Santa Rosa, CA
Sonoma County Fairgrounds
It was a Tuesday night. In Santa Rosa -- a good 75 miles/2-hour drive from home. Showtime was 7:30 p.m. I just took a week off and have a ton of work to catch up on plus several deadlines this week. Heading to Santa Rosa was going to be a LOT and I knew I'd be wiped out the next day.
But it was Steve Augeri. I haven't seen Steve since 2019 in Santa Cruz. So I bought a couple of tickets for me and Ana Marie and let the crew of Journey folks I knew were going that I'd be heading up to the show too. Emerson let me know that he and the others all had seats in Section A, so when I went online to buy my tix middle of last week, I first hit "best available" and came up with Section B, Row 1. Hmmm... no seating plan to be found, I went back and checked on what was available in Section A. Came up with Row 5. Ok, Section B must be next to Section A, not behind, so went back and grabbed those two Row 1 seats and hoped for the best.
As noted, I was off last week and have a lot on my to do list for this week, so I couldn't take off from work until after my primary manager's staff meeting that was scheduled from 1:00-2:00. That should be fine. Log out after the meeting, do a quick change of clothes and hop in the car by 2:15, should be in Santa Rosa between 4-4:15, plenty of time to meet Darryl, Jenny, Chris, Charles, Debbie, and Renee for the 4:30 pre-show dinner and drinks (drinks and dinner?) Emerson and Nicole would meet us at the show.
Well, my staff meeting ended early (at least for me) at 1:30 so I thought "great, that should give me plenty of time to send these two quick emails and log out at 2:00." Yeah, right. I finally logged out about 2:20, scrambled to get out of my WFH comfy clothes and into jeans and a top for the show. Dammit, better get gas too. Finally on the road by 2:45 and keeping my fingers crossed that traffic through San Francisco wouldn't be too awful and started driving north.
Other than Google Maps routing me a weird way when I first hit San Francisco, traffic through the city was pretty good and it was a lovely clear afternoon to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, something I haven't done in a very long time! After going around the block a couple of times trying to find the entrance to the parking lot for the restaurant, I finally arrived about 4:35 and met folks inside. Debbie and Renee hadn't arrived yet, so we had cocktails and chatted while waiting. They were a bit more delayed than expected, so we ordered some food around 5:30 and they arrived about the same time as the food.
Lots of fun chatting and catching up with folks I haven't seen in a while, largely due to COVID and lack of concerts. I will always, always love the get-togethers with my fellow Journey fans and all the friends I've made along the way because of that dang band!
We headed over to the fairgrounds about 6:30 and made our way in to the venue. It was just an open-air pop-up stage in the middle of the fairgrounds with a fenced off section with chairs (reserved, $20 + fees, does not include fair admission) and an open grassy area and bleachers that were free. Well, duh, guess where our seats were? The folks who'd bought their tickets earlier than me (everyone else in our group!) were all in Section A, Row 1, so it was perfect that Ana and I were in Section B, Row 1. There were two empty seats next to Ana and me, a narrow aisle and then seats 1-8 of Section A, Row 1 filled with our Journey gang.
At dinner, Darryl had told us about chatting a bit with Steve just before he started his sound check, and told us that Steve asked that the barricades in front of the first row be moved back closer to the stage so folks could get close to the stage. Fantastic! When the show kicked off with "Separate Ways" most of us went straight to the front up against the stage. Alas, security made us go back to our seats. VERY frustrating! We stayed there, mostly seated for about the first half of the show, but absolutely jumped up when Steve went into "Higher Place" which he introduced in such a way that Ana and I thought he might be going into something from Tall Stories, presumably because he knows most folks want to hear the Perry-era stuff. (But c'mon Steve, we're here to see YOU! Sing YOUR Journey stuff!) As I said to Ana "we were there the first time he performed this live, damn if I'm sitting down for this!"
Not long after, the security guard who had made us all go back to our seats crept along the front row saying "you can go up front." Thanks to Steve signaling her about it! Well, you don't need to tell us twice... and there we all were, the long-time Journey gang all lined up at the barricade in front of the stage. I took a few pictures and a little video, but was actually TOO close to the stage for much more than that -- there would have been far too many crotch shots trying to snap more than a few pix! Heck, I nearly fell over from leaning back while live streaming Steve playing some guitar on Facebook. (That was RIGHT in front of me!)
Steve wasn't in perfect voice, which he mentioned early on. He and the band have been on the road for a few days and had some travel difficulties. But he carried on with "half a voice" and some reverb issues with his mic and put on a great show. I just kept smiling all night long. I've been a bit down on the Journey boys after the lawsuit between Neal/Jon and Ross/Smitty hit in 2020 (and to be honest, a lot of the other BS that's gone on among the band the previous few years), but I will always love their music and I will ALWAYS be a fan of Steve Augeri for all he did to bring Journey back to us almost 25 years ago now! (WHAT?!)
For the encore, Steve started off by covering Rod Stewart's version of "Forever Young" which I love. It got me a bit teary-eyed since no matter how old I am, Journey's music always sends me straight back to being a teenager in the '80s. I've been through a lot with this band, but they'll always keep me "forever young."
We didn't get a chance to chat with Steve after the show as he didn't come out, but his son Adam who is playing drums in his band did. We had a nice chat with him, but I kept shaking my head in disbelief because all I kept thinking about was meeting him backstage in Reno after a New Year's Eve show at the end of the Vacation's Over tour sitting off to the side watching as his dad is mobbed by fans and other assorted folks. He's a sweet kid. (Yeah, he's probably 30 or so now, but that's a kid to me!)
Naturally, we were all the last to leave the stage area since we just kept chatting all along, but eventually we had to hit the road for our long drives home. My drive home was faster than the drive up, but it was still 11:30 by the time I got home and it took me at least another hour to wind down enough to get to bed and go to sleep. Made for a verrrrry tough getting up at 6:30 this morning when my alarm went off, but a couple of cups of coffee (which I almost never drink) got me through the day.
I had a farewell lunch this afternoon for a co-worker, and when I hopped in the car for the short drive to the restaurant I couldn't find anything to listen to on the radio and my phone was in my purse, so I just hit the "CD" option in my car since I usually have something in the player for such occasions. Totally forgot it was Arrival, so I drove off to lunch listening to "We Will Meet Again" which just put a huge grin on my face. I think I'll keep the car stereo on CD for the next couple of days for my commute into the office.
Set List:
Separate Ways
Stone in Love
Ask the Lonely
Send Her My Love
Lights
Higher Place
Wheel in the Sky
Faithfully
Don't Stop Believin'
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' (w/ a bit of Rocky Mountain Way)
Any Way You Want It
-encore-
Forever Young
Who's Crying Now
Open Arms
Be Good to Yourself/Zep/Who (copied from actual set list... songs were bits of "Whole Lotta Love" and "Won't Get Fooled Again")
Postscript: This wasn't my first show of 2022, that was Paul McCartney in May which WASN'T the May concert I was referring to in my last post. More on that come May 2023!
