October 3, 2017: Springsteen on Broadway

New York, NY
Walter Kerr Theatre

Walter Kerr Theatre

Not long after my trip to New York to see Journey inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I saw an announcement that Bruce Springsteen was thinking about doing a one-man show on Broadway in the Fall. My immediate thought -- that would be so cool to get to see! The original stories indicated the shows would likely begin in November, which was far enough out for me to consider what I'd have to do to swing a second trip to New York in a year. It would be expensive, but I could probably make it work if the timing was right. In August, the dates for the run were announced and imagine my surprise and delight to discover that the very first date of the run was going to be my birthday. My birthday?! New York City? Bruce Springsteen? FIRST SHOW?! Oh hell yeah, I was going to move heaven and earth to get to see that!

The first key step, of course, was getting a ticket. I signed up for the "Verified Account" with Ticketmaster immediately and then crossed my fingers I'd get the access code when the tickets went on sale on August 30. There wasn't any real good explanation about what or how your account would be "verified", but hey, if it did anything to limit the bots and scalpers I was in. I happened to be on vacation the last week of August, so on the afternoon of the 29th, I was diligently checking my email to see if I would be able to get the ticket code the next day. The email finally arrived, and yes, I was going to be able to buy tickets. Most everyone else I knew who was looking for tickets got placed on "standby", which really stinks. Next step up -- make sure all my internet enabled devices were fully charged and ready to go and turn off the "Do Not Disturb" mode on my phone as the text with my code would be arriving between 3-5 a.m. Tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on the 30th, so that meant I was up and out of bed fully logged in to everything on multiple devices at 6:30 a.m. Pacific Time. To heck with sleeping in on a vacation day! 7 a.m. arrived, and I clicked on the link to buy tickets and started my search. I knew that it would be challenging to get a ticket for the October 3 date, and really any date I could get would be fine, so I selected different dates on the computer and 2 iPads I was using to search for tickets. My older iPad kept crashing, so I gave that one up pretty quickly. My new iPad was working on the October 4 show while my computer was going for October 3. The iPad came up first with a seat, so I said "close enough!" and clicked purchase with out even checking exactly where the seat was. It was in the building, that was fine by me. The one thing I had forgotten to grab was my credit card. The number is stored in my account, but I forgot I'd need the verify code on the back. I hopped up and grabbed my wallet to get the card to complete my purchase. When I sat back down at my desk, a ticket had popped up on my computer! A ticket for the show on my birthday! Oh yes yes yes! I clicked purchase on that one and cancelled the iPad. It wasn't quite 7:30 in the morning and I had succeeded in getting a ticket! I literally started dancing around the living room and shouting "Woo hoo" for about 5 minutes like a crazy person.

I spent the rest of my August vacation working out the logistics to get myself to New York for a couple of days. What I'd do around the show would be secondary -- it's New York City, it's not hard to find something to do -- just as long as I kept the block from about 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on October 3 free and clear, I'm good. It did occur to me about a day or two after I bought the ticket, that I should see if I could find a seating chart for the theater. I knew I had purchased an orchestra seat, but beyond that I really hadn't looked too closely at the ticket. (Again, I had a ticket, I would be in the building, it was fine by me!) It turned out I had the last seat in the row on the left side of the theater in row L. Okay, a little further off center stage than I would have preferred, but fine.

I got to New York late Monday afternoon and got myself situated. My hotel was on West 46th, right near Times Square and a very short walking distance from the Walter Kerr Theatre on West 48th. I walked over to the theater after I got checked in to the hotel to make sure I knew where it was and it was just a huge thrill to see the marquee and know I'd be there the next night -- one of about 950 people who would be able to say that they saw the very first performance of Springsteen on Broadway.

Tuesday night I treated myself to a really nice steak dinner before the show. The service at the restaurant was leisurely -- not slow exactly, but moderately paced -- and I wasn't sure I'd have time for dessert before I headed out to the show, but my waitress quickly said she'd bring me a dessert and my check and I'd have plenty of time to get down the block for the show. I did, and headed for the theater about 7:20. I was rather surprised when I arrived to see the level of security around the theater. It was impressive. Everything was roped off and you had to go through a scanning device one a at time similar to what you'd have at an airport -- not just a standard metal detector. It made getting in a bit slower than anticipated, but it moved fairly quickly over all. A couple of people around me wondered if this was in response to the tragedy in Las Vegas earlier in the week, which was depressing to consider, but when I was inside there was an usher selling drinks who said that no, the level of security that was posted had been planned well in advance and would last the duration of the run.

There is no lobby to speak of at the Walter Kerr Theatre, so I was a bit surprised when I handed my ticket to be scanned and the usher said "on your left" as the door to the theater literally opened to the street. I was so startled, I didn't even think to look for a merch booth, and I just took my seat next to a couple of New York area fans and chatted with them for a bit. Despite being off to the side, my seat was actually pretty good. Because it was at the end of the row, and fairly close to the stage, it meant the rows in front of me were a little bit shorter so there really wasn't anyone sitting in front of me all night. The stage set up was pretty sparse -- a microphone at center stage, a grand piano behind it, a couple of stools, and a couple of objects that looked basically like footstools. Shortly before showtime, a bit of a commotion erupted in the right-center orchestra seats. People were cheering and applauding, but the show hadn't started yet. After chatting with people around who were standing and could see a bit better than I could, it turned out that Steve Van Zandt was in the audience. The only celebrity siting of the night (though, technically I didn't see him.)

Shortly after 8:00 the lights went down and the crowd stood up -- Bruce appeared on stage with his acoustic guitar. Lots of cheers. Lots of "Bruuuuuuuuuucce". I was beaming from ear to ear. Going in, I had a general idea of what to expect. I've seen Bruce a number of times and I know how he tells stories. I've also read his autobiography and knew some of the stories he told in there would be retold in the show. The best thing about going in knowing what to expect is when those expectations are not only met, but exceeded.

Bruce started off the night dedicating the show to Tom Petty and sending his love out to his family and friends. Then he started the story telling. If you've ever seen Bruce Springsteen live, you know how his storytelling style is. Sometimes it's a straight story, others it's more a philosophical musing on ideas and concepts of life expressed in single words or short phrases. Most of the stories were about growing up in New Jersey in the 1950s & 60s, spending time on the Jersey shore, and how everything there was "tinged with just a little bit of fraud, including myself." There was humor and self-depreciation and tears. He highlighted his stories with his songs in such a way that while the stories were chronological, the songs weren't. The first song of the show was "Growing Up" which he paused half way through to tell a tale of his childhood. I didn't write down a set list, as I wanted to just be in the moment, but the flow of the songs worked so well. The second song in, he headed over to the piano and launched in to "My Hometown" and this was the only point where my seat was a bit of an issue. The microphone stand was between me and where Bruce sat at the piano, so he was a bit chopped in half. Not a big deal at all. Seeing him play piano was definitely different too.

It's pretty much impossible to pick a highlight of the show, but there were a couple that come to mind. After talking so much about his father and their complicated relationship, he spent a few minutes talking about his mother and how her optimism was so different from the rest of the life around him. He was back at the piano for this and played "The Wish" which is a song he wrote for his mother and showed up on Tracks. It was very moving, definitely brought tears to my eyes. The next point came when, again at the piano, he played "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out." After name-checking each member of the E Street Band at the end of the second verse, he paused again for storytelling, this time about Clarence Clemons. It was a sweet and loving tribute to his friend and talked about how "Scooter and the Big Man didn't just bust the city in half, but rebuilt it in their own image" (or something close to that.)

Another highlight that's really hard to describe happened a couple of different times. Every so often Bruce would wander away from the microphone and just speak or sing for a bit, but with out the amplification you really had to pay attention to what he was saying. He could be heard well enough, but it was much quieter and everyone in the audience kind of leaned forward to listen. It was definitely deliberate.

After "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out", the show kind of jumped in time. Everything up to that point had been about his childhood and being a struggling musician. "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" was kind of the "I made it" point in the show. Patti Scialfa came out for two songs ("Tougher Than the Rest" and "Brilliant Disguise") and the last part of the set were stories about big picture things. How the "Land of Hope and Dreams" isn't quite there yet.

The show closed off, of course, with "Born to Run" which was a more mellow version than the full-throated band version, but more energetic than the acoustic version he did during the "Tunnel of Love" tour. Of course the audience sang along throughout.

Happy Birthday to me!

That actually brings me to one last bit -- the audience was really quite an interesting part of the show. This was far from your typical Bruce Springsteen show, but it was definitely your typical Bruce Springsteen crowd. People recognized that this wasn't an on-your-feet-all-night 4 hour rock concert, so everyone mostly remained seated through the show, like you would an ordinary Broadway show. But there were moments when you just couldn't stay in your seat and everyone was up cheering and singing along. That it was a small, intimate setting made it even more incredible, because even with about 950 people, the energy felt like much more than that.

I grabbed some swag after the show, which took a while since there was just this tiny area at the back of the theater that served as both bar and merch booth with just one person conducting transactions (there was a second person helping to grab items) so it took a little while to get through. I headed back outside and there was a crowd waiting by the stage door for Bruce and Patti to come out. I thought about hanging around for a bit, but decided that I was good and headed back to my hotel after snapping a few pictures with some other fans outside the show. It had been an absolutely fantastic way to spend my birthday!

