Brooklyn, NY
Barclays Center
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!)
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