July 22, 2012: Journey to Tahoe!

Lake Tahoe, NV
Harvey's Outdoor Arena

Fair warning, this is gonna get long and there's a lot of pre-concert (and pre-pre-concert) stuff to cover.

July 2012 and time for my one and only Journey concert for the year. Kind of weird after 8 years of multiple shows, that for the last 6 years I've been a one show a year person, but that's how things are now. That change has meant missing out on seeing a lot of friends and the epic pre-show get-togethers of time gone by, which is always what I loved most about my Journey journeys of 1998-2006. Fortunately, this one show was going to be the one to bring back some of that time. For starters, it meant traveling farther than an hour from my house and included a weekend in Tahoe! This should be great!

When I left work on Friday, I knew I REALLY needed this weekend away. It's been a particularly stressful time at my office the past 4-5 months, and it all caught up with me last week. I needed to get out of there in the worst way. So I was up bright and early Saturday morning, earlier than I even get up for work, loaded up the car and headed off to pick up Cheryl, Leslie, and Emerson for the four hour drive up to Tahoe. When we got underway, I told everyone "I've been stressed out this week, so we're going to listen to my de-stress play list on my iPod on the way up." Since the de-stress playlist is dubbed "Perry Era," no one minded much.

We made good time to Tahoe and got to the condo that Leslie had arranged for us by about 1:00. We hauled our luggage and a few groceries up the 104 steps (at 7,000+ feet no less!) and collapsed in the condo to wait for Darryl and Jenny to arrive before heading to lunch. By the time they got there and got settled, we were trying to figure out what time Jenn and Teresa would arrive and lunch became an early dinner and we headed off to Cabo Wabo to get something to eat and drink. We did kill some of the pre-dinner time by watching a 1980 Journey concert on the big screen TV.

We were joined for dinner by Matt and his wife Wendy, so once Jenn and Teresa arrived from the airport there were 10 of us for dinner and lots of talking and joking and catching up commenced. After dinner, we split up the group staying at the condo -- some to get groceries, some to head back to the condo. We tried to get Cheryl to join the grocery store outing, but she wanted to head back to the condo. This was a problem.

You see, back when the tickets for the show went on sale and everyone picked up their seats, I realized the concert would be a few days before a milestone birthday for Cheryl. I sent a note off to the gang and then Jenn and Teresa took the idea and went running with it. We would have a surprise party for Cheryl before the show. Now, after dinner, Cheryl wanted to go back to the condo. This meant riding with Jenn and Teresa who had gifts and supplies for the party in their car. They told Cheryl their car was parked in a bad spot, so they'd come pick her up rather than have her deal with the hassle of getting to the car. This gave them enough time to move things out of sight. When I returned to the condo from the grocery run, all of those things were put into my car, safely out of the way.

Sunday morning dawned and the 8 of us crammed into the condo got ready to start the day. Cheryl had booked a hotel room for herself for Sunday (which really worked out well for us) and Jenn and Teresa were going to crash with her on Sunday night. They packed up their car and headed off, Darryl, Jenny, and Leslie were headed to the "craft show," and Emerson and I would meet up with everyone at the shops. I don't know where Jenn and Teresa took Cheryl because Emerson and I never caught up with them. Meanwhile, the "craft show" was code for "picking up the balloons and birthday cake."

Around 12:30 Emerson and I headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe to meet up with Leslie and get things set up for the party. We were expecting 20 folks to join us for Cheryl's special day around 1:00, and the guest of honor was set to arrive around 1:15 and would be told that we'd run into the other folks for lunch. Since our tables were exposed to the casino and the surprise would be blown a good 100 feet before Cheryl reached us, we decided to start singing "Happy Birthday" as soon as she was in sight. It went over well, and Cheryl was truly surprised. Almost immediately thereafter, "Don't Stop Believin'" came up on the video screen for the Hard Rock and the 20 or so folks in the group let out a huge cheer.

It was a great pre-show party with friends from near and far. Sue and Marty in from the UK (and after an 8+ hour drive up from San Bernardino where they'd seen the boys the night before) with Barb and Val. Debbie and Renee came up just to help celebrate Cheryl's birthday and managed to snag a couple of tickets to the concert. Les and Barb joined the gang and somehow we lucked into Jon stopping in for a minute to say hello. After a couple hours of chatting and noshing, people began peeling off to get a little rest before the show. Debbie and Renee came back to the condo with us and we were later joined by Matt and Wendy and a couple of bottles of champagne. A good time was had by all.