Setlist (courtesy setlist.fm)

Growin' Up
My Hometown
My Father's House
The Wish
Thunder Road
The Promised Land
Born in the U.S.A.
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Tougher Than the Rest (with Patti Scialfa)
Brilliant Disguise (with Patti Scialfa)
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Long Walk Home
Dancing in the Dark
Land of Hope and Dreams
Born to Run

June 25, 2017: Steve Augeri Comes to California (Finally!)

Plymouth, CA
Helwig Winery

1986: My aunt and uncle agreed to take my cousin Denise to see Journey open their Raised on Radio tour at Mountain Aire -- a concert held at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds. Denise invited me to join them. I said no -- Calaveras County is a good two and a half hour drive and in August temps would be in the high 90s/low 100s. Nope. Too far. Too hot. I'll wait until they come home to San Francisco.

2017: I get a message from Emerson -- Steve Augeri is playing in Plymouth, CA. My first thought was "Where in the hell is Plymouth, CA?!!" Took a quick look at the map and it's in California gold country -- or about 50 miles north of the Calaveras County Fairgrounds. So, yep, there I was yesterday driving two and a half hours from the comfortable mid-70s San Francisco Peninsula to the 98-degree who the heck knows where this place is?!! to see Steve Augeri perform for the first time in seven years.

I say it's been seven years since I'd seen him perform, which is true, but that was a 3-song appearance. The last time I saw him do a full set of songs was at the end of the Generations Tour in 2005! That was nearly TWELVE YEARS AGO! That is far too long! Steve's been performing off and on in the seven years (at least) since I actually last saw him, but most of the shows have been east of the Mississippi or out of the country. I have a vague recollection of seeing a mention of a show of his in San Diego a few years ago, but it was a mid-week show I learned about the day before (or possibly the day after!) and couldn't have made. It may have even been a private gig. So, yeah, seeing the man who took Journey back out on the road after Steve Perry left hasn't been easy for this West Coast kid!

We had a goodly collection of Journey folks meeting up in gold country. I booked a last minute hotel room for myself in Jackson (good idea!), Emerson and Nicole were staying in Sutter Creek, and Linda and Walt were staying at a B&B in Plymouth. The five of us met up at Linda and Walt's B&B to car pool to the winery. We weren't really sure what to expect. We had all gotten tickets for the pre-show barbecue dinner thinking there probably wasn't going to be much of any place nearby to get something to eat, so we were going in early. All the emails we'd received had me thinking this was a fairly new thing for the winery -- we'd be checked in from our car, no one would be allowed in before 5 unless they were going to the barbecue, please car pool due to limited parking, the show is sold out so be prepared to sit close to your neighbors, etc., etc. Things actually went pretty smoothly and they let everyone in and park whenever they arrived. It wasn't nearly as crowded as I had feared/expected. We were given our various wristbands in the car along with a plastic cup that would come in handy later for the free (warm) water.

We chatted briefly with Darryl and Jenny who had arrived just before us but didn't have barbecue tickets before we headed in where we immediately ran in to Debbie and Krystal. I hadn't seen them in about 5 years! We all staked out our places on the lawn near the stage (and in the shade!) then headed up to the barbecue. It was a pretty good dinner, but the pre-show dinner entertainment made it really hard to talk. The guy was good, just too loud. We did all manage to toss about our various thoughts on Neal's recent social media ramblings and concluded that things are as weird as ever in Journeyland.

We headed back down to the amphitheater to hang out and chat until the show started, which was great. Chris and her friend were sitting with Darryl and Jenny and we ran into Marcela and her daughter, so we all mixed and mingled around the floor of the amphitheater. Between going to New York earlier this year and getting together for this show, I really felt like I've gone back in time a bit in 2017. (Of course, Krystal made me all too aware that time has flown as the 11 year old kid I first met is now nearly 30 with a kid of her own! What the heck?! Ditto with Marcela's daughter who was there with her boyfriend.)

The venue was pretty small with no back stage to speak of, so we would know right away when the show was about to start and sure enough, just before 8:00 a golf cart carrying Steve and the band came cruising right in front of us from somewhere above at the winery. That was the signal for all of us to leave our blankets and chairs and stand dead center in front of the stage. I kind of laughed to myself as we were all standing there for a good 5 minutes (maybe more) before the band took the stage, but every single one of us was someone who'd been there when Steve first joined Journey and hit tons of shows while he was in the band.

It was still hotter than all heck and when the show started we were soon joined by other concert-goers which made the crowd around the stage warmer. We managed to keep a decent amount of space around us when the show first started, but as the evening progressed things got a little cozier and I did have to politely and firmly tell several people who cut in front of me to leave. Most were polite or just trying to get in a selfie and quickly left, but I did get called a bitch by one of them. Sorry lady, I spent a good 10 years of my life providing free-public relations for Journey while this guy was the lead singer, you are NOT getting in front of me.

So, all of this and I've yet to even mention the show! Well, it was fantastic! It was so good to see Steve out there on stage again. I kept finding myself smiling or laughing as I remembered some of his stage moves and thinking "oh yeah, this is why he was so good in Journey!" He recognized a lot of us in the front row and even gave Emerson a shout out from the stage (because of course he does!) and Linda and Walt got a fun selfie with Steve squatting down to get in the shot! We all got a lot of love and attention though, which was awesome. The set list was almost entirely Journey songs with only one original tune and a couple of covers, but it was great to hear a few songs that Journey hasn't done in a while themselves. Things seemed to be keyed down a bit, but otherwise sounded just like I remembered from my Journey journeys of 1998-2006. Steve introduced "When You Love a Woman" as one of his favorite songs and dedicated it to Steve Perry, which was great. I so loved hearing that song for the first time in I can't remember how long. The only non-Journey original song he performed was something called "Riverside" which was really good. The rest of the set list was mostly the songs you'd expect and want to hear at a Journey concert. No Arrival or Generations songs (alas), but all in all what you'd want to hear. Steve did break out the guitar for some soloing/dueling with his guitarist towards the end of "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" which was fun to see. It looked like he was going to play the guitar earlier in the show too, but there were technical difficulties with his guitar. He was pretty good! It was just so strange to see him playing a guitar. Another personal highlight was a cover of a bit of "People Get Ready" out of "Wheel in the Sky." I love that song and he sang the heck out of it!

There was a 9:45 curfew and Steve and his band played right up to the very last minute (actually went over by a couple of minutes) and included my personal favorite "you've gotta be kidding me" moment of the show. "Open Arms" was one of the last songs of the encore and one of the women behind me said "OH! I like this song!" I looked at Chris and we just laughed. It's always something.

The show ended much too soon and it was time to say goodbye to everyone. I made my way back to my hotel and was just blasting Arrival in the car. I've really missed seeing Steve perform and it had better not be another 7-12 years before I get to see him again! (There is a show in LA next month, but mid-week, so I don't know if that's doable. Will have to see.)

Set List:

Separate Ways
Stone in Love
Chain Reaction
Send Her My Love
Lights
Riverside (original)
When You Love a Woman
-- guitar solo --
Wheel in the Sky
-- a bit of People Get Ready
Faithfully
Don't Stop Believin'
Lovin', Touchin', Sqeezin'
-- Steve guitar solo/duel
-- a bit of Rocky Mountain Way
Any Way You Want It

Encore:
Simply the Best (cover)
Who's Crying Now
Open Arms
Be Good to Yourself
-- a bit of Whole Lotta Love
-- a bit of Won't Get Fooled Again

May 17, 2017: Joshua Tree at 30!

Santa Clara, CA
Levi's Stadium

 

I can't believe the news today
I can't close my eyes and make it go away.
How long, how long must we sing this song?

...And that's how we began the 30th Anniversary of The Joshua Tree show. My first immediate thought was "my god, that's more true today than ever."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In 1987 when U2 released The Joshua Tree, I was already a fan of the band. In fact, U2 was one of just a handful of musicians my circle of friends all enjoyed. I'd been captivated by the video for "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and by the song "Pride (In the Name of Love)" a few years before the release of what would become U2s defining album. For a wide variety of reasons, I didn't see U2 in concert until 2005, but I do remember the first Joshua Tree tour. During that tour U2 did several spur of the moment free concerts and one of those shows was in Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco. I was in college at the time and knew about the concert in the city, but not having a drivers license at the time nor a way to get from CSM to downtown San Francisco in a timely manner (it would have required at least two buses and BART to make it from the hills of San Mateo to The Embarcadero) I wound up missing it completely. Well, not completely -- parts of it did show up a year or so later in the movie Rattle and Hum so I caught some of what I missed. Actually, watching Rattle and Hum was the closest I came to seeing U2 live in their prime and at least when the film was released I was working at a movie theater. That meant the staff could have one of our after hours showings playing the movie in a mostly empty theater with the volume turned up WAY louder than it could be for regular showings.

When the 30th Anniversary Tour was announced I was finally able to take advantage of being a Seat License Holder for the 49ers and Levi's Stadium -- early access to tickets for U2! Woo hoo! I picked up 3 tickets for me and a couple of friends and waited for the show. I will admit that this show did kind of sneak up on me. With all the excitement around the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony last month, this concert that I normally would have been on pins and needles for kind of slipped my mind.

