September 4, 2016: San Francisco Fest on the Green

San Francisco, CA
AT&T Park

Wow.... Just, wow. What a great weekend. It was as trip back in time on so many different levels. Things started out on Saturday night when we managed to get a group of 13 Journey fans together for a night-before dinner at Rosa Mexicano in San Francisco. We had a pretty good mix of locals and out of towners and it was go great to spend time talking and laughing with friends. Once I stopped road-tripping for Journey after 2006, this was the thing I missed the most. Sure, I had a ridiculous number of opportunities to meet, talk, and visit with the various members of my favorite band, but that was never my goal -- it was the frosting. The cake was meeting and making new friends who had the same love for Journey that I did and along the way we were able to have so many happy times and make lasting friendships.

The gang at Rosa Mexicana

Saturday night was much like so many of the pre-show parties I attended between 1998-2006. So, Adriana, Jenn, Barb, Valerie P. it was great hanging with you all. Cheryl, remind Charles he is on our list for not showing up! Hope, Jenny, and Darryl glad you could drive in from the Central Valley. Leslie, Linda, Walt, and Emerson -- we have GOT to get our act together and see each other more often! And special shout out to the attendant at the parking lot where I parked my car who waved off the $10 parking charge for me when the credit card reader wouldn't work! Woo hoo! Free parking in downtown San Francisco! SCORE!

When Journey announced their tour plans for 2016 back in November, the original schedule didn't have a San Francisco date. A bit annoying and with Steve Smith back touring with the band for the first time since 1983, I wasn't going to wait to find out when a San Francisco date would be added and hit the road for the tour opener in Irvine in May. Then March rolled around and WOW what a way to end the tour -- a Day on the Green-like show at AT&T Park with Tower of Power, the Steve Miller Band, the Doobie Brothers, Santana, and Journey! This was going to be one epic night of Bay Area legends! Especially since I was too young to go to the original Days on the Green shows featuring Journey in the early 80s.

So, Sunday rolled around and Ana Marie made the trek down from Sacramento to join me for the show. We met at my place and headed out to grab a quick lunch before getting on CalTrain to meet people at AT&T. I had suggested a meet-up at the Willie Mays statue in front of the park at 2:00 for a quick group photo and chat before the show started, so I wanted to be sure to be on the 12:48 train that arrived in San Francisco at 1:38, especially since when I'd checked the schedule for Sunday there weren't any plans for extra trains and the next train would be at 1:48 (arriving at 2:38.) We got to the train station a couple of minutes before the train was due and as we were walking to the platform I noticed my phone was missing! Ack! Quick jog back to the car to see if it had fallen out of my bag and not left at home. Yep, there was my phone sitting on the back seat. Run back to the station and get up to the platform and see that the train is running about 10 minutes late. Not a huge surprise, it tends to run behind when there are large crowds. There were a lot more people at the station than I had anticipated and when the train pulled in, we were all in for a surprise. The train was PACKED! They let about half of the people on the platform on the train before the conductor said the train was full! Fortunately she also let us know another added train was coming about 20 minutes behind.

We finally got on the train about 1:20 -- it was crowded, but not full and Ana and I were able to get a couple of seats -- and off to San Francisco. We got to the city about 2:10 and headed up to the ballpark and I could not believe the number of people everywhere! I've been to Opening Day and playoff games at AT&T a bunch of times and those were the only times I could compare it to. Maybe a bobblehead day back when the Giants only gave away 20,000 instead of 40,000. Lines everywhere! People everywhere! I knew immediately there would be no way we could meet up with people at Willie Mays in the masses of people. Ana and I did a quick circuit around the statue to make sure no one was waiting on us then headed over to the merch booth to pick up some swag. I spent too much money, but it was worth it! We got in line and waited to get through security. The lines were pretty long, but moved at a pretty good pace. Usually before baseball games they open the gates two hours before the scheduled first pitch, but on Sunday there was only an hour between the opening of the gates and the start of the show which explains why the lines were so crazy.

We were probably in our seats by 2:45 for the 3:00 start. Tower of Power was up first and put on a great set of soul and R&B with fantastic harmonies and their amazing horn section. They didn't have a very long set list, but covered the big hits which I always forget just how well I know them. They closed out with "You're Still a Young Man" and "What Is Hip," but I think my favorite tune is still "So Very Hard to Go."

