Weird Al concert. Erica got a free ticket, front and center in the 100 block of seats. She got to enjoy the entire concert, and even got a personal lap dance from Al when walked out into the audience during his song "I Want to B Your Lover".

I got to see approximately the first half of the concert, before having to go suit up in armor. Hawkeye, Al's stage manager, gave us all some basic direction on what we should do and when, but ultimately, our dancing was up to us to decide how we would do it. As a group, we came up with some basic ideas, practiced twice out of costume, then after we suited up practiced two more rounds. Then we went backstage and waited for our turn to go on. Typically, Weird Al's intro for his Star Wars songs is pipe organ music (Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor). When they began playing this, we all filed out onto the stage, to the cheers of the audience. Al then faked everyone out by singing his Cell Phone song. We stood at attention for the duration. When that finished he then went immediately into The Saga Begins. Our routine built up as the song progressed, then as the song dies down, we stood at attention again, and swayed our arms back and forth for the closing along with the audience. When the song was finished, we quickly exited so they could sing Y-O-D-A. The 501st waited around backstage and took some pictures. When the concert was over, Al came back to greet us and thank us. He posed for some photos and signed autographs for everyone. His manager seemed annoyed at how long things were taking, but Al was gracious and stuck around until we stopped hounding him. Overall, a fun time.

Erica took a video of the entire Cell Phone song and Saga Begins. You can view it on YouTube below. I'm the Royal Guard to the left of Vader, from the audience's perspective. (Bill, that's Stephen, aka Lucious, to the right).

Erica also took some great photos of the entire concert, including all of Al's costume changes. I'm also including a link to a fellow 501st member's photos, so you can see some still photos of us on stage, as well as behind the scenes shots of us preparing and with Al afterwards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHSs7mglahk

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48811827@N00/sets/72157624399722309/

http://phils501stphotos.shutterfly.com/2010-07-17weirdalyankovicconce/4


Warren

 

[darthskellington]

 

[RYAN-J]

Awesome! Sounds like you had a fantastic time! Weird Al rocks!! I'll will be sure and check out that youtube vid right away!

RYAN-J