Back down the hill for the concert where we all scattered a bit as we had different seating options, some opted for the 4 or 5 star packages while others took the less pricey seats. I was sitting by myself, but not far from Matt and Wendy and Debbie and Renee. Loverboy was up first and they went through their 30 minute set fairly well. I can't say I was ever much of a Loverboy fan and though I recognized most of the set, none of it was particularly inspiring.

Pat Benetar came out next, and put on a great show. Way back when I wanted to be Pat Benetar, that tough chick who didn't take anything from anybody. I was up on my feet singing and dancing along through the whole set. Once she was finished, I went off to visit with folks and was watching the sky carefully. Dark clouds were building up and there was a gusting wind coming -- were we in for a mountain storm? Then I noticed there was some smoke in the air -- must be a fire near by.

Now it was time for Journey to take the stage. We'd gotten some advance info on the set list from the folks who'd been to San Bernardino the night before, so I was interested in how it would all play out. The guys came out to some introductory music and then launched into "Majestic," something I've never heard live before, so that was a fantastic way to start it. Launching into "Never Walk Away" next was an interesting choice, but probably a wise one as the crowd was too pumped up with the start of the show to sit down and it has a good energy that everyone stayed on their feet.

There were a lot of different thoughts running through my head during the show and memories upon memories came flooding back about the last 15 or so years and all the adventures in Journeyland. I couldn't get in to "Faith in the Heartland" -- I just have a hard time hearing someone other than Steve Augeri singing it, which I know is REALLY weird since I haven't had any problem with other people singing the songs Steve Perry made famous. I think the difference lies in having met and gotten to know Steve A. a little bit over time where as the closest interaction I've ever had with Steve Perry is nearly walking into him at a SF Giants game in 2010!

That leads me to the next moment -- "Lights" -- since that 2010 World Series season for the San Francisco Giants, they've instituted a sing along in the 8th inning. If the Giants are losing or tied, it's DSB, but if they're winning it's "Lights" so now two of my favorite pastimes are joined very closely. Now when the sing along begins, they helpfully put the lyrics up on the score board and eventually it gets to "Air Guitar Solo." Naturally, that's what popped in my head when the band launched into the song about my hometown.

It was the final third of the show that really got to me though. First "Escape" came up and on the video screens behind the band came that album cover. I'm sure I said something like this last year, but seeing that cover hit me really hard. That album was such an important part of my teenage years and to this day gets me through both the highs and lows of life. The stress of the last few months caught up with me too and I burst into tears. Seriously? "Escape" is not a song that moves me to tears, but there I was crying. "Open Arms" was up next and gave me moment to recollect myself, but there were still memories flooding back of all the things that I had experienced because of and with this band over the last 15 or so years. "Separate Ways" came up next and, bam, I'm crying again. Now I'm thinking of all the friends I've made and the good times we've had, but especially of the ones that have drifted away through the vagaries of time and space. I make a mental note to send off a couple of emails to people I haven't talked to in a while, just to check in and see how things are going. And I'm appreciating the fun weekend that I've been spending with my friends, but I'm also really missing one. The whole weekend I had been thinking that Darla really should be there and enjoying the party and that she's not really isn't fair. On top of it, she would have had a milestone birthday this year too and that we didn't get to have a great big bash just stinks.

"Be Good to Yourself" was next and this has long been one of my personal anthems. I kept crying right through this one too, but with a smile on my face. Gotta remember to take care of me every once and a while. This weekend was part of it, my vacation next week will be more. The guys closed up with "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'." Of course they did. I'd been remembering lots of good times with Darla -- all nighters watching Journey videos, scrambling around putting the JPP events together, just hanging out and talking. So, naturally, they end the main set with Darla's favorite song. More crying. Yet I'm laughing at myself too. It was just one of those nights.

I pulled myself together for the encore of "Any Way You Want It" and "Don't Stop Believin'." The gang all met up briefly after the show and we said our goodbyes. As always, it went much too fast and not nearly enough time to talk to everyone as much as I'd have liked too -- especially Sue and Marty who I hadn't seen in 6 years since they graciously let me stay with them for a few days while traveling through England.

Driving home from work tonight, with my "de-stress" playlist on full bore in the car, "Why Can't This Night Go on Forever" came on and that's what I felt this weekend, and every other weekend adventure with the crazy Journey buddies. Time flies much too fast.

Set list:

Majestic
Never Walk Away
Ask the Lonely
Chain Reaction
Only the Young
Faith in the Heartland
Faithfully
-Neal solo-
Stone in Love
Edge of the Blade
Lights
City of Hope
Wheel in the Sky
Escape
-Jon solo-
Open Arms
Separate Ways
Be Good to Yourself
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

Encore:
Any Way You Want It
Don't Stop Believin'