Hail Hail the gang's mostly here!
(photo courtesy Darryl Croffoot)

After TOP, it was a dash up to the World Series trophy case to see if we could meet up with some friends (and no, Darryl, it wasn't to rub into the face of Dodger fans!) I had inadvertently picked the absolutely perfect spot as right next to the trophy case (with the beautiful triplets in their full glory on display) was a big back drop for group photos! Leslie F. was there when we arrived as were Matt, Wendy, Darryl, and Jenny. Eventually Cheryl, Scott, Adriana, and Jenn joined us and we all got in line to get our picture taken. We all chatted for a bit and then the Doobie Brothers took the stage, so we all dashed off to our seats.

We missed the first song or two, but Ana and I kicked back and enjoyed some more classics. Like in Irvine, the crowd wasn't completely up on their feet until the end of the set with "China Grove" and "Listen to the Music." I actually spent part of this set texting with a few people, but most importantly with Darla's daughter Telysa. If there was anyone at the show I absolutely HAD to connect with it was Telysa and her husband Rob. We've done a pretty good job at staying in touch via Facebook since Darla died, but an absolutely miserable job of seeing each other in person. We agreed to meet back at the trophy case between the Doobies and Steve Miller, so once the Doobies' set was done, off Ana and I went to meet Telysa and Rob.

We had a really nice visit and wound up missing most of Steve Miller's set, which was fine by pretty much all of us. I'm not a huge Steve Miller fan and I saw him a couple of years ago (last year?) with Journey so I was good. We took this break to grab a bite to eat before we headed back to our respective seats for the last few songs of the set. What I really wanted was to be set and ready to go for the next two acts -- Santana and Journey!

Before I get to the two headliners, a bit about the crowd. This was definitely an older crowd -- many of whom I'm sure attended those great Day on the Green shows back in the day -- but wow what a lot of energy. People were dancing and singing all over the place. It was clear everyone was having a fantastic time with all these local legends. I'm pretty sure that I saw a post on Twitter or Facebook after the show was over that there were 50,000 people at the show making it the largest crowd in AT&T Park's history (since baseball seating is about 42,000, that would be impressive.) I know I was amazed seeing people sitting in the far left field seats on the main and club levels -- those seats are totally angled the wrong way for the stage set up. And there were a smattering of people in the left field seats in the upper deck too -- though I suspect they may have been staff and/or folks wanting to get away from the crowd a bit. Still, those seats face home plate, not center field where the stage was. The field was completely filled (sorry Giants! I hope it's not too wrecked when you get back from this road trip!) and about half of the arcade seats above the right field wall were filled in too. Only the bleachers behind the stage in center field were completely empty! And with all those people at an all day concert, I didn't notice one bit of trouble. I'm sure there probably was some, but for the most part, it was just a great night out listening to great music

While waiting for Santana to come on stage I noticed the set up -- even from a distance it didn't look like a Hammond B3 was set up anywhere. That's strange, I thought, aren't Gregg and Neal and some (all?) of the other original members going to join the show? That was the implication I got when the show was announced shortly after the dual headlining Journey/Santana shows in New York this spring. Well, I figured, you're sitting pretty far from the stage, maybe you just can't see the organ.

Alas, my first instinct was right, and Gregg and Neal didn't join Carlos and the current line up of Santana for the show. Once I got over that little disappointment, I was able to really enjoy the set. Carlos has two guys on vocals and they did an amazing job harmonizing and trading lead on a variety of songs. Most of the set list was either stuff from the multi-platinum Supernatural album ("Maria, Maria", "Corazón Espinado", "Smooth") or classic original Santana ("Jingo", "Evil Ways", "Soul Sacrifice", "Black Magic Woman", "Oye Como Va".) Carlos's brother Jorge joined in mid-set and played the Malo hit "Suavecito" which was absolutely fantastic! I did rather laugh to myself whenever one of the classic-era songs was played -- I've never heard anyone but Gregg Rolie sing those tunes! And they sounded just a bit off with the programmed keyboard rather than the original Hammond B3 organ. One of the closing highlights of the set was the amazing drum solo by Cindy Blackman Santana. She is one bad ass drummer!

The show was running pretty smoothly and more or less on time until a couple of people came out to speak between Santana and Journey. The long and the short of it -- this show was a memorial/tribute to the late Bill Graham who had orchestrated so many great shows back in the day and most memorably the Days on the Green, some of the money from the ticket sales was going to the Bill Graham Foundation which supports local art and music programs, and that the show sold out completely in ONE DAY! Go old people music!