Still, with a few quick messages out to high school friend Mary and Journey buddy Ana Marie, we were able to coordinate meeting in Mountain View to catch the light rail to Levi's Stadium. Being a season ticket holder for the 49ers, I knew public transit is the best way to get in/out of the stadium and that the NFL bag policy is enforced for all events at Levi's, so we were able to arrive shortly after the gates opened and get through security fairly quickly despite the clearly new hire working the security gate.

We had arrived in enough time to grab something to eat and visit with Matt and Wendy before the openers Mumford and Sons took the stage about 7:00 (half an hour after the stated start time.) I'm reasonably familiar with Mumford and Sons and was looking forward to seeing them perform -- though "seeing" is defined in this case as "watching a giant video screen of the performance of those thumb-sized people on stage" -- but I was surprised at how many songs I recognized. They put on a really good 45 minute set and I wouldn't mind going to see them on their own in a more reasonably sized venue.

After Mumford and Sons left, we had a bit of time to wait until it was dark enough for U2 to take the stage (which ultimately led to blowing past the official weeknight curfew for events at Levi's and has locals in a bit of an uproar) which meant a good opportunity to take in the stage setup from our vantage point in section 244. While we were pretty far from the stage, we actually had a good sight line and could take in the massive video screen that ran the width of the field and included a cutout/silhouette of a Joshua tree (I'm pretty sure it's the same image as on the back of the album) that rose a bit above the screen. There was a catwalk from the main stage out to a smaller, Joshua tree shaped stage where I could see the top of a drum kit at one side sunken below the stage. While we waited, the video screen had different poems and stories scrolling along one side that were somewhat bleak depictions of the greater American experience (though admittedly I didn't read all of any of them.)

By 9:00 it was finally full on dark and the lights went down as someone meandered from the main stage down to the secondary stage. While there was a bit of a cheer from the people standing near the stage, it wasn't until the first snap of the drums signalling the show opening with "Sunday Bloody Sunday" did I realize that it was Larry Mullen, Jr. and not a last minute roadie on stage. One by one the rest of the band walked down from the main stage and finally the song kicked in to full gear. As I said above, the opening words of the opening song hit me instantly. Beyond the actual news of the day, it spoke to how I've been feeling for a while now. Ana Marie and I just looked at each other and said "wow" -- both of us thinking and feeling the same thing.

The opening set continued and was entirely pre-Joshua Tree songs. These are the songs you would have heard back in 1987 when you went to a U2 concert. "New Year's Day", "A Sort of Homecoming", "Bad", and "Pride"... songs that you might hear in concert with newer material here in the 21st century, but saved for mid-set or later. To open with those classics -- each one bringing back a memory of a time and place that doesn't seem as long ago as it actually is -- was just what I wanted from this show. As "Pride" wound down, a scroll of a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. rolled on one side of the screen with key words pulled out and made larger on the rest of the screen. A potent reminder of the potential of America.

Then the video screen turned bright red with the Joshua tree outlined by red lights and the band made their way back to the main stage. It was time to play The Joshua Tree in full sequence. The video screen changed to a black and white film of a car driving down a desert road and "Where the Streets Have No Name" came up to resounding cheers. The images on the video screen were interesting through out the show and almost entirely in black and white and were thematically tied to the good and bad of the United States, much as the album is. There was a bit of a snafu during "With or Without You" which wound up causing Bono to skip singing the first verse and chorus and made the whole performance of that song a bit awkward. Other than that, it is really hard to pick a favorite moment from this part of the set. How do you choose a highlight when it's a performance of an album full of excellent songs? I'll probably go with "Running to Stand Still" as my favorite though -- I absolutely love that song and it's probably my favorite track from The Joshua Tree and Bono's performance was fantastic.

The band left the stage after "Mothers of the Disappeared" and it was time to speculate on what would be included in the encore. Beyond assuming "One" would appear it was hard to guess. Would they stay within the same general timeline or pull out more recent songs? Turned out to be a little bit of everything. The band came back out, walked back out to the secondary stage, and did a six-song encore which included two big highlights for me. The first was the dedication of "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" to the women of the world and had images of influential women and women's movements over time to highlight the impact women have on social, cultural, and political change. It was quite inspiring. This was followed by "One" and then a short video of a young Syrian girl in a refugee camp asked "If you could talk to a stadium full of people about America what would you say?" (rough paraphrase) She replied with what so many people have said about America -- or at least the dream of America and what it could be. A place of opportunity and beauty; the vision of America we all have but yet don't quite achieve. The video continued showing images of the refugee camp and following the girl around. Meanwhile on stage the band launched into "Miss Sarajevo" and a large banner with the face of the girl was unfurled and passed along the audience. It was really powerful and beautiful and sad all at the same time.

The encore closed out with a new song called "The Little Things That Give You Away" that was really good and fit well with the older songs of the Joshua Tree era. It was a bit weird to end the show on a new song, especially since it was the first time all night the crowd sat down. Ana Marie, Mary, and I kind of looked at each other for a minute and asked "Is that it?" The lights soon came up and yes, that was it.*

Back to the VTA and then the car for the ride home. Getting in at 1:00 a.m. on a weeknight makes for a rough morning at work, but it was so worth it.

Set list:

set 1/opening:
Sunday Bloody Sunday
New Year's Day
A Sort of Homecoming
-- a bit of Paul Simon's America --
Bad
-- a bit more of America --
Pride (In the Name of Love)

set 2/The Joshua Tree:
Where The Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
With or Without You
Bullet the Blue Sky
Running to Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
In God's Country
Trip Through Your Wires
One Tree Hill
Exit
Mothers of the Disappeared

set 3/encore:
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
One
Miss Sarajevo
The Little Things That You Give Away (new song)

*I learned after this show, that most sets ended with "I Will Follow" after "The Little Things..." which makes much more sense then ending on a new song. I suspect the already way past curfew time for this show played a role in the slightly shortened end.

April 6-9, 2017: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Weekend

I'm still a bit amazed by all that happened last weekend in New York, it was a trip of a lifetime and I'll never forget it. Once it was announced in December that Journey would be among the 2017 inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I started making plans to be there. I had joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when I saw Journey's name on the ballot on the likely chance that should they get in there would be a members only pre-sale for tickets to the show. Fortunately so did Cheryl and Mary Ann and between the three of us we figured we'd have a good chance of securing the seven tickets we needed for our group (with Leslie F., Jenn, Emerson, & Nicole.) Our group could have been even bigger, but alas, lots of our friends couldn't make the trip. We'd just have to celebrate on their behalf.

The members-only pre-sale came up towards the end of January and it was off to pray to the Ticketmaster gods at 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time. This was actually a pretty good thing as it meant most of us wouldn't have to try to get tickets while at work and could try our purchasing interruption free (no way would it be stress free!) We were a bit surprised that the ticket limit was 2 per member, which meant it was going to be challenging to get the needed 7 tickets, but at least the price range fell in line with what we were expecting with the top non-VIP tickets being around $500 (still, the most expensive single ticket I've purchased for a concert.) Ultimately though, whatever got all of us in the door was going to be the deal. We managed to have 4 of us available when the pre-sale started and away we went. After lots of texting back and forth, we wound up with 6 tickets before the pre-sale sold out. Four of the tickets were on the lower level and the other two were in the 200 section. We still needed 1 more ticket for our group, and so we planned to try again in a few days when the Citibank card pre-sale was scheduled. When that sale began, also at 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time, I wound up with the miracle luck and snagged a pair of lower level seats by 7:05! We now had 8 tickets for 7 people, but wanted to see if we could improve on the 200 level seats. That didn't happen with the pre-sale and attempts during the general public on sale also proved fruitless as no one could get in to even attempt to buy tickets. Mary Ann wound up with the 200 level seats, so it was her call as to who would buy the extra ticket (though we helped and let her know who we knew was looking for a ticket.) This was probably one of the most stressful ticket buying experiences of my life -- I could NOT fail at getting these tickets, it just wasn't an option, so to have managed to snag four was just a thrill.

February and March were spent coordinating with everyone on where to stay and what to do and, yes, plan a JPP-lite event. One of my cousins lived in New York for a while and met her husband there, so I asked them for a recommendation for a reasonably priced restaurant that was good for large groups. They recommended Tony's DiNapoli near Times Square, which turned out to be perfect. Good family style Italian and lots of it. I also went down to my storage locker and pulled out the box of JPP stuff left over from previous events and shipped most of it to myself at my hotel with the plan of not coming home with any of it!

Finally, it was time to hit the road. Things started out pretty rocky on Thursday morning, storms from Chicago eastward screwed up nearly everyone's travel plans. My flight was delayed leaving San Francisco for two hours, Jenn got delayed in Kansas City, Leslie and Cheryl were re-routed to Washington DC, the crew from Chicago sat at O'Hare for hours, and poor Mary Ann spent the night at the Atlanta airport and didn't land in New York until 4:45 Friday afternoon!!!! A few other people had cancelled and delayed flights, but eventually everyone made their way to New York.

