Mann Music Center Concert Review

My First Al Concert Ever
Mann Music Center
Philadelphia, PA
July 19, 2003

Al's show at the Mann Center was the first Al concert I'd ever been to and I had been excited for months even before the concert took place. I made sure that my dad ordered our tickets on the first day they went on sale to make sure we got good seats. We ended up with seats in Row P, but a week before the concert I had been to the Mann Center to see a show with my camp, and I sat in a row near where my seats for the concert were and it seemed to be not as bad.

On the day of the concert, I was more excited than ever. I made my hair curly to make it look somewhat like Al's, and I told my dad and brother to wear their Hawaiian shirts to show their Al spirit. My dad willingly wore his, and my brother, defiant as he is, argued with me but then he wore his anyway.

On the way to the Mann Center, my parents, my brother and I stopped at T.G.I. Friday's for dinner where we met up with my grandparents and my aunt's family to celebrate my cousin's third birthday. After dinner, we drove to the Mann, and my adrenaline level had definitely shot up. Tonight was also the first time I would be meeting Dave "Elvis" Rossi, (a well-known fellow fan to the Al fan community) for the first time in person. Dave and I had kept in touch for about 8 or 9 months prior to the concert, and we had planned to meet up at this concert. My dad got to meet Dave as well.
After chatting with Dave for a while, I went with my family to find our seats. I then decided I wanted to go meet some fellow fans. I hung out with Dave and his friends and got to meet some people I had recognized from his website including Sharon, Jackie Arns, Tara Lyn, Brittany (Dave's girlfriend) and some others. I think I might have been the youngest person hanging out with all of them, since they're in their 20s or older, and I'm only 14. I noticed that Dave had a camera despite the fact that the Mann Center had a strict no-camera policy. I told him how much I wished I had a camera with me, so he asked Jackie to take a picture of the two of us. But it was cool, I like hanging out with older people. As I'm hanging out with everyone, my dad comes over and tells me that my friend Nicole is at the concert and that I should say Hi since I hadn't seen her in a year. I bid Dave and his friends farewell and told them I'd try to see them after the show.
I visited with Nicole for a while and then went back to my seat. While we were waiting for the opening act, I met two college-aged girls sitting behind me whose roommate was a "Smells Like Nirvana" cheerleader that night. The opening act didn't really appeal to me. It was a local comedian named Sudsy who had won a contest on some radio show to be Al's opening act. His jokes were mostly centered around drugs and alcohol.
After the opening act, there was a brief intermission. I visited with Nicole again knowing that I probably wouldn't be able to see her after the show. Before I knew it, the lights went down, "Fun Zone" started to play, and my excitement level reached its highest. Al opened the show with "Angry White Boy Polka," which had an accompanying video clip comprised of all the different songs that were in the polka. If I remember correctly, the next few songs were "Party at the Leper Colony," "Your Horoscope for Today," and "A Complicated Song." Right before "A Complicated Song," there was the sound of a cell phone ringing and Al picked it up and said, "Excuse me, I'm doing a show right now.." and was pretending to order a pizza over the phone which led into the song.
Other songs that Al played from "Poodle Hat" included "Couch Potato" (for which he wore an Eminem-esque costume), "Trash Day" (for which he wore a Nelly-esque costume), "Wanna B Ur Lovr," "Ode to a Superhero," and "e-bay." Of course, there were the classics: "One More Minute" (for this one, Al said, "Is anyone out here from Albuquerque? Well, I've got a special song for you, it's called.....One More Minute!" I totally thought that he was going to play "Albuquerque," but then again, I thought it was too long to be played live.) "Eat It," "Amish Paradise" (I was amazed by the level of audience energy on this one), "Fat," "The Saga Begins," and "Yoda."
One that I hadn't seen or heard of before was "Dog Eat Dog," for which Al wore an oversized white suit. It's now one of my new favorites ;) I didn't think that "Lasagna," "Pretty Fly For A Rabbi," "Jurassic Park," and "My Bologna" would be in the medley, but they were.
While Al changed costumes, they showed hilarious video clips, such as "fake interviews" from AL-TV, clips from UHF and other "educational films."
After the show, I was able to meet up with Dave, Brittany, and Jackie. I exchanged e-mail addresses with Brittany and Jackie, and then with permission from my parents, we all followed Dave and his people to try and find the buses. It got late and my parents said we had to go home, so Dave and the others continued looking without me. All in all, I'd have to say that this was the BEST concert so far!

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