Journey came out to close out the epic evening of music and played a condensed version of the set list they played in Irvine back in May. As I let the music wash over me, I felt a lot of stress and tension leave my body. It had been a particularly stressful week at work leading up to the show and I needed a night like this more than ever. A couple of poignant moments came with Neal's two solos. His first, early in the set, was "Taps" followed by the "Star Spangled Banner" (most everyone was standing) which I'm sure was a partial tribute to his mom who passed away a couple of weeks ago and whose memorial service had been on Saturday. The second solo was definitely a tribute to his mom with "Amazing Grace" and I'm pretty sure a chunk of "Beyond the Clouds" from the Generations album. It was pretty powerful. Another highlight came fairly early in the set when Neal stepped up to the mic to introduce "Lights" which he said was a song he wrote with "Steven Perry" and then cracked "Steve are you here tonight? He's here a lot you know. Steve, if you're here, come on up!" (For those unaware, Steve Perry is a big Giants fan and has been in attendance pretty frequently over the last 5-6 years.) I laughed and leaned over to Ana and said "He usually sits up there" and pointed to the club level section next to the broadcast booth. Yeah, this Journey/Giants fan knows where Steve Perry usually sits (and hell, nearly ran smack dab in to the man back in 2010!) Neal also encouraged folks to light up their phones and wow... the stadium looked AMAZING with all the phones waving through out the song about our beloved home town. "Lights" is always the best when played at home in the Bay Area. To be in the city proper, sitting on the shore of the bay... couldn't get any better. I know I'll be picturing that scene every time the Giants play "Lights" during the 8th inning (of course, they need to start winning a few games for that to happen! ARGH are they frustrating right now!)

I ran out to the restroom during "La Do Da" so I wound up missing about half of Steve Smith's solo, but the part I did catch was amazing. As the set was winding down, the lady behind me started getting very worried, they hadn't played "Don't Stop Believin'" yet. I turned around and said "Don't worry, they will." And blammo, right on the heels of "Faithfully" there it was. The crowd went nuts -- or at least as much of the crowd as was left. Lots of folks headed out early for one reason or another. I'll never understand that, especially when the next day is a holiday that most people have off.

The show wrapped up with "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" and then it was the mad dash back to the train station to catch the express to Belmont. We made it in plenty of time and even managed to grab a couple of seats. Ana and I rehashed the show all the way home (and even a bit afterwards before Ana made the trek back to Sac.) This was such a fun and amazing weekend that was so reminiscent of all those shows I took in over a decade ago now. I've said all along that the thing I miss most about my Journey journeys is getting to hang with all the amazing people I've met over the years. This weekend just reinforced that feeling. It was SO great to catch up with people I haven't seen in a while and a big bummer to not get to see everyone. Journey peeps -- you rock!

Set lists (all but Journey's courtesy of Setlist.fm, so any errors are not mine)

Tower of Power
We Came to Play
Soul With a Capital "S"
You Ought to Be Havin' Fun
Get Yo' Feet Back on the Ground
So Very Hard to Go
Soul Vaccination
You're Still a Young Man
What Is Hip?

Doobie Brothers
Jesus Is Just Alright
Rockin' Down the Highway
Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)
Dark Eyed Cajun Woman
Spirit
Sweet Maxine
Eyes of Silver
Clear as the Driven Snow
Bill Payne keyboard solo
Takin' It to the Streets
The Doctor
Black Water
Long Train Runnin'
China Grove

Encore:
Without You (I'm not sure this was played as I only remember one song in the encore)
Listen to the Music

Steve Miller

 I Want to Make the World Turn Around
Serenade
Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma
Winter Time
Jungle Love
Take the Money and Run
Abracadabra
Dance Dance Dance
The Stake
Fly Like an Eagle
Swingtown
Jet Airliner
Rock'n Me

Encore:
Space Cowboy / The Joker

Santana

Toussaint L'Ouverture
Foo Foo
Maria Maria
Corazón Espinado
Jingo
Evil Ways
Soul Sacrifice
Suavecito (Malo cover) (with Jorge Santana)
Crystal Blue Persuasion (with Jorge Santana)
Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen (I don't remember hearing Gypsy Queen)
Oye Como Va
Smooth (with Jorge Santana)

Band introductions -- "Roxanne" (Police cover) sung by one of the guitarists, was quite fun!

Love, Peace and Happiness

Journey

Intro
Separate Ways
Be Good to Yourself
Only the Young
- Neal solo 1 - Taps/Star Spangled Banner
Stone in Love
Any Way You Want It
Lights
- Jon solo -
Open Arms
Who's Crying Now
Escape
La Do Da
- Smitty solo -
- Neal solo 2 - Amazing Grace/Beyond the Clouds
Wheel in the Sky
Faithfully
Don't Stop Believin'

Encore:
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

July 14, 2016: Sting. Peter Gabriel. HOLY CRAP!