Once I got to my hotel Thursday night around 9, I met up with Jenn, Leslie, and Cheryl, and we shared our travel woes and general excitement for Friday. It's always fun once the gang starts gathering and we chatted for a couple of hours before running out of gas and heading to bed. I woke up around 5:30 -- way too early -- only to discover that Mary Ann hadn't arrived in the night. I looked up the flight she said she was supposed to be arriving on and discovered it had been cancelled -- the third cancelled flight of her trip! I checked in with her stuck in Atlanta to see how she was doing and to give what moral support I could via text message then went back to sleep for about an hour. It was still too early to be awake and up, but there was just too much excitement and anticipation to really get more sleep. Morning was spent taking it easy, pulling things together for lunch, making plans for how to get to Brooklyn for the show, and what to do on Saturday.

Soon it was time to head over to Tony DiNapoli's in Times Square to meet up with a bunch of other crazies for a JPP-lite lunch. Cheryl, Leslie, Jenn, and I walked from our hotel to the restaurant with the intent of being a little early so we could set up and be there when everyone else arrived. Emerson and Nicole were already there when we arrived having had dinner there a couple of nights previously (they did the trip right -- a weekend in Cleveland and the RRHOF before spending the week in New York!) I went downstairs and set a few things up -- a little trivia quiz for the folks coming in which would result in prizes from the bag-o-JPP-stuff!

People started arriving not too long afterwards and it was time to catch up and visit. It was great seeing everyone who could make it for lunch. Unfortunately a few people, besides poor Mary Ann, got held up by travel snafus and missed lunch. We did meet a few other fans who hadn't RSVP'd for the lunch but stopped by the restaurant to say hello. Everyone was taking pictures and checking in with friends who couldn't join us when someone spotted a news alert from TMZ. They were reporting Steve Perry would be singing at the ceremonies Friday night! Well you can imagine the buzz among the group (including the fans who dropped in running downstairs to see if we'd seen the news) -- if this were true, it was going to be an even more memorable night than we were expecting. Fortunately, this was also a group of long-time fans who had heard rumors of all sorts before and knew to temper their expectations. While we all hoped Steve Perry would sing, we pretty much agreed that it probably wasn't going to happen. Still, he'd proven us wrong before, so we kept our fingers crossed that miracles would happen. Ever since the official split between Steve Perry and the rest of Journey I had felt if he were ever to sing with them again it would be at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, but twenty or so years of living in Journeyland (including about 10 pretty deeply involved beyond the level of normal fandom) had taught me to keep my expectations low.

Soon it was time to hand out prizes (and no the trivia wasn't too hard -- I said you could collaborate/cheat!) and everyone went home with some kind of goodie. This included Amanda winning an Evolution-era head shot of Steve Perry. This would prove quite important as the day progressed. Lunch wrapped up about 2:30 and it was time to head back to the hotel and freshen up for the evening. Since we were staying right next to Grand Central Station, we stopped in there first to pick up our Metro Cards for the subway including getting one for Mary Ann who, per her most recent text, was due to arrive around 4:00. Since we were planning to get to Barclays about 5:15 or so for the 5:45 doors, we didn't think we'd have time to connect with her before the show so wanted to make sure she had everything she needed to meet us when she finally arrived.

A group of us met in the lobby to caravan over to Barclays via subway. I had done some research on which trains would go where we needed and was fairly confident I could get us there safely, but it was great to have a local in Amanda to truly help everyone get through the subway. So as to not to lose people from one point to another, Amanda eventually pulled out her Steve Perry head shot and held it up over her head like a tour guide would as she led us through the tunnels. This was probably one of those "you had to be there" moments, but it was one of the funnier parts of the day. About a dozen of us arrived at the Barclays Center about a half an hour before the doors opened where we promptly ran into a few more of the Journey faithful we knew. As it was chilly and windy, some of us ducked across the street to a small mall to grab a quick drink and sit and chat.

Back across to Barclays to go through security, which was quite quick -- I had really expected much longer lines even that early, but there were almost no lines at all when we arrived. There was a DJ just past security blasting all kinds of classic rock. "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" was blaring as I passed through the security gate and I thought "Oh man, too bad it's Friday, this would be perfect!" Then it was off to find the swag. We were directed to where the swag was supposed to be only to find everything shuttered. Nothing. No swag anywhere! Well, that was quite disappointing. None of us could figure out why there were no t-shirts or any other memorabilia available for sale. Missed opportunity for sure. With no shopping to do, we all mixed and mingled and found our other friends coming to the show. I think I managed to at least say a quick hello to everyone I knew in advance would be attending (we did run in to a couple of other old time Back Talkers on our way out after it was over that I don't think anyone knew would be there.) It was fantastic seeing everyone, even if briefly.

While chatting with Deb, Lori, Teresa, and Barb, one of them mentioned Journey would be on first. I was hoping very hard that would not be the case. I had gotten a text from Mary Ann at 4:45 that she had landed, but she still needed to drop her suitcase at the hotel, pick up the Metro Card, and get to Barclays by the 7:00 start time. Who knew if she'd make it on time, and if Journey were on first, that would be a nightmare!

Soon it was off to our seats and time to get settled in for the show. I knew beforehand that Janice and Randal would be sitting next to Leslie and me, but had to laugh when we got in and they were sitting in the wrong seats! Once everyone got settled, we chatted and visited while waiting for the show to start and just before things got started I got a text from Mary Ann -- she'd made it! Thank God!

My previous two posts describe the show, so I'll skip over all of that except to say it was so much fun keeping up with the folks who couldn't make it via Facebook. The way the show was set up with videos and speeches meant there were lulls where it was easy to make a quick post about what was going on and check on responses without missing much of the action (and if I missed a random member of ELO or Yes thanking their wives and children, well it wasn't a big deal.) When Journey (or "Journry" as I posted) hit the stage, it got a little crazier trying to take pictures, snag a little video, and make a couple of concert calls while in a state of complete excitement and lunacy. I'm still shocked I didn't actually cry, and maybe that's because I was looking for Steve to come up from the floor with the rest of the guys when he came in from the wings so I didn't actually see him take the stage. I just heard this huge roar from the crowd and I knew what had happened even while I was thinking "Where the hell is Steve in that bunch?!" I'm really curious why he spent the whole show backstage instead of on the floor with everyone else. And from pictures I've seen since, he didn't stick around to chat with the press afterwards. He seems to just want to isolate himself from everything and that makes me sad. I do hope Neal's post-induction comments that he's going to try to reconnect with Steve come to fruition, and not in the sense of them making music together, but to rekindle a friendship. If something beyond that comes out of it, terrific, but those guys did so much together when they were younger it would be nice to see the bad feelings put in the past. It's reminded me of the conversation I had with Jon in Hollywood at the luncheon after the star ceremony. He made a comment to me about how nice it was that Steve had shown up for it, which none of them knew about until they saw him, and the way he said it was touched with the same kind of nostalgia that the fans were feeling. Hopefully some fences can be mended.

After five hours of a huge spectrum of music, we all gathered outside Barclays for the subway ride back -- again led by Amanda and her photo of Steve Perry, which was much more important for the return trip as subway construction required us to find a completely different platform than expected. We said goodbye to Amanda at Grand Central Station as she had to run to catch her train home and headed back to the hotel. My traveling companions all called it a night (especially poor Mary Ann who hadn't slept since Wednesday night!) but I grabbed my laptop and headed down to the lobby to meet a few folks for what was supposed to be a quick after-show drink. My plan was to have a quick drink and say good bye/good night to everyone as they headed off to their respective hotels/rooms and then work on the first report. A little proscecco and a lot of chat meant reporting was delayed, but it was great being able to visit with folks a while longer. Everyone started to fade around 2:00, so it was off to bed and farewell to most of the Journey-ers who'd joined us.

A quick wrap for the rest of the weekend. Cheryl, Leslie, Jenn, Mary Ann, and I set out Saturday morning to meet Deb A. and a friend at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Debbie is someone I've known from the Perry List since the late 1990s and was in the South Tower on 9/11, so going to the museum with her was special. I will say it was a complete 180 degrees opposite from the emotions of the night before, and being completely exhausted meant getting overwhelmed once or twice. If you ever get a chance to go to the museum I would say do it, but bring Kleenex and be prepared to be a bit emotionally wrung out when you're through.

We said our goodbyes to Deb and headed back to the hotel for a late lunch and a nap before grabbing a car from the hotel to go see the musical Beautiful which is about Carole King and features a lot of her music. Jenn managed to snag us 5 dead center orchestra seats and it was a fantastic show. I grew up on Carole King and just absolutely loved the show. It was a perfect addition to the theme of the weekend.

Mary Ann had an early-ish flight out Sunday, so we had a nice farewell breakfast at the hotel before she had to head off to the airport. My flight wasn't until 6 that evening, so I had half a day to spend with Cheryl, Leslie, and Jenn before heading home. We hopped on the subway up to Central Park to visit Strawberry Fields and then walked around the park a bit before hopping into a cab to Rockefeller Center. We grabbed mimosas at a wine bar at Rockefeller Center then walked down Fifth Avenue back to the hotel where I was to grab my shuttle to the airport.

