Welcome to Night Vale Hits San Francisco

Welcome to Night Vale is a strange thing. Not because of cities under bowling alleys or hooded figures in the off-limits dog park or the high mortality rate of radio station interns. Okay, maybe because of that. But WTNV is also a strange thing because, while you probably can’t turn to just anyone and start hailing the Mighty Glow Cloud together, tickets to yesterday’s live show at The Booksmith in San Francisco sold out as quickly as Cecil fell for Carlos.

I may have overdone it with the references there. Forgive me, dear readers, but I was able to snag tickets to the 8 p.m. show last night, and let me tell you, it was worth every penny spent, and risking a scolding for ordering tickets in the middle of class.

When my friends and I arrived, about an hour before the show, the line had already extended past several shops along the sidewalk, and was filled with Night Valians in their WTNV T-shirts and wicked awesome cosplayers. I will say, though, that if you cosplay the Apache tracker, you probably missed the point of the Apache tracker. That aside, I am endlessly impressed with people who cosplay these characters with no visual reference.

As for the show, readers, I laughed, I cried, and I aided in the death of an unsuspecting driver with just the power of my mind. You know, the usual. Condos arrived in Night Vale, though it’s still unclear what condos actually are. Apparently you can get one for the low price of a spine, though.

Not to belittle how captivating Cecil Baldwin is in voice alone, but seeing him in action left me utterly enamored. Or perhaps that was all the talk of Carlos (who is totally Cecil’s boyfriend, if you didn’t know). The only thing more fun than squealing along with the crowd as Cecil broke away from the news to talk about Carlos was seeing show creator Joseph Fink, who I was practically sitting next to during the show, get a genuine kick out of the audience’s reactions.

And as for the rest of the cast? The lovely Meg Bashwiner introduced to show, and closed it with a proverb, as she does on the podcast. The weather was provided by Satellite High of “The Bus is Late” fame (he’s absolutely precious and you can check out his music here). And Mara Wilson was there to voice the creepy but pleasant-sounding Faceless Old Woman. I watched a group of people in line for the 10 p.m. show flash back violently (but fondly) to their childhood when they realized Matilda Wormwood was in the house.

After the show the audience flooded the sidewalk outside The Booksmith for a chance to say hello to the cast and crew before the next show. It was quite a scene, and heard someone passing by ask if Justin Bieber was performing.

I, and surely all those who were lucky enough to attend the shows, extend a heartfelt thank-you to The Booksmith for graciously hosting two large, enthusiastic crowds of fans, and to Joseph Fink and the WTNV cast for bringing the show to San Francisco.

(I ask that you do not bring this post to Leann Hart’s attention, as I know how she feels about bloggers).