San Jose, CA
SAP Center

I so totally don't have time to write anything big up tonight as I've really got to get to bed since I'm on a plane to Denver in the morning, but OH MY GOD I had to write SOMETHING about this show tonight. I've seen both Sting and Peter Gabriel solo a few times each (though many more Sting shows than Peter's) and was going to pass on this show, but my good friend Emerson talked me into it and I am so glad he did!

As we were walking to the show, we were speculating on how it might go -- who's on first, who's closing, what songs might they both perform. What we did not expect as we rushed into our seats with minutes to spare was that BOTH Sting and Peter Gabriel would perform at the same time! MASSIVE band on stage since it was essentially two solo bands blended together. Three drummers, two keyboard players (not counting PG) a violin, a cello, back up singers, guitars, bass. Peter opened the show then Sting came on for the second song and that's pretty much how the show went all night back and forth. Sting sang some PG songs, Peter sang some Sting songs. Loads and loads of fun.

My personal highlights: early on "Invisible Sun" and "Games Without Frontiers" played back to back; "Don't Give Up" -- the female lead on this was fantastic and that's not an easy part to cover since Kate Bush has such a unique sounding voice; "Fragile" dedicated to the people of France and all the recent tragedies.

I could probably go on and on, but it's past midnight and I really need to get a couple of things done before I get on that plane tomorrow. Definitely an excellent way to start my vacation!

I didn't write down a set list and it's too early for one to be posted online it seems. Did find this set list from Denver a couple of nights ago and it looks to be the same. [Update: San Jose set list.]

And in light of recent events let's include this here.

May 12, 2016: Steve! Smith! On! DRUMS!!!!

Irvine, CA
Irvine Meadows

At the end of the 2006 Journey tour with Def Leppard, I decided I was done with road trips away from Northern California. I said to a couple of friends at the time "I'm not traveling unless someone named Steve is singing. Hell, it could be Steve Smith!" A joke to be sure, but also one that reflected my thought that Steve Smith returning to perform with Journey a decade after he last recorded with them and over two decades since he had last toured with them was just too unlikely. Well, here we are another decade after THAT and Steve Smith is back out on the road with Journey playing drums. Never say never I guess.

When the "San Francisco Fest" tour was announced back in December, I was a bit perturbed that there wasn't a show listed for the Bay Area. The closest show was for Fresno in August (since canceled) - nearly 200 miles away from San Francisco! I figured a show would eventually be added, and boy was it, but I also didn't want to wait all summer for a show since I really wanted to see Steve Smith back in Journey. So it was that I decided to make a road trip to Irvine for the tour opener -- two things I hadn't done in 10 years! (In fact, I think the last tour opener I went to was in 2004!)

So there I was on Wednesday, tooling down I-5 from the Bay Area to SoCal. It's a long and boring ride, but with good tunes and cruise control it went by pretty swiftly and I arrived safely late Wednesday afternoon. I'd be meeting up with Cheryl, Jenn, and Rose on Thursday for the show, which was something else I was looking forward to -- hanging with some Journey buddies I don't get to see much any more (especially since Cheryl went and moved to SoCal from NorCal like a crazy person!) My favorite part of all those road trips I did over about 10 years was always hanging out with all the friends I'd met and made along the way.

Thursday arrived soon enough and I met Jenn and Cheryl at their hotel for lunch. Rose would be picking them up later as all three had VIP seats and thus would be heading over to the show earlier than I was. Closer to show time I drove over to Irvine Meadows for one last time -- this is apparently the last season for the venue, and honestly it probably is a good thing. This was probably my 4th time seeing a show there (under various names) and it's got to be one of the most inconvenient venues I've ever been to. Parking is a nightmare (and I learned even buying the premier parking didn't help with the nightmare exit) and the way the crowd has to go in and out of the amphitheater is supremely stupid.

I got in about 6:15 or so for the 7:00 start. Cheryl, Jenn, and Rose were still in their VIP party, so I just grabbed a drink, found my seat, and waited for the show to start. About 15 minutes before the show started, Rose came out and found me and we had a nice little chat. Just before the show started, I saw Cheryl and Jenn make their way to their front row seats. I was pretty much directly behind them, just a couple of sections back.

When the tour was announced, I tried to think of a couple of Dave Mason songs, but nothing came immediately to mind. Fortunately, when he took the stage for his set he launched into a bunch of familiar tunes from both his solo career and time in Traffic and I recognized most of them. I didn't write down a set list for his part of the show, but I enjoyed it.

