Weird Al & The NEG

Last night (July 15), the New England Garrison was invited to troop in Gilford NH for Weird Al's stop along his national tour. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and I was so excited to be part of the group. I tried to get in on things last time around, but missed the cutoff. This time, I made sure I was on the list. The group included myself, Dave (a fellow VT guy who drove with me), TK, Chris, Derek, Elly, Greg, Jennifer, Adam Joyce, Dion, Carlos, Adam Scott, with Jamie as our wrangler, and Cy, one of our TKs, helping out with an R2-D2 someone had.



Dave and I arrived at the place early, around five, before anyone else. While hanging out and talking, I realized that I forgot my jumpsuit and underarmor, so we had to make a quick run to a local Walmart to find something to wear - I found a pair of sweatpants and a sort of underarmor top that worked fine - not the best, but it worked. We got back and found that we were still the only ones there. People trickled in over the next hour, and there was lots of greetings and chitchat while we waited for the rest of our group. Oddly, one guy didn't show up. I'm not sure what's going on with that. Around 7 or so, we got together, put our gear in the changing area and practiced what we were supposed to do during the performance, then were given tickets and we walked around the concert venue a bit. We got dinner (which was really good), then started getting our gear on. We didn't get to see the first half of the performance, but I did hear Bob, Weasel Stomping Day, and a couple others while we waited for our time.

That came up quickly, and soon, we were in line and marching up to the stage, where he played I'll Sue Ya. Buckets on, and we marched on stage.

The crowd went wild when we went on stage. There was a lot of cheering and screaming, and one of our photographers said that every cell phone in the place went up. It was a very surreal moment. Lights came up and Al started singing, and what we practiced started to kick in, and we were bobbing our heads and moving around for the first part of the song, then started dancing shortly there after. Then it was over. Man, it was such a fun experience.

After we got off stage, they played Yoda and Smells Like Teen Spirit, when we got out of our armor and went up to watch the rest of the show. He played Amish Paradise, Fat, White & Nerdy, before ending with We All Have Cellphones and Albuquerque. We went back stage, hung out for a little while and then got to meet him, and get some things signed. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a group picture with him. He signed my bucket, and I need to remember to get some clear tape over it so it doesn't wash away.

Overall, one of the best troops that I've done thus far. Very memorable, if exhausting - I didn't get home until around 2 am!