October 15, 2011: Long Time No Journey

Mountain View, CA
Shoreline Amphitheater

Better late than never right?

This past Saturday I took in my one and only Journey show of the year. So different from the way things were a few years ago when my minimum Journey concerts per year was 4. But things change and we move on and I took in just my third show since Arnel joined the band.

In all honesty, I think I was looking more forward to seeing Night Ranger and Foreigner than I was to Journey. The new album has failed to capture me at all. The songs aren't bad, but there's nothing that jumped out at me and made me say "wow, I love this!" which has almost always been a normal response for me. So, both albums featuring Arnel sit on the shelf (Revelation more for too many bad memories associated with it than for the tunes, some of which I do like.)

The thing that I've missed most since I cut back my Journey touring is seeing the many friends I made over the 8 years I spent dashing from one end of the country to another (and even a couple of other countries!) So I was glad to spend some time before the show began with friends for dinner. I met up with Frank, Cheryl, Karyn and Joe, and Jebber (Jim) in all the way from the UK, plus a few of Frank's friends whose names I've forgotten and hung out over some tasty sandwiches and chatted before heading out to the show. Once arriving we met up with Emerson, Leslie, Debbie, and Scott and then found Hope when we got inside. It was great to see Debbie and Scott at the show -- they were two of the first folks I met way back in '98 when this whole crazy scene began and it was so nice to catch up a little bit. (Now if Kevin had joined us then it would have been a total '98 reunion!) Debbie brought her son along and the last time I'd seen him he was in elementary school and stood about waist high to me -- he's 20 now and much taller! Where did the time go?

I was actually sitting with Scott and we got really good seats about 7 rows from the stage near the center aisle. Debbie, Leslie, Cheryl, and Emerson had all bought 4-star seats for a nice amount more than we paid and were more or less in the same spot we were, just more center stage. I forgot to ask just what they got for that extra $$$!!! We made it inside with a few minutes to spare before Night Ranger hit the stage about 10 minutes early. A fun but too short set followed. I really wished they'd played longer.

Set change and Foreigner took the stage. Or I should say the best Foreigner tribute band I've ever seen took the stage. I knew going in that Mick Jones was the only original member left in the band, but not even he was there Saturday night! They were good, but still, no original band members??!! I wondered how many folks there knew what they were seeing. Kelly Hansen, the new singer, was quite good and climbed out in to the audience a couple of times -- once stopping almost dead in front of Leslie and Cheryl. I know Leslie enjoyed that!

On to the Journey set. I loved the stage set up -- very slick and headline material. Was surprised to see Arnel had cut his hair (you can tell how much I've been following the band lately that I hadn't noticed that on the CD sleeve!) He definitely looked more "rock star" than the previous two times I've seen him. I would have had a great view of the stage all night if not for the guy in front of me who felt that every moment of the show was a Kodak moment and had his camera up for large chunks of the show. I like that you no longer have to come up with creative ways to smuggle a camera in to shows these days, but when you had to be discreet about photography you didn't have to deal with obstructed views. Anyway, this meant I didn't see much of Arnel between the combination of his shortness and MY shortness and CameraMan. Saw a lot of Ross and Deen. Ross looked much better than the last couple of times I've seen him, so that was good. Still hate Deen's hair. Jon and Neal were mostly obscured by either my seat angle (Neal) or CameraMan (Jon.) Kinda defeats the point of having a "good" seat doesn't it?

The set list was mostly the "dirty dozen" with only one new tune thrown in. Cheryl told me they had done more earlier in the tour. I know that story well, but honestly, unlike years past I wasn't too disappointed. There were no huge highlights for me, though when they played "Escape," with the eponymous album cover flashing on the screens behind the stage, I couldn't help but think how much I love that album, even 30 years later. A lot of the magic of a Journey show has gone out of it for me, but there is always the music I've known and loved for the better part of my life and it will never go away. So Saturday I reflected more about all the joy and friendships I have made since that fateful day 15 years ago when Trial By Fire was released (yes Journey fans, can you believe it we are just days away from the 15th anniversary of the failed reunion that started it all?) and I discovered the amazing online community of fellow Journey freaks. Wouldn't trade that for anything.

OH! How could I forget! There was a "highlight" of sorts. I knew from friends reports that Neal had taken to giving away guitars at some shows. Saturday was no different. Though instead of the guitar going to a kid as has been the case most nights, this guitar went to someone entirely different. I didn't actually notice when Neal went up the wings during one of his solos (and I honestly can't remember which song -- "Wheel in the Sky" maybe?) until Scott nudged me to look over. There, eagerly awaiting Neal, was his new girlfriend. For those of you buried under a rock, Michaele Salahi, notorious White House crasher/reality show "star" has run off from her husband and hooked up with Neal. So there she stood and Neal hands her the guitar and we got to witness an overly enthusiastic PDA. YUCK! Can't unsee that no matter how much I'd like to. Oh the foolishness.

As always, the night ended much too soon and we all said our goodbyes and headed home. Until the next time...