The Doobie Brothers were up next (again I didn't write down a set list, but you can find one here) and I was curious what their set would be like. Unlike Dave Mason, I could name a bunch of their songs off the top of my head and was interested in what their show would be like. Now, I can't say I'm a HUGE fan of the Doobies and probably wouldn't go out of my way to see them, but I wasn't put off by having them on the bill with Journey. They came out and did a great set of their hits, with a few more obscure songs thrown in. The crowd down in front was up for a lot of their set, but most of the rest of the folks were doing a lot of chair dancing. It really wasn't until the encore of "Listen to the Music" that everyone was up on their feet dancing along. I will point out one annoying thing about their set, or more accurately their set design. The backdrop they use shows the Golden Gate Bridge and a city skyline. The skyline didn't look at all like San Francisco, but even worse, you can't see downtown San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge as depicted on the banner! It looked more like the view you would see from the Bay Bridge. Just a native grumble.

Journey took the stage about 9:30 and by that time the crowd had filled in and was buzzing. Where I was sitting it was about half sitting/half standing, but the lower section and the pit where Cheryl, Jenn, and Rose were was on their feet. Early on in the set list, they played "Be Good to Yourself" (with Jenn, Cheryl, and Rose appearing on the big video screen) and I definitely missed Deen's backing vocals on that one. They've brought on a guy playing keyboards and doing some of the background vocals, but he definitely didn't hit the notes Deen did. They never introduced him and he was kind of hidden behind Jon all night.

Between Dave Mason and the Doobies, Jenn had come up to visit me and insisted that I use her ticket for a couple of songs during the Journey set, so we coordinated that I would head down and meet her after "Any Way You Want It" (about 6 songs in) and hang out for a couple of songs. My seat was in the lower rows of the Loge section -- about 5 or 6 rows up from the aisle between the Loge and Orchestra seats, but in order to get over to the restroom area to meet Jenn, I had to walk all the way to the top of the Loge section, over 2 sections, and then back down. That meant leaving my seat pretty much as AWYWI started. I met up with Jenn and swapped tickets then headed down to the front row for "Lights" and "Open Arms" I headed back up to swap back during "Line of Fire" -- Jenn scolded me for not staying through that song too, but it's not one of my favorites, so I'd rather wander up and back during that than another song I like more.

For most of the show, I really focused on watching Steve Smith. I've seen him numerous times on his own or with Vital Information, so I know what an amazing drummer he is, but to see him back with Journey was something special. It occurred to me that this was as close as I was ever going to get to seeing the classic Escape line up perform, and I really loved that. (Okay, sure, never say never, hell could freeze over, pigs could fly, and Perry could rejoin for a gig or two, but if I held my breath on that one I would have passed out a long time ago!) Perhaps having Steve Smith back was part of the reason for the Escape heavy set list. It was great to hear "Who's Crying Now" in the set and fun to watch Jenn jumping up and down during "Dead or Alive." (Yes, I saw you Jenn!) Near the end of the set, they launched in to "La Do Da" and towards the end of the song the rest of the band stepped off stage while Smitty went off on a solo. It was fantastic and very similar to some of the things I've seen him do during his own shows. Arms and legs in constant motion. Amazing!

One of the unexpected bits of the show was the full on cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll," once again proving to me that I like Led Zeppelin songs so long as Robert Plant isn't singing them.

The show was over much too quickly and I worked my way through the throngs of people to meet up with Cheryl and Jenn to give them a ride back to their hotel. Taking forever to get out of the parking lot does have one advantage in that it allowed us to visit a bit more before all was said and done. We met up again Friday morning for a quick breakfast before we headed our separate ways -- Cheryl and Jenn to Phoenix for the next show, me to visit a cousin near LA (where we wound up watching the Journey episode of "Behind the Music" and clips of Perry's 1994 Beacon Theater show thanks to You Tube.) As always, time flew by much too fast, but it was great hanging with my Journey buddies again. See you all in San Francisco!

Set List:

Separate Ways
Be Good to Yourself
Only the Young
- Neal solo -
Stone in Love
Any Way You Want It
Lights
Open Arms
Line of Fire
Dead or Alive
Rock and Roll
- Jon solo -
Who's Crying Now
Escape
La Do Da
- Drum solo -
- Neal solo 2 -
Wheel in the Sky
Faithfully
Don't Stop Believin'

Encore:
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

March 21, 2016: The Original Santana! (or at least a resonable facsimile thereof.)