I still can't quite believe I actually was in New York for Journey's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Part of that is due to thinking it would never happen and part of it is due to it just being such an exciting and whirlwind of a weekend. Attending the Giants home opener on Monday and getting to hear "Lights" play in the middle of the eighth inning took me straight back to Friday night and I rather ignored my friend for the duration of the song while I sat there listening and looking out at the Bay Bridge. My favorite band was playing, it was time to bliss out.

April 7, 2017: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Part 2

Brooklyn, NY
Barclays Center

So, as promised, I'm sitting at 25,000 feet working away at trying to describe everything that happened on Friday night at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Know now that this is likely to get long and I'm also likely to forget a few things. It was such an incredible night of music and stories and the energy of the whole event just was one I'll never forget.

I was going to open with some of the pre-show festivities, but this post should be long enough with out them, so they'll be saved for the next installment. Get to the meat of the matter. Leslie and I were in our seats by 6:45 (right next to Janice and Randal in a happy coincidence!) as we had received an email prior to leaving that everyone MUST be in their seat by 7:00 because the show was being filmed for HBO (to air April 29.) Looking around the arena I instantly knew there would be no way that would happen. The place was still mostly empty, including all the tables on the main floor. About 7:00 we started getting announcements that the show would be starting soon and would everyone please take their seats. That's really when things filled in and the floor quickly filled up with the variety of celebrities and friends and families of the bands being inducted (as of course were the inductees.) We saw several members of Yes pass by our seats near the back of the arena. About 7:15 the lights went down, the music came up and the show was on.

The show opened with Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone and the man behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, welcoming one and all to the show and listing off the names of those being inducted. As each performer was announced roars would rise up from the crowd. When he got to Journey, a good size cheer went up that was soon challenged by the introduction of Yes. The final act mentioned was Pearl Jam and the place went absolutely nuts. They were definitely the top dog Friday night by way of response. I wasn't particularly surprised by that. When the ballot was announced and I saw Pearl Jam among the nominees beside making me feel old, I knew they would breeze their way in the door. The introduction ended with Jann paying tribute to Chuck Berry and off it went into a memorial tribute to the founder of rock and roll.

While the tribute played, we studied the happenings on the stage below the screen. A performer was set up to open the show, but we weren't sure who it would be. We had heard a rumor that Journey was going to open the show, but looking at the set up that was on the stage as the show started it was clearly not part of Journey's gear. ...

{pause for stupid guy in seat in front of me leaning back making it impossible to read what I'm typing.}

{delay for SF Giants Opening day}

... We could see people coming on stage and one was a violin player. Ok, definitely not Journey. As the tribute ended, I noticed a silhouette of someone standing at the front of the stage and I said "that looks like Jeff Lynne." The lights came up, and ELO is on stage and launches into Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven". They followed with two of their own songs, "Evil Woman" and "Mr. Blue Sky." ELO isn't a band I'm hugely familiar with and generally falls into the "oh yeah, I like that song, I forgot about that one" category. They left the stage and the screen behind the stage showed the tribute clip about the history of ELO. While this was happening, down on the stage, there was a scramble as the road crew for the show pulled off all of ELOs gear. Dhani Harrison came out at the end of the video and began the induction speech for ELO. It was a fairly long speech as much of it was about the family relationship between the Harrisons and Jeff Lynne. There was a good deal of humor and it was clear how close of a friend Jeff Lynne was to George Harrison. My favorite part was Dhani talking about how Jeff Lynne was an alien from another planet and that, really, all of his father's friends were aliens who were sensitive to Earth's sun and up popped a photo of the Traveling Wilburys all decked out in sunglasses. Then the members of ELO came up and gave their speeches with Jeff Lynne closing out the speeches.

This was the only induction that went by this pattern of having the band perform first. The rest all had the pattern of a video introduction that ran about 3-5 minutes covering the career and history of the inductee including interviews with the inductees. The video would be followed by the person presenting the inductee by giving a speech highlighting the accomplishments and influences of the whoever was being inducted. While this was going on the stage would get switched out for the next performance. Then the performer would come up and give their speeches and when that was done off to get set up to perform two or three songs. For the most part the speeches were very similar across the performers, so I'll only mention a few highlights that stood out especially since many of them are already appearing on line for folks to read and see.

ELO was followed by Jackson Browne taking the stage to induct Joan Baez, who I was shocked to learn hadn't been inducted before now. While even she admitted it was an odd choice since her background is folk music not rock and roll, her influence on the music and politics of the 1960s can't be overlooked. Additionally rock and roll isn't just one thing -- as just this class of inductees shows -- its origins include folk, blues, and jazz influences. It is the music of the people and that's where Joan Baez fits in to this. She was one of just a few of the inductees who had clearly practiced her speech. The best part was how she said this induction made young people find out who she was and that her granddaughter didn't know who she was until she was able to bring her backstage at a Taylor Swift concert. I laughed and even remembered that concert since it was the Taylor Swift show here in the Bay Area at Levi's Stadium. No, I didn't go, but Joan Baez strutting down the stage with Taylor Swift is going to make the local entertainment section of the paper every time. I remember thinking at the time how cool that was that a young star was recognizing her predecessors and someone who knocked down doors for her to reach the success that she has today.

Joan then did her performance center stage with just herself and a guitar for "Swing Low Sweet Chariot". She then introduced a few guests to come on stage and perform with her and out came the Indigo Girls and Mary Chapin Carpenter. They performed "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos Canyon)" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" together with the crowd joining in on the chorus of the latter. The simplicity of their performances was what made it most memorable, just a couple of acoustic guitars and vocals. When I got home, I had time to catch up on a backload of newspapers I hadn't had time to read and discovered that she is planning to retire from touring and recording after this year, so if she's coming to town near you this year make a chance to go see her.

Yes came up next and were inducted by Neil Peart Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee of Rush. I can't say that I'm a huge Yes fan, and the one time I've seen them I found myself dozing off in my seat. I'm only passingly familiar with the members of the band, so putting names to faces was a little challenging. The highlight of their speeches came from Rick Wakeman who was cracking jokes throughout and got lots of laughs from the audience. They only played two songs, "Roundabout" and "Owner of a Lonely Heart", and holy smokes were they good. Geddy Lee joined them on bass for "Roundabout" (at least, I don't remember if he stayed on stage for "Owner of a Lonely Heart") and was also quite impressive (not a huge Rush fan either.)

The induction of Tupac Shakur followed and that's when a lot of folks left their seats for a break. I know a lot of people don't feel that rap should be included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but I'm not of that mind. Inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame include blues, jazz, folk, R&B, and soul music. Like Joan Baez and her folk background, Tupac and rap is a natural progression of the music of the people. I don't know a whole lot about Tupac, but I do know much of what he sang about was from a socio-political perspective. Snoop Dogg gave a great induction speech and accepted on behalf of Tupac. Alicia Keys then came out with her band and performed in tribute. I won't pretend to know what she performed -- I was never the target audience for Tupac's music and couldn't name one of his songs to save my life. The only thing I recognized was a bit of Bruce Hornsby's "That's Just the Way It Is", which I assume was sampled for one of Tupac's songs and got me perked up as I am a fan of Bruce Hornsby. Snoop Dogg and a couple of other rappers then came out to perform a couple of songs. As I posted on Facebook, I didn't know what I was seeing but it was a really good performance and the crowd really got into it.

Journey's induction followed Tupac and since I've already covered that in my previous post I'll move along to Nile Rodgers who was being inducted by Pharrell for musical excellence. When his introduction video played there were snips of some of the many songs he has performed on and/or produced and showed many of the people he's worked with over the years. I knew he had worked with almost everybody, but had forgotten some of the specific songs/albums he was involved with. His speech was quite good and he got very emotional at one point saying something along the lines of he just wanted to be a background session guy and never expected to be where he was. There wasn't any performance associated with his induction since he wasn't going in as a performer.

The In Memoriam segment came up next and the video screens showed a bunch of musicians and music industry people who had died since last year's induction ceremonies, much like you'd see at the Grammys or Oscars. I didn't watch the whole video as I took that moment to catch up a bit on Facebook, but two of the faces that popped up and got me were George Michael (for some reason I really didn't expect to see him in that segment, denial perhaps?) and Benny Collins aka "Wolfman Black" of Journey's original road crew. That one I thought was a really nice touch. The last face on the screen though was Prince, and as the lights came back up on the stage it was time for Lenny Kravitz's tribute performance.

Lenny opened with a really interesting interpretation of "When Doves Cry" complete with a gospel choir. It was quite different from the original, but really well done. He followed it with "The Cross" which was a song I wasn't that familiar with but was also very well done. I've seen Lenny a couple of times in the past and he's just an excellent performer.

And finally it was time for the "headliners" of this induction ceremony. While everyone being inducted was more than deserving, Pearl Jam was clearly the biggest act going in based on the overall response of the audience and their position as the final act of the night. In addition to seeing Joan Baez going in, Pearl Jam was another of the class of 2017 I really wanted to see beyond the induction of my all time favorite band. I've referred to Pearl Jam as my "college band" -- when they hit the scene in the early 90s, I really enjoyed their stuff (and, okay, I was just out of college when they hit.) I think Ten is a brilliant album and I followed them fairly closely the first few years of their career. For some reason though, I never saw them live -- probably for lack of someone to go with as it was definitely before I'd go to shows on my own. Having them inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame really made me feel my age. These guys are my contemporaries, that they've been around for 25 years is just stunning.

