March 27, 2010: Another Night Out with Neal

San Francisco, CA
Fillmore Auditorium

Birthday Weekend Number Two! Last week it was off to Modesto for Darryl's birthday and a concert. This week it was up to San Francisco for Emerson's birthday and a concert. Awfully repetitive wouldn't you say??

Last night started with a dinner for 17 at Benihana at the Japan Center just up the street from the Fillmore Auditorium. It was great having friends from near and far join up for a birthday/pre-show dinner before Neal's show at the Fillmore. We weren't as loud or raucous as we were last week, but that was more due to the nature of Benihana than the crowd. It was great, however, to get a little while to catch up with Jenn and Valerie P. -- I hadn't seen either in several years which is simply MUCH too long. As a bonus, we got to sit in the room that was visible to all passersby and we had quite a few people peeking in looking at us having dinner!

We walked back down the street to get in line for the show and, naturally, ran in to more people we knew. As we filed in, the crowd was a bit sparse and I was thinking that it would look like the Soul Sirkus crowd -- maybe a quarter full theater. Most of the group made their way to the stage to be front and center for the show and were pleasantly surprised when Miles and the keyboard kid came out 15 minutes early for their opening set. It was the same set as in Modesto, opening with Miles playing a ukulele. This time, however, there were some fans of the Miles Schon Band in the audience who were hooting and hollering and singing along. I was asked straight off by a couple of people standing behind me who was playing. When I said "Miles Schon" I got a puzzled look. "Neal's son." More looks of confusion. After some explaining it turned out they are fans of Arnel's who'd come to check out the show. (At least that's my best guess, it was a bit hard to converse, but I did get a bit about Arnel and Journey.)

After Miles's set, the crowd started squeezing in and I was getting claustrophobic up front, so I bailed and went over to sit by the bar and watch from the side. Had a good view and could visit some with Karyn and Joe, Charles, and Darryl, and anyone else in the group who decided to stay out of the throng. By the time Neal took the stage, the place was looking pretty full. Not packed sell out by any means, but a pretty decent crowd overall. The set was much the same as Modesto, but there was at least one different song (no clue what the name of it was) when Neal brought out a double necked guitar. Hadn't seen that in Modesto. Forgot to mention last time that one of the covers was Led Zep's "Immigrant Song" and again confirming for me a preference for Zep with out Robert Plant singing. Yes, I know, sacrilegious, but his voice always sounds like screeching cats dragging their claws on a chalkboard for me. Add in that I can't hear "Immigrant Song" with out thinking of the Viking Kittens* and well, I was laughing to myself a bit.

Cameras were scattered around the theater recording the show for posterity. Whether or not it sees the light of day, who knows, but at least there was a good crowd and good sound (MUCH better than in Modesto -- could actually hear the vocals!) Saw Ross on our way out too, which was fun.

All in all, a fun evening out with friends and I really do miss the "ole days" of groups of people gathering before shows. Will have to find a way to do this again soon!

*It's getting harder to find this online as it's been blocked on YouTube for copyright issues. Too bad, it's one of the best and earliest viral internet items I can remember.

March 20, 2010: Night Out with Neal

Modesto, CA
State Theater

At some point Saturday night while sitting in the State Theater it dawned on me -- it had been EXACTLY 12 years since the very first time I saw Neal Schon perform. That night, I dragged my poor friend Mary with me. This night, I was in the second row with almost a dozen other Journey buddies. My how time has flown.

It was kind of the theme for the day -- how fast time goes by when you're having fun. My day started with picking up Cheryl and meeting Leslie for Telysa's shower. How is this kid I've known since she was 16 suddenly old enough to be a mom and get married? Where'd the time go.

After the shower, we made a quick stop at Leslie's for a change of clothes and a little down time. Cheryl checked in with Jenn to get a report on the previous night's show in Vegas. The end of the conversation I heard sounded like it was good, not great. Hmmm. Well now it was time to head out to Modesto and environs to meet up with Darryl and Jenny, Chris C. and her husband, Chris W. in from Connecticut, and Emerson for some pre-show dinner and laughs. On the way we talked about how we've all kind of grown beyond the crazy passions we had from 1998-2005 (or thereabouts) and tried to figure out what we might be hearing that night. All the while listening to Neal's Piranha Blues CD with me remembering liking it more when it first came out than I was in the car and wracking my brains who came with me to see the Piranha Blues band perform. (I think that was another show I dragged poor Mary to if only because I remember following Ross to the parking lot and Mary commenting on the fact he was carrying his guitar case to his car. I'm pretty sure that was the gig.) I was also laughing to myself that we particular three were less than enthusiastic about this upcoming show. We were looking forward to seeing friends and hearing what we were confident would be good music, but there wasn't that jazz of excitement that there once was.

We met up with the rest of the gang and headed for a dinner full of stories and laughs and just general good times with friends. Being that it was Darryl's birthday, he got a balloon hat in the shape of a guitar. We were loud and laughing and all in all having a great time. This is the thing I miss the most about not going to as many shows as I once did.

Over to the State Theater where the show was scheduled to start at 8. As I mentioned above, our little group took up most of the second row. We found Hope sitting in front of us (me specifically) in the front row. I had calculated that if the show started on time and Neal and company played for two hours as promised, I'd be back on the road by 10:30 and home a little after midnight. Whoops, so much for making assumptions!

At 8:00 Miles and the kid on keyboards (forgotten his name, but I believe he's a regular in Miles's band) came out for a 30 minute opening set. It's incredible how good Miles is -- and he keeps getting better. He came out playing what appeared to be a ukulele (my best guess as it was a small, 4-stringed, guitar-like instrument) and completely blew my mind. Being that close I could really see his finger work and it's impressive. A couple songs in he switched over to guitars and even sang a bit. All in all, he did papa proud.

Thus it was closer to 9:00 when Neal and company hit the stage. In addition to Miles and the kid on keyboards he was joined by Marco Mendoza on bass and Prairie Prince on drums and launched in to "Kohoutek." Well, okay, a song I recognize. (My big fear heading into the show was that though I have nearly all of Neal's solo work, I have a really tough time distinguishing his original solo material apart.) The band was then joined by a singer and I've completely spaced on his name (help! Leslie!) who was absolutely adorable. Pretty decent singer too, though the vocals were hard to hear most of the night. Not sure if that was a problem with being in the second row or just a wholesale problem with the sound.

The sold-out house (my guess about 500 people) was loud and enthusiastic through out the evening as the band went through obscure Journey tracks ("I'm Gonna Leave You" and "The Time"), covers ("Whiter Shade of Pale", "Gypsy Queen") and a variety of solo material. It was really fun watching Neal and Miles play off each other -- with Miles getting a few solos out front. Though I must say the blond doppelganger effect was weird -- Miles looks sooooooo like his dad it's scary.

The crowd generally stayed seated all night long (much, I suspect, to Hope's disappointment) but they weren't sedate. It's probably a little hard to get up and dance to stuff you don't really know all that well.

The show lasted about 2 hours as promised, and didn't disappoint. I don't have a set list, though Hope took a picture of it so maybe she can fill us all in. Leslie, Cheryl, and I said our hasty goodbyes and piled back into my car for the drive back to the Bay Area (uh, thanks Darryl for coming to lead us to the freeway -- I was too brain locked to do reverse directions!) I finally made it back home around 1:30 and crashed into bed after an exhausting but thoroughly fabulous day.

Get to repeat all over again this Saturday, though with only about a 40 minute drive into San Francisco. So, who's coming to the Fillmore?