Las Vegas, NV
The House of Blues

It's been over 10 years since I last went to Las Vegas, and nearly that long since I've traveled further than Lake Tahoe (which for someone born and raised in the Bay Area is more or less the backyard) for a Journey-related show. Vegas is not my favorite destination and I've rarely spent more than about 24 hours in the city on any trip -- always for a concert. This time was no different, but it was for a very special concert. After over 40 years the "original" lineup of Santana was reuniting for a show to promote their new album Santana IV (due out April 15.)

I put original in quotes up there because, over the nearly 50 year history of the band, there have been many different lineups and I think most people would consider the original Santana lineup to be the version that played at Woodstock in 1969. That lineup was Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie, Chepito Areas, Michael Carabello, Michael Shreve, and David Brown (courtesy liner notes to The Best of Santana.) That wasn't exactly the lineup of last night's show, but we got close enough with Gregg Rolie, Michael Carabello, Michael Shreve and Neal Schon joining Carlos and a couple of members from the current version of the band on stage for a 2 hour show that was filmed for TV and DVD.

Rewind a bit in time here before moving on to the show. Santana is one of those legendary San Francisco bands of the 1960s -- idolized along with the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane that came out of the craziness of 1960s San Francisco. Having been only 10 months old when Woodstock took place, barring some highly irresponsible relatives bringing a very young child to the Fillmore, the chance of me ever seeing the original lineup of Santana wasn't ever going to be very likely. Amazingly, however, despite living my entire life in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had never seen ANY incarnation of Santana. I've seen Carlos make guest appearances at a couple of shows, but never the full on band. I realized this some time ago and made a mental note to try to get to a Santana show in the near future.

Now, I've seen Gregg Rolie numerous times and Michael Carabello has been in his band nearly every time I've seen him, and most of Gregg's set list is comprised of the well known Santana hits of the late 1960s/early 1970s. Over the last few years there had been rumblings about Neal Schon trying to get his former Santana compadres together to record a new album, then bits of stories that some recording had started, until finally, yes there was going to be a new album released this year.

Back in January, it was announced that there were going to be three shows featuring both Journey and Santana on the east coast with the big kick off show at Madison Square Garden. I've got to admit, as a Bay Area native, I was kind of pissed off. Two legendary San Francisco bands joining up for a big dual headlining show with Neal playing in BOTH bands and it's in New York City! A trip to New York was way too expensive to take, so I simmered a bit and figured they'd eventually do a show in San Francisco.  (September 4, 2016, AT&T Park! Woo!)

Then about two weeks ago, late on a Friday I see the announcement -- the "original" Santana performing in Las Vegas at the House of Blues! Tickets are only $30! THIRTY DOLLARS?!!! Oh heck yeah, I'm in. I knew I could find a cheap flight to Vegas and a one night hotel stay wouldn't break the bank, so I was all in. The tickets went on sale the next day and in the span of an hour I had my concert ticket, my flight and hotel all purchased before even having a chance to talk to my boss to let him know I'd be taking two days off from work for it. (Thankfully, I have a great boss!)

I flew in to Vegas yesterday morning and met up with Adriana, Hope, and Valerie P. -- none of whom I'd seen in several years and it was just great catching up with old friends. Jenn would be flying in a little bit later in the day. We split up for a bit after grabbing a bite to eat, but Adriana soon sent me a message that there would be a press conference outside the House of Blues at 3:00, so I went down to check it out. To be honest, it was probably the worlds shortest press conference. It was essentially a bunch of suits saying "yay us we have Santana in the house" and then each member of the band got up and spoke for about 30 seconds. Carlos maybe got a minute. Then poof, bang, it was over. The best information I got was that the show would be shown on AXS TV in June and then released on DVD and shown on PBS as part of their pledge drive in the fall. Carlos did give big praise to Neal for being the instigator of the project, so that was pretty cool.

So, now on to the show (finally they say!) The concert was General Admission, which is really not my favorite way to see a show any more, but I figured I could put up with it for one night. Jenn and I got in line to get in about 5:45 for the 6:30 opening of the doors. We got inside about an hour later and managed to get pretty close to the stage and then we had to stand and wait. The House of Blues was much smaller than I expected and they'd only sold the floor area -- the upper balcony section seemed to hold friends and family of the band and probably some other big wigs. While the crowd was waiting the PA played mostly age/era appropriate music and it was amusing to hear the crowd sing along from time to time to Bob Dylan and Them. The crowd looked somewhat younger than I expected, but it was definitely a middle aged and over crowd.

[Note: I'm going to pause here for a moment to mention I'm a "greatest hits" type of fan of Santana, so I did not write down a set list and as yet I've been unable to locate one for last night's show. I have found some for recent shows with the current lineup which should help some as I continue.]