David Letterman inducted them as a last minute replacement for Neil Young who had to cancel due to illness. He's looking an awful lot like Santa Claus these days. He gave a nice speech and included a story about having the riff from "Black" stuck in his head for months and another about Eddie Vedder giving his son a guitar after appearing on one of his last shows. When the band made their way to the stage, the entire arena went nuts. By far this was the loudest ovation anyone had received all night. I was on my feet cheering as well. As I looked at the band on stage, I kind of chuckled to myself as I thought "when the heck did Pearl Jam become a bunch of middle aged accountants?" Most of the guys looked way too straight laced to be rock stars, much less part of the grunge movement of the 1990s! (I had a similar thought a few months ago when they appeared on The Late Show with Steven Colbert, though that time it was "My God! Pearl Jam is a middle age dad band now!") I certainly have a hard time remembering I'm in my late 40s now, so seeing these guys who are also now in their late 40s is a little jarring. We're all supposed to still be in our 20s!

Anyway, the various members of Pearl Jam gave their speeches and they wrapped up with Eddie Vedder. His speech was a bit rambling and jumped all over the place, but it did weirdly flow from one part to the next. He did have to add his side of the tale about Letterman's bit about "Black." He led into it by talking about how he watched a lot of Letterman's show before making it big, so it was a regular thing for him to keep doing after success came. He then told a story about getting really stoned one night and watching the show when Letterman was going through the "Black" riff and then looked directly into the camera and said "Eddie? Eddie? You need to come on the show Eddie." Naturally in his state, Eddie thought he was imagining things and "that it might be time for rehab."

Pearl Jam's performance closed out the show with "Alive", "Given to Fly" which was dedicated to Michael J. Fox who was in the audience, and "Better Man" which is probably my favorite Pearl Jam song. They were absolutely amazing. I've always known Pearl Jam was a great live band and this short three song set totally lived up to their reputation. A very brief break followed to allow time for other inductees and presenters to join them on stage for the close out jam song. Neal and Jon were representatives from Journey, Dhani Harrison and Geddy Lee were among the presenters to join, and there were a couple of guys from Yes on stage. I'm not sure if there was anyone from ELO since the only one I know/recognize is Jeff Lynne and I don't remember seeing him on stage. They closed out the show with Neil Young's "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World." SO. MUCH. ENERGY! Everyone in the place was totally rocking out and even the celebrities in the front rows on the floor were up on their feet and fist pumping along. Since Neil Young wasn't in attendance, Neal Schon go to take on the guitar solo and he killed it.

The show wrapped up about midnight and I'll be really curious how it gets edited down for HBO. The running time was nearly 5 hours and the transitions from one thing to the next were a lot shorter than I expected them to be. I imagine a couple of songs will get cut and maybe some of the induction speeches from the bands (I could see Aynsley Dunbar's speech falling on the cutting room floor for example), but there wasn't a whole lot of filler in the show that you could really trim down.

All in all, this was a great night and a totally memorable experience. I'm actually looking forward to watching it all again in a couple of weeks on HBO* and being able to relive it all. I particularly look forward to seeing Journey again because I was so hyped up when they came out it's really kind of a blur in my mind. It was so completely worth all the hassle and expense it took to get to and see this show. I knew if this day ever came I wasn't going to miss it for anything, and it all lived up to my expectations and more. (Or almost more, there's just one small thing that would have made it perfect....)

*Edit: The HBO broadcast of this show really chopped it to bits. Both Journey and Joan Baez had songs edited out. All of the speeches were edited, with several dropped from the larger inductee groups. The broadcast really had a hard time capturing the energy of the event and it felt much more staid than it was in person. The most criminal thing however, was running the closing credits over the finale and not showing the whole thing. All in all a record of the event, but not in line with being there in person.

April 7, 2017: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Brooklyn, NY
Barclays Center

Wow... There's just so much to talk about from last night and all of yesterday, but I'm going to skip over most of it and hit the biggest and bestest part.

JOURNEY GOT INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AND I WAS THERE!!!!!!!!!

I really can't describe all the emotions that I was feeling last night. If you checked my Facebook feed, you saw I couldn't even spell Journey right when their introduction started. Screaming, shaking, near tears (really shocked I didn't actually cry!), happy beyond belief, and wow, just wow wow wow.

I need to back up a little bit to when the show actually began with Jann Wenner welcoming everyone. He listed off the names of the inductees and I would say Journey and Yes tied for the second loudest cheers (Pearl Jam won that by a landslide, but more on them later.) When Journey finally came up, second to last and not first as we'd heard rumored on our way in, people were singing with the intro music (I'm 99% sure it was "Don't Stop Beleivin'" but honestly my brain is fried and no one near by remembers at the moment!) They had a montage of video clips and interviews -- lots from the VH1 Behind the Music from back in 2001 -- and clips of songs playing before Pat Monahan from Train came out to present Journey into the Hall of Fame. While I'm sure some folks would have preferred Carlos Santana (on tour) or maybe Sammy Hagar (dunno), I thought it was a good fit. Train got started in San Francisco and even without knowing, you can tell Pat Monahan was influenced by Journey. He gave a good introduction and highlighted just so many of the accomplishments they've had that we fans have known and shouted about for years.

Then up came the band. Or at least most of them came up from the floor to the stage. For some reason Steve Perry came in from the wings. He's such a puzzle. The crowd went crazy when he made his appearance.

I know some of you got to see some live streams of the ceremonies and honestly I was screaming so much and so overwhelmed in general I don't know if I can remember all the highlights of the speeches. For posterity's sake, I want to make sure I record the order of everyone who spoke in case anyone gets edited out of the HBO broadcast in a couple of weeks.

Neal, rightfully so, was up first. As the only constant member of the band from day one, he deserved this spot. Aynsley came next and looks so different from when I saw him last in Hollywood back in 2005. Gregg followed and became one of a select few to be inducted for a second time. Steve Smith was next and gave a well rehearsed speech. One of the better ones of the night I felt. He was followed by everyone's favorite class clown Ross who did his usual goof among the sincere. Jon followed, and then, well, the crowd went wild! Steve Perry closed out the speechifying and gave a speech very similar to the one he gave in Hollywood.

The speeches were very similar in general with lots of love for Herbie Herbert and the fans and the usual listing of friends, family, road crew, and all the people who helped get everyone where they are today. But Steve Perry's shout out to Arnel... wow. That was pretty pretty cool. There are pictures on line of Arnel meeting Steve back stage before the show and when I get home and get some time, I'll swipe them from where ever they came from and add them here.

A brief break followed while the guys got ready to perform. I saw Smitty on stage first and then Neal and Ross as Neal played a great solo into "Separate Ways." When that wound down, Neal stepped up to the microphone and talked a bit to allow time for Aynsley and Gregg to come out and join the band for "Lights" which he then dedicated to Steve Perry. Why Gregg didn't sing (per Neal RRHOF said no) is beyond me. He really should have, but that's an argument for another day. "Lights" of course had the cell phone star system around the arena (again, pictures and video when I get home and can properly process them.) They closed out, of course, with "Don't Stop Believin'" which was so fitting. We fans have believed for so long that Journey deserved this honor, and now they've gotten it. It was so worth the wait.

While we all would have loved to have Steve Perry sing, as had been rumored earlier in the day, I never expected that much. He was there and that's all that matters.

I'll have more about the ending jam session in my next post (it's gonna be a day or two until I get it done, so please stand by and listen to "Patiently") but the song was Neil Young's "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World." Jon and Neal were the Journey representatives for this and Neal got to take the solo.

This night was so worth everything it took to get here.

More soon!

(Special shout out to our tour guide Amanda Marsh and her Steve Perry photo to guide us through the subway after the show! More on that later too!)

The Road to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

I actually meant to write and publish this post six months ago when we hit upon the 20th Anniversary of the release of Trial by Fire, but as happens in life, I got busy with other things and forgot completely about it. With Journey's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame now just days away, I thought it would be good to go back and revisit how that album kicked off a long strange trip down the highways and byways of Journeyland. No, this isn't about Journey's road to the Hall of Fame, it's about mine.

We actually start in late 1995 when I saw a blurb in the San Francisco Chronicle that Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain, and Neal Schon were talking about a Journey reunion. This was around the same time Steve Perry was out on tour supporting his solo album For the Love of Strange Medicine and I thought "well, that'd be cool if it happens" and then pretty much forgot about it. It had been 10 years since Journey was last together and I really didn't expect much to come of it. Come September, 1996 and I'm at work going through the day's mail. There was a new issue of Forbes magazine in the batch and one of my tasks was to review all the magazines for my boss and look for articles relevant to our research or, in the case of Forbes, our fundraising efforts. This particular issue had a photo of Kiss on the cover and a headline along the lines of "Rock Reunions" which caught my eye, so instead of just skimming through the issue as I normally would, I flipped through to the article on Kiss and read it on my lunch break. Most of the article was about Kiss's reunion with Ace Frehley and Peter Kriss, but made mention of a couple other reunions including a mention that Journey had reunited and there was a new album coming out in October. What?! Wait, what did I miss?! I spun in my chair, fired up Yahoo! to do an internet search (oh 1996!) on Journey. I immediately found three sites I devoured -- the first was the official Sony Music Journey site which was promoting the upcoming album release and had a series of message boards for fans to connect and chat about Journey. The next two were the great Journey Tribute Page run by Steve Lake (while it hasn't been updated in years, it still exists!) and the late great Journey Fans Network run by Jaspirina Mahyat (thanks Internet Archive.) Back in the days before official websites and social media these sites were where fans would go to get the latest and greatest info on Journey and connect with other fans. There were also the IRC chats, the Journey Digest mailing list, and the old tried and true newsgroups. Not having my own internet connection at home in 1996 (I don't think I even had a computer at home then, though it's close to when I got a laptop for work, so I might have) I couldn't participate in the chats and was wary of the newsgroup and mailing lists, especially since I only had my work email address at the time. So I devoured what I could from what I'd found and kept an eye on the message boards at the Sony site pretty regularly.

