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