Blurry iPhone pic of Gregg Rolie

The show started right on time at 8:00 when Carlos and most of the band stepped out on stage. They opened up with "Soul Sacrifice" and then went into "Evil Ways" [edited after seeing video!] before taking a pause for Carlos to introduce the band. He first introduced the guys from the current line up before introducing Michael Shreve, Michael Carabello and Gregg Rolie. Standing in the wings (and easily spotted from my position) was Neal Schon. Carlos repeated what he had said earlier at the press conference that it was Neal who was the engine driving the reunion. When Neal came on stage he had the biggest smile I've ever seen, and honestly, he smiled pretty much non stop through out the show. He really was having a great time (despite a few issues I'll mention later.) I'm pretty sure the next song was "Jingo" (again, I know the song, just not the order) and it was so much fun to watch Neal and Carlos play together. It was a bit strange to see Neal as the secondary guitarist, but they really played well together.

Carlos and Neal

The show covered a lot of the hits of the early Santana years along with some new songs, though Carlos only introduced one of them. I had a pretty good spot close to the stage and a decent view of everyone but Gregg who was at the far right as you face the stage. To see him I had to bob around a few heads, but it wasn't too bad. He too looked like he was having a great time. A lot of the show felt a lot like a big jam session as songs were extended and I thought "this jamming stuff is what Neal really misses and wants to do." Neal took a couple of solos along the way which was cool. Still, a personal highlight for me was hearing Carlos play "Europa" -- it's absolutely one of my favorite tunes. Neal actually stepped off stage for that song, returning right afterwards.

Now, the show didn't go 100% smoothly. There was some kind of problem with Neal's guitar cable and the tech had to come out several times to fix and/or replace it. I don't know how they're going to cover that up in the video, but I'm guessing they'll find a way. (I wouldn't be surprised if there had been a run through of the show with the cameras running just for this possibility. Don't know that for a fact though.) A similar thing happened with the keyboard player at one point also, but not as often as it did with Neal.

Ron Isley, Neal, Gregg

The main set closed out with "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" and "Oye Como Va". The band then came out for an encore with guest Ronald Isley (of the Isley Brothers) who Carlos called "more important to [him] than the Statue of Liberty, more important than the Golden Gate." He also went on for a bit about the song "Twist and Shout" which led me to believe that's what they would be singing, but no, it was something else (sorry folks, not sure what it was called.) Ronald Isley sang for two songs before the band closed out the show with one last tune (which I have completely forgotten at this point.)

The show ended around 10:15 and Jenn and I chatted for a few minutes with Adriana, Hope, and Valerie before calling it a night. We both had morning flights back home (and poor Jenn actually had to go in to work this morning!) so we needed to get to bed. It was a quick turn around trip to Vegas, but I'm so glad I went. It was a great show and it was so good to see some old friends that I haven't seen in a while. I do miss some of my crazy travels.

March 13, 2016: I Went Down to the River....

Oakland, CA
Oracle Arena

It's taken a full day to recover from another epic, loud, rocking, raucous, high energy, three and a half hour marathon of a show. If you've never seen Springsteen live and you are a fan of rock and roll, you are seriously missing out on one of the best experiences in live music ever. This is not hyperbole -- there is no one else who puts on shows like this every single time out.

Sunday was a pretty rainy lazy day until it was time to head out the door to meet Cheryl who'd flown up to join me for the show. After grabbing a light early dinner and catching up on things, we hopped on BART and headed over to the Oakland Coliseum Arena (yeah, yeah, it's called Oracle Arena now, but it's always the Coliseum Arena to me.) The lines to get in were ridiculous and, naturally, it started raining while we were waiting. We kept looking at our watches as it was getting closer and closer to 8:00 and showtime. I thought that perhaps because it was a Sunday night the show would actually start on time. There was no way it would with the crowds of people still trying to get in at 7:45.

We got in and got to our seats behind the stage a little before 8:00 (even managing to grab a couple of bottles of water from a near empty concession stand!) and settled in for the show. I've had seats behind the stage for Springsteen several times and they're usually pretty good, but this time we were at the wrong angle and there were cables obscuring center stage most of the night. What that meant was I could see most of the E Street Band through the heads of the people in front of me, but Bruce was a bit hard to see. Ah well!