While I can't remember now exactly what was going on at work in October, 1996, I do remember that I was extremely stressed out and frustrated, in large part due to a senior manager who was making my life miserable despite the fact I didn't report to her. I had circled October 22 on my calendar -- the date Trial by Fire was due to be released. Since that was a Tuesday and back in a time when you couldn't order a new CD on Amazon and have it show up on your doorstep the day of release (forget downloading it!), I had planned to run to Tower Records some time that week. Sure, it meant maybe waiting a couple of days, but after 10 years, what's a few days? Silly me. Again, I don't remember exactly what happened that day, but I do remember leaving work and saying "I need that new Journey album RIGHT NOW!" I drove straight to Tower Records from the office then straight home where I immediately popped it in the stereo (not having a CD player in my 1991 Tercel.) Ahhhhh.... this is JUST what I needed.

In the weeks leading up to the release of Trial by Fire, I had actually been listening to a lot more Journey than I had in a while. In part this was due to being stressed out, which always and forever means pulling out Escape, and in part due to my upcoming 10-year high school reunion which meant pulling out Raised on Radio which came out right before graduation. Listening to Trial by Fire for the first time was special. Having that new CD after 10 years made me realize just how much I had missed listening to Journey. While I still had my LPs (from Captured to Raised on Radio) and the Greatest Hits CD and Time3 box set, I didn't listen to them regularly. Sure, pretty much every mix tape I made for my car had at least one Journey song on it, but I didn't sit and listen to Journey as often as I had in high school. I had started listening a bit more after Steve Perry's For the Love of Strange Medicine was released, but it really took Trial by Fire to reignite the passion I'd had for Journey 10 years earlier. I wrote a letter to my cousin Denise as I listened to Trial by Fire for the first time, giving my long-standing Journey compadre a blow by blow account of each song as I heard it for the first time. As I came to "Don't Be Down on Me Baby", I wrote "God, you don't hear stuff like this anymore. I forgot how much I missed Journey. I'm blissing out here." Then, after "It's Just the Rain" it was "God Steve Perry's got an amazing voice! I REALLY have to see this tour! I don't care what it costs!"

Listening to more Journey prior to the release of Trial by Fire was also partly due to connecting with other fans and talking about the love of this music that had meant so much to me since I was in junior high school. This was a new and amazing thing to me. Most of my close friends were, at best, casual/closet Journey fans. Other than my cousin Denise, I rarely talked to someone who loved Journey as much as I did. Now, I had found this whole group of people from all over the world who loved my favorite band as much as I did! Naturally, with the new album out, everyone was really excited and talking about their favorite tracks and oh when oh when will they announce the tour? Transcripts and links to interviews and press were passed around. And oh Steve, Jon, and Neal are going to be interviewed on my local classic rock station! We can't wait for more! Woo hoo! There was so much joy and buzzing excitement.

Well, time passed and as all Journey fans know by now, the Trial by Fire tour never materialized and it looked like Journey would be fading away into the sunset once again. The uncertainty and the rumors fed the on-line trolls as such things are wont to do, and it got to the point where Sony Music decided to shut down the message boards they had set up. Since there had been several different message boards on the Sony site, they were shut down slowly which allowed fans to set up their own message boards. One fellow, who went by the strange name "Skylord" had set up a message board. He was a fairly known entity in the Journey community at the time as he ran the IRC chat. So I migrated over there a bit and when the Sony boards were finally closed, that was my primary hang out. I was still leery of the mailing lists having heard that the Journey Digest was full of people arguing all the time and especially this one dude "Monker" who was particularly annoying and another dude "Meanie" who pretty much lived up to his handle. Not having a personal email address was also a factor -- I couldn't have all this Journey stuff coming to my work address if people were being rude and obnoxious. Somewhere in this time frame (mid-1997 or so), Jaspirina of the Journey Fans Network set up the Steve Perry Mailing List as a bit of a haven from the Journey Digest. That's when I decided I'd see what that group was like and signed up with my work address. Oh what a fateful decision!

The Perry List was seldom on topic (boy is that a huge understatement!), and every afternoon around 3:00 my inbox would start getting flooded with messages from the crew of Atlanta ladies who, now being off work, had hopped on line to chat. It wasn't so much that we didn't want to talk about Journey and Steve Perry, but that in mid- to late-1997 there just wasn't a whole lot to discuss beyond rumors and speculation and those subjects ran their course pretty quickly. So a community of mostly female Journey fans, along with a few brave male fans, grew into a community of friends who shared the ups and downs and ins and outs of daily life. It was kind of a weird way to make new friends, but it was fun, and several different groups would get together in the real world as there were clusters of fans in some areas.

By early 1998, it was clear there would be no more Steve Perry and Journey, but my oh my were there rumors about the band soldiering on without him. What?! That's impossible! No way no how, no no no no NO!

With rumors abounding, Jonathan Cain released a new solo instrumental CD For a Lifetime, which I promptly picked up. Shortly after it was released, I learned Jonathan had done an in store appearance at the Virgin Megastore in San Francisco about an hour after it ended. Dammit, missed opportunity number 9,648. A week or so later, I got a call from a good friend who alerted me to an ad she saw in that day's San Francisco Chronicle that Neal Schon would be performing with a band called Strictly Roots at the Maritime Hall in San Francisco. I talked her in to going to the show with me and made plans to get tickets. Back at work on Monday, ready to tell my friends on the Perry List about the show I came in to see a thread of messages with the subject line "Petaluma". I read through them all and discovered that Jonathan Cain would be performing a benefit show for his church the same weekend as Neal's show with Strictly Roots. Well, this was going to fun and make up for the unsettled state of Journey. Boy did it. Besides being a weekend with one of my most prized live music experiences, I had the opportunity to meet fellow Perry Listers "RknRlMom" and "The Great Demented One" (better known as Debbie S. & Liz.) Jonathan's show was the first time I got to meet other internet Journey fans in person, but it most certainly wouldn't be the last.

Not long after my first live Journey-related experience, it was officially announced that Steve Augeri and Deen Castronovo would be replacing Steve Perry and Steve Smith. My gut reaction -- forget it! No Steve Perry, no Journey. Oh silly me! I soon discovered my love for Journey transcended loyalty to any one member. Journey announced they would be performing a free show in San Rafael and all anyone needed to do to get tickets was to email road manager Rindell Ivers. The show was the day after I was to fly to Paris for a 3 week vacation. I wanted to throw myself on the floor and kick and scream like a two year old. That was the fateful straw that got me to finally subscribe to the Journey Digest so I could hear reports from those who attended the show. Those reports (along with a bootleg recording of the show) pushed me down a path I never expected.

Waiting out the summer between the free show in San Rafael and the official start of the first full blown Journey tour since 1986, I got to connect and meet with more Journey fans. First through the Journey Digest where folks mostly in the mid-western part of the US were catching Journey at one-off gigs at state fairs and the like and passing along reports of those shows. Then in person through a fan convention that was organized by folks mostly from the AOL forums but who also had some overlap on the Journey Digest. It was the first of several "what the heck, could be fun" decisions I would make over the coming months. I knew Debbie S. would be going and it would be fun to play tourist in my hometown of San Francisco. It was an interesting weekend that felt a bit cliquish to me, but I got to meet a few more Nor Cal Journey fans which would prove fruitful in the coming months as, holy smokes, I had people to go to a Journey concert with! Yay Kevin, Scott, and Janet! I did meet a few of the folks from the AOL group who made an effort to chat and visit with the broader group of fans at the show, so there was Carol from Buffalo and someone going by "Journeycat." The strangest highlight of the weekend though was meeting Neal Schon's mom and stepfather. Really? I'm meeting Neal's PARENTS? Too weird!

So fall rolls around and the "Vacation's Over" Tour was announced, and I find I have certifiably lost my mind. The tour is opening in Detroit a week after my 30th birthday, on a holiday weekend no less, and a group of folks on the Journey Digest decide to meet up for the first official show of the tour. Remember my comment about seeing the Trial by Fire Tour no matter the cost? Yeah, that kind of went in to over drive that fall. Buying a ticket for a concert in Detroit and flying most of the way across the country to meet a room full of complete strangers for dinner before a concert was WAY WAY out of the scale of normal behavior for me. I hate going into a room of complete strangers and make small talk for several hours. Only Deadheads travel around the country for concerts and I certainly am not a burned out hippie in a Volkswagon bus! I was so certain that what I was doing was insane, I was extremely cautious at work when talking about my plans for Columbus Day Weekend 1998 and made sure to schedule myself on a red-eye to Detroit so I wouldn't have to take any vacation time. I'm not some weirdo! At my birthday dinner the weekend before, several family members asked me multiple times what I was doing the following weekend. There were many strange looks and comments along the lines of "who are these people you're meeting? how do you know them?" Of course my thinking at the time was this is the first Journey tour in over 10 years, no way I'm gonna miss the first show, but this is just a one time thing. Oh my, how quaint!

