November 12, 1999: Reason to Live Concert: A Benefit for Suicide Prevention

San Francisco CA
Warfield Theater

On November 14, I got an email saying... "Benefit Show 11/12..tell me more!" My reply follows: 

LOL! Okay girl, hang in there... As always, the show was fantastic. Nothing new in the set list -- in fact I was ready for the start of some tunes before the band! LOL! I think I've been to a few too many shows. (not!) Though I was pleasantly surprised to hear Steve sing "in my city" during "Lights."

The balcony looked to be filled to capacity, which was good to see. The floor, however, was set up a little differently than most shows at the Warfield. The floor section actually has two sections -- one part being the "dance floor" right in front of the stage, and then a slightly tiered "restaurant" kind of section behind. When the boys played there last December, all the tables and chairs were taken out of the "restaurant" section and it was jammed packed. Friday night, though, it was pretty segmented. The front floor was where the $500 seats were, so tables and chairs were set up there, as well as tables and chairs in the back section -- for the lovely price of $150. Naturally this meant the floor was fairly empty -- at least compared to most shows I've seen there.

When Firefall played, everyone pretty much stayed in their seats, but when Journey hit the stage, those of us in the $150 seats rushed the stage. If I'd paid 500 bucks to sit in front, I'd have been pissed off, but over all there weren't that many people on the floor, so it was cool.

The really cool thing, for me, was turning around at one point and looking up in the balcony and seeing all these people I knew waving at me! I swear there must have been a dozen people scattered around (and not just the folks I'd had dinner with). These shows are coming more and more about meeting friends than going to hear some great music.

An amusing moment occurred at the end when Firefall came back on stage to perform a song that they had written specifically for the suicide prevention cause.  The guys in Firefall were in the lead playing the song. Jon had either rehearsed the song before, or had the music and words in front of him on the Whale, because he seemed to know what was going on. Neal, on the other hand, was standing back by the drum kit with this look on his face that had me doubled over laughing. It was a cross between "what the heck is this?" and "man something smells baaaad." He did manage to get in the swing of things, but the look on his face said "I'm playing a Firefall song???"

The floor seats included after show passes for a champagne reception. It was a bit of a mob scene, and I spent much of the time taking pictures of my friends and the whole scene rather than actually talking to the guys. They were all in a great mood though, and very pleasant to everyone. I never did see Deen, so I'm guessing he didn't come out.

So, all and all, another fantastic evening (even if RawkDawg did neglect some of his ravaging duties...guess I just need to pick up some electric blue nail polish...)