For those of you unaware of this tour, Bruce is out performing the entirety of his 1980 release The River -- a 20 song double album. That makes for a very strict set list, even for someone who routinely does three hour plus long shows! It also meant I needed to do some homework before the concert. When The River was released in 1980, I was twelve years old and just discovering different kinds of music than the things my parents listened to and simple pop music. "Hungry Heart" was the huge hit single from the album and probably the first Bruce Springsteen song I ever heard. Fast forward in time and Born in the USA comes out while I'm in high school and I really start listening to Springsteen, but it wasn't until I got a copy of Live 1975-1985 that I actually heard some of the other tunes from The River and fell in love with them. Still, when this tour was announced, I knew I had to go back and listen to it in full to remember all of the songs.

The band took the stage about 8:30 with the houselights still up and kicked off with "Meet Me in the City," an outtake from The River recordings. It's a great rocking song and feels a little like something The Ramones might have done. It's a high energy song and a great opener. Bruce then welcomed everyone to the show and explained what he was thinking about when he wrote and recorded The River. Then off we went, back in time 36 years to listen to that album in full. As a whole, it's interesting to listen to a whole double album performed live, but I do have to say that the sequencing of the songs makes more sense for an album than for a live show -- especially a live Springsteen show. Most of the uptempo, rocking songs were in the first part of the set and then things slowed down to a bit of a mellower pace.

Still, there were lots of great moments during the performing of The River. Two of my favorite songs from this album came early in the set -- "Two Hearts" and "Independence Day." Then came THE HIT -- "Hungry Heart." I don't know when it started, but somewhere along the way Bruce started letting the crowd sing the whole first verse and chorus before starting over himself with the band, and this show was no different with a loud singing crowd. During this point, Bruce walked out into the general admission floor and out to a small stage in the middle of the arena. After hugging and high-fiving fans along the way, he fell backwards and crowd surfed his way back to the stage.

My next personal high point was the title track, which is a song I absolutely love and is way up on the top of the list of favorite Springsteen songs. The line "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true/Or is it something worse" is one that grabbed me the very first time I heard it and is something that has always made me think.

The River wrapped up after two hours with "Wreck on the Highway" and then it was time for some more! After the briefest of pauses to let The River fade away, it was off to the rocking "Badlands" and from this point forward, there were several times where the crowd was singing along so loudly that Bruce and the band were drowned out -- truly impressive! Since there was only about another 90 minutes left for the show (!!) it was mostly the songs you would expect to hear, but all performed with the same amazing high energy. And all of it was performed in rapid succession. There were a couple of times when the video screens would show shots of drummer Max Weinberg and I'd swear he looked like he was about to have a heart attack with all the energy he was expending! I think that's probably one of the most impressive things about a Springsteen show -- he and the band performing 30+ songs with only the briefest of breaks between them.

The main set closed out with "Thunder Road" (more audience participation and drowning out the band) before what would probably be called the encore if the band had actually left the stage (there was just a longer than usual pause.) Using a request from the audience Bruce and the boys kicked into "Growin' Up" before heading into "Born to Run." He pulled a young man out of the audience to sing along with him for "Growin' Up" as "it's a young man's song" and the kid had a blast. For "Dancing in the Dark," Bruce pulled up a girl about 12-14 years old who proceeded to whip, dab, and nae nae on stage, much to Bruce's befuddlement! The next to last song was "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" and when they got to the important part -- "and the Big Man joined the band" -- up on the video screens appeared pictures of Clarence Clemons and a few of Danny Frederici, the missing members of the E Street Band. One of the things that crossed my mind throughout the show was what an excellent job Jake Clemons did on all the saxophone parts there were. He's really come a long way from the first time I saw him in the band as part of a larger horn section who stepped out front from time to time. The Big Man is irreplaceable, but Jake does a great job honoring his uncle.

The set list closed out with a cover of "Shout" and that's when Cheryl and I made our early exit about half way through the song. It was 11:45 by that point and there would soon be a mad dash for BART so everyone could catch their train. Cheryl and I said our goodbyes at the BART station and I hopped on a train as soon as I got to the top of the platform for the hour plus ride home. As always after a Springsteen show I was exhausted and energized at the same time and it was so worth a long late night on a "school night." (I wisely took Monday off work!)

Set List: (courtesy of brucespringsteen.net)

Meet Me In The City (The River: Outtakes)
The Ties That Bind
Sherry Darling
Jackson Cage
Two Hearts
Independence Day
Hungry Heart
Out in the Street
Crush on You
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
I Wanna Marry You
The River
Point Blank
Cadillac Ranch
I'm a Rocker
Fade Away
Stolen Car
Ramrod
The Price You Pay
Drive All Night
Wreck on the Highway
Badlands
Prove It All Night
Lonesome Day
Candy's Room
Because the Night
She's the One
The Rising
Thunder Road
Growin' Up
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Shout