I flew off to Detroit and met up with probably about 30 people from the Journey Digest before the show. I didn't mix and mingle much -- still the introvert doing something WAY out of her comfort zone -- but I did meet a few people including Journey Digest owner Dan Stacy and frequent commenter Moni. That happy circumstance led to getting an extra after show pass for the meet and greet in Grand Rapids. I've just seen Journey in concert for the second time in my life (the first being the night before in Detroit) and I got to meet the whole band?! This is not my life. I remember getting back to my hotel after all was said and done and being too wired to sleep. It was after midnight, but being in the eastern time zone it was still early enough to call my good friend Mary back home and tell her all about it. Mary's a casual fan of Journey (at best) but she's a big music fan in general and understood my lunacy. That she wasn't home when I called so all I could do was leave a message that said "Oh my god I met the whole band!" is one of my funnier memories of that memorable weekend.

I would hit six more shows that tour -- the entire California swing plus New Year's Eve in Reno. That show in Reno is still the biggest night out I've ever done on New Year's Eve. I usually have a quiet evening in with family and friends if I do anything at all, so to be in Reno at a concert and literally standing on my seat as midnight struck and then more or less sneaking back stage is way way over the top for me.

1999 rolled in and things really got moving. Several of the NorCal contingent of the Perry List managed to finally to meet up for lunch which led to semi-regular "grown up slumber parties" with Carla, Darla, and Ana Marie. Steve Smith was also doing a bunch of different local shows and so there would be nights out at a jazz club in North Beach including a couple where some out of town Perry Listers came in to hang with the rest of the crew. I still think Toni was nuts for driving all the way from Utah!

That summer, Journey went out on tour with Foreigner and there I was winging my way off again to a big fan gathering in Chicago. Moni and Dan Stacy had organized Journeyfest for the folks on the Digest. This included a night at a bar north of Chicago where Kevin Chalfant performed. By this time, I'd gotten familiar with the names of folks on the Journey Digest and had become a frequent poster so I wasn't my usual introverted self and actually mixed and chatted with a bunch of people and even volunteered to help check people in for soundcheck -- another perk the Journeyfest organizers had pulled off for us. That's how I got to meet Leslie F. who would go on to become one of my partners in crime for Journey Past & Present. The year ended with a benefit show in San Francisco and the soon-to-be usual preshow dinner rounded out the NorCal crew with finally meeting another Perry Lister in person as Cheryl was one of the new faces at the restaurant that night.

2000 was a pretty quiet year as fans waited in eager anticipation for Journey's new album, but one highlight was when a group from the Perry List decided to get together for a weekend in LA. It was a fun, if somewhat odd, weekend and a lot of us got to put faces to the names of people we'd gotten to know over the course of the previous few years. Deb A. flew in from New York, Leslie W. was there from Kansas City, Dale from Tampa, and so many more. The weirdness came with some discord among the organizing committee that the NorCal gang got roped in to due to some misinformation we were given. Fortunately, the fall out from that weekend resulted in something that would become so much bigger and beyond what most previous fan gatherings had been -- Journey Past and Present.

Somewhere in the 1999-2000 time frame I became much more involved in the on line Journey community. Jaspirina gave up running the Perry List in mid-1999, so a group of list members decided to take on the task and start a new list and I got invited to be one of the list moderators. By late 2000, Journey Digest list owner Dan Stacy invited me to be a moderator for the Digest and a contributing author to the JourneyDigest.com website. Meanwhile, Skylord's forum had gotten him an opportunity to run Journey's official website and his message board became the official message board for the band -- Back Talk -- and many more people joined the community. Somehow, in my 30s, I had become much more extroverted than I had ever been even if it was mostly in the virtual world of internet message boards and mailing lists.

Journey's first album with Steve Augeri, Arrival, would be released in Japan in late 2000 leading to all kinds of craziness with Napster that led to a revised version being released in the US (and globally) in early 2001. By this point, I had given in and realized I had become one of "those people" and planned to spend my vacation seeing Journey on the first week of their Arrival Tour regardless of where it may be. This led to two things -- me spending a week driving through New Mexico and Texas (NEVER AGAIN) and in my new role as a JourneyDigest.com contributor, promising to post the set lists to the Journey Digest for everyone to see. The Rockin' Road Report was born.

I traveled a lot in the summer of 2001. A good friend from high school had moved to the wilds of West Virginia and was feeling so isolated she sent me a list of Journey shows within driving distance of where she lived to entice me to visit. Feeling guilty that I had to be so bribed, I set off for West Virginia and a show in Pittsburgh. I also booked myself for every single show in California while ALSO helping to organize the first Journey Past & Present event in San Francisco. My assignment was working with the attendees because I was the one who'd traveled the most and had met most of the people we invited to this first little event. There were only about 15 of us, but we managed to pack a lot in to one weekend. We took some people down to Hanford, the central valley town where Steve Perry grew up on one day, toured The Plant studios in Sausalito the next, and managed to fit in two Journey concerts in Mountain View and Sacramento. That was the last simple JPP.

Things went so well with our first JPP event, that we decided to expand it in 2002 when we had about 40 people tour Fantasy Studios in Berkeley then trek up to Clear Lake for a luncheon and concert at Konocti Harbor Resort. It was during the planning for JPP2002 that we got the idea for Bammies Walk of Fame (after setting aside the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the moment.) Darla, Cheryl, Emerson, Mary Ann, Leslie F. & I had completely fallen into the role of part-time Journey PR/Fan Club operators and that was really only the beginning. It was an insane amount of work we were doing in our free time out of our sheer love for the band that had given us so much through their music.

In my role of fan contact point, my on-line presence in Journey-land grew even more and led to some interesting experiences. One I'll never forget is being at a pre-show barbeque at someone's house outside of Chicago with a large group of Back Talkers, some I knew, some I didn't. While chatting with one of the folks I knew, one of the other guests walked up to me and said "Oh YOU'RE MNM! So nice to meet you!" I'm pretty sure I responded politely with a similar greeting, but in my head I'm thinking "Who the hell are you and how the hell do you know who I am?!" My small community notoriety taught me quickly -- I'm glad I never had any desire to be famous! It was a very weird feeling, especially since by this time I had met so many people across the country at various Journey shows I was having a hard time remembering everyone's name and face. Still, it was nice to know that, should I so desire, I could probably find a place to crash in every major city in the country! The internet can be a weird place, but it was also a place I was able to find so many new friends it was worth some of the weirdness.

When the hordes of fans descended on San Francisco in April 2003 for JPP2003 and the Bammies Walk of Fame I got to experience one of my favorite moments in my Journey journeys. Beyond the feeling of accomplishment it took to get it done after a year's hard work and seeing the general joy the other fans were having, I got my biggest kick during the post-show/event hang outs in the JPP hotel suites. It was then that I actually got time to sit down and relax and talk with people instead of running around making sure things ran smoothly. There was the night with the crew from Kansas City hanging out into the wee hours of the morning and the following night with some local Bay Area fans. Those are memories that are burned into my brain.

JPP2005 in Hollywood was another crazy crazy weekend with now about 150 people in attendance (double JPP2003) and it got impossible to see and chat and visit with everyone that I would have liked. There was just so much going on with so many people that when I recently re-watched the DVD from that weekend I had a hard time putting names to faces. I did get to visit some with some people, but no where near as much as I would have liked and that is still one of the things I wish could have gone differently that weekend.

Things changed a bit after Hollywood. A combination of Journey burnout from six straight years of planning fan conventions, changes in the band, changes in online communications, and the growing expense of traveling saw me pull back a lot from the Journey community. I still see my local friends, but losing Darla in 2008 was an emotional blow that still leaves a big hole, especially when I'm at a Journey related event.

So now Journey is finally getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- yet another project that I spent some time on in the early 2000s -- and I'm flying off to New York for the ceremony. Not going was not an option. And with all of that the thing I'm most looking forward to is seeing some of those friends I met along the way. There's about 20 of us getting together for lunch before the ceremonies and at least another half dozen folks who will be in town for the show that I hope I can meet up with during the weekend.

There were a lot of adventures and experiences criss-crossing the backroads of Journeyland between the fateful day Trial by Fire was released and when I stopped my Journey journeys after the 2006 tour. The thing I still value above it all isn't the opportunities I got to meet and get to know the band a bit but the opportunities I got to meet and get to know so many of my fellow fans. It's a truly great bunch of people I've gotten to know over the years. Even if we don't see each other or even stay in touch as much as we once did, I will always cherish the times spent with everyone I met (even some of the odd ones.) So, to my Journey fan friends around the globe I say:

Don't stop believin'...

We Will Meet Again.