Beacon Theatre
New York, NY
February 6, 2000
This is the last of the tour dates that I went to for the first leg of the tour. I think this was the most energetic and best show on this tour. Steven Shilling, Christina, and I took the bus into The City. The bus was 15 minutes late, but no worry since we planned a lot of extra time to get into The City. It was cold and I was seconds away from going back and getting my car and driving in. We took the subway uptown and walked to the theater from there. We walked around and looked for the tour bus, but apparently it had been parked elsewhere because it wasn't around. We then stopped for dinner at a diner next door to the theater. Christina ordered a reuben, named after Rubén Valtierra of course!
I had planned to meet my friends Brian and Ken outside the theater. One of my bosses had tickets she couldn't use. I picked them up the day before and was planning to meet Brian and Ken to give the extra tickets to them. In the strangest coincidence, the seats were exactly one row, to the seat number, behind my tickets. That worked out really well. Brian and Ken were driving in together. They made it to the theater with time to spare, but Brian couldn't find a parking space. He dropped Ken off at the theater and we waited for Brian. Steven and Christina went inside while Ken and I waited outside. There was a French TV station talking with fans and some rowdy people with Al wigs. There were two scalpers who were asking everyone if they had any extra tickets to sell. Al's tour manager, Skip, came outside for a minute to check on something and they asked him. In the most surprised and astonished voice you can imagine, he says "Nooooooo-oh!!" and starts laughing. It was funny.
Brian eventually found a parking space about 10 blocks away and came running into the theater. We ended up missing the opening act, but it was the bullhorn guy from New London so it was no big deal. This was Brian's second show and Ken's first. Neither had seen the Touring With Scissors tour yet and they really enjoyed the show. I saw Jay Levey and Tony Papa in the audience. I imagined that there may have been a few other celebrities in the audience as well, and as it turned out, there was. Kevin Bacon and his family were also at the show, as well as some people from MAD magazine. Kevin Bacon was sitting in the row in front of us, his kids were entertaining themselves by running up and down my row playing.
Once the show started, I noticed that Al's voice was really deep for "Gump." I was a bit worried that maybe the two concerts from the day before really strained him. But by the polka Al's voice cleared up perfectly. The crowd was really into the show. Like any good New York City crowd, people were really enjoying it. It was nice to see an excited crowd. The band had their best performance so far. I was really happy to see "Smells Like Nirvana" put back into the setlist since it's one of my favorite songs. "Pretty Fly For A Rabbi" and "Free Delivery" were still missing. Jim was really wild and bouncing all over the stage during "Smells Like Nirvana." He almost tripped over one of the wires on stage. I think Al surprised himself when he forgot the lyrics to the second verse in "Fat" and stopped singing. He composed himself quickly though and picked up on the third verse immediately. Al and the band got a nice well-deserved standing ovation after the "Yoda Chant" and for the first time on this tour, everyone remained standing for the end of "Yoda."
There were a lot of people with passes for after the show. While Al was backstage with the celebrities, Jim and Steve came out and started talking to people. Jim and Steve were both gracious enough to pose for a picture with me. I showed Jim the fake tattoo I had and he laughed. I posed for a picture with Tony Papa and asked him sign my after show pass. I thanked Al for the great shows and he gave me a hug. I thanked Jon for the passes and great show and he was great as always. I had a great time at the shows and traveling around the North East and seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Here is myself, Diva, and Connie after the show. I'll definitely be hitting the shows again when they come around the area.
Outside, there was a crowd of people waiting by the stage door singing songs really loudly. I met up with Steven and another friend of mine, also named Brian. Brian drove Christina to Penn Station, and thankfully avoided as many pot holes as possible. Since he lives close by me, he drove me home, which I really appreciated.