October 12, 2024: Life in the Sphere, Everything All the Time

Sphere
Las Vegas

In 2022, while heading to the Venetian resort for my company's annual conference, my cab ride took me past a new building under construction. It's odd circular shape led me to ask my driver what it was. A new 360-degree concert venue was his response, and I thought "Wow, cool and that place is huge!" Clearly it was going to be a venue for major acts. Fast-forward a year, and it's announced that U2 will be the first performer to take up residency at the Sphere. I considered getting a ticket to that show, but just couldn't bite the bullet on the ticket price and a weekend hotel rate in Vegas. In June of this year, my company conference was once again at the Venetian as usual, but this time our CEO's keynote and the "celebration" event were both going to be held at the Sphere. Alas, we could only send one support person and I didn't get to go this year, and had to settle for watching the keynote speech streaming at my desk and wait for pictures and stories from my colleagues who attended and got to see the Dead and Company show. The keynote looked cool for a corporate event and everyone raved about the concert and shared some great photos and video.

When the Eagles announced their residency, I took a look a the dates and saw they were playing the weekend before and the weekend following my birthday weekend. Since October 12 is my sister-in-law's birthday, and she and her twin sister usually go to Las Vegas for their birthday, I asked her at a family dinner if she'd be interested in going to the show. She said she and her sister had decided to skip Vegas this year, but thanks for asking. My mom overheard our conversation and said "Can I go with you?" Well, sure! So, I made arrangements to get tickets for the show and since Mom hadn't been to Vegas since the mid-1970s, looked for something fun we could do either the night before or after.

I'll skip my usual ramble about getting to Vegas and Mom's impressions 50 or so years since her previous visit and start with some general information about the Sphere experience beyond the show. Should you plan to see a show at the Sphere and use the Venetian walkway tunnel, know that it's about a 10-15 minute walk from the casino floor to the entrance of the arena, plus any time it may take you to get from your room to the casino floor should you opt to stay at the Venetian. The whole trek is indoors, and one I am particularly familiar with due to attending my company conference (though it was rather odd walking through the convention hall with nothing happening, I'm used to it being much more hectic.) The security is a little slow, but likely because most of the people attending the show are coming via the walkway rather than one of the other entries. It was otherwise efficient and I had no issues with my small-ish concert purse and the "no-bags" policy. We were able to grab a couple of bottles of water from a self-serve stand that had very friendly staff helping people check out their purchases. A quick stop in the restroom was the only "disappointment" as it was very poorly lit -- way too dark -- but otherwise clean and efficient. Off we went to our seats.

Before I purchased the tickets, I did some online research into where the best seats might be. I knew sitting on the floor would be great for seeing the band, but likely not the best viewing point for the immersive video. The general consensus was the 200 or 300 sections, but from the pictures I saw (plus reports from my work colleagues) both seemed to be miles from the stage and the band would be ants. Thus, I opted for section 106 which came with a note of "limited screen" (despite being dead center stage) since I wanted the ability to also see the band and not just "watch TV." (More on that later.) As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, the "limited screen" meant things were cut off a bit on the side, but otherwise the view was terrific. Mom and I got to our seats and were just amazed. The screen showed assorted historical music venues from Los Angeles and other key moments in time from the history of the band. Every so often a blurred car would roll along the screen making it look like someone was driving down the Sunset Strip. The whole thing was amazingly crisp and Mom and I were both dazzled just by this "simple" opening.

This scene would move down
the table and through the door

Shortly before the show started, we discovered we were in the wrong section, so we promptly hustled over to our seats to settle in for the show. Here's where this review gets challenging. It's now six days since I was as the show and I still don't know if I have the words to aptly describe what I saw and heard. The show kicked off with "Hotel California" and as the screen morphed from a misty, foggy background to an animated car driving down a hill in a canyon my jaw dropped wide open and my eyes popped out of my head (and everyone's phone was up taking pictures and video.) Even though it was an animation, it felt completely three-dimensional as the car moved down the hill and then slowly turned a corner to the driveway of a small motel. The doors of the hotel opened and it was as if you were walking down a hallway and kept moving forward through various doors and scenes. I don't think I blinked for the duration of the entire song. I did have enough brain power left to manage to snap a few pictures and grab a few snips of video, but I wanted to stay in the moment as much as I could because it was such an amazing experience. During the ending solo the video became a swirling aurora with the various band members highlighted in the middle.

The next few songs are a bit of a blur. I rather felt like a country bumpkin wandering in the big city for the first time. There was animation of driving along the California coast and it felt like I was in the car along for the ride. I typically get a little queasy on windy roads, so imagine my surprise when I found myself feeling queasy "riding" along the animated coastal road!

About three songs in, the screen changed to a calm star field and Don Henley welcomed us to the Sphere by saying "You'll see a lot of pretty pictures tonight. Some of them will be moving. Hope you brought your Dramamine." Which got a laugh, especially from me after the queasy car ride a few minutes before. He also shared that what the band was enthusiastic about -- the sound system! He informed us that "there are 164,000 speakers. You can hear all our mistakes." I didn't notice any mistakes, but the sound was excellent, though I must admit the quality of the sound was a bit lost among all the stunning visuals.

I don't want to spoil the show too much for people who may be planning to see it soon because it's really an incredible experience, but I do need to highlight a couple of my favorite moments. The first was the trip through space during "Take it to the Limit" -- planets, nebulae in vivid colors with Vince Gill appearing on some of the planets as he sang. "Tequila Sunrise" was a quieter scene of a sunrise over a canyon. Beautiful and peaceful.

But the most surreal moment of the show came towards the end of "In the City." The screen had started off as a bunch of black and white tenement buildings, invoking the feel of a cramped, crowded, dirty city. Towards the end, the scene turned to color and started rotating and moving. Sitting in my seat, I felt like I was slowly rising and floating above the scene. I looked back towards the stage at the band to try to re-center myself and even they looked like they were floating upwards. It was completely surreal. I looked over at my mom and she too was stunned by the feeling of motion.

Fortunately the show would split up the surreal scenes with ones that were more tranquil and would give you a moment to ground yourself. "Seven Bridges Road" was a perfect example with the star field once again behind the band on the screen as they harmonized on that beautiful song, eventually ending with a slow ride down a peaceful river.

Normally, when I'm at a large show I make a concerted effort not to watch the show on the video screens. I want to be in the moment and watch the band. I will often close my eyes to just let the music wash over me. This is absolutely impossible at the Sphere. The full surround high resolution video is so stunning you can't NOT watch it. At a normal show I also try to limit how much of it I take pictures of and record because I don't want to watch it through my phone. That was an extreme challenge at the Sphere. Part of me wanted to have my phone on and recording for the entire thing, but since the only way to really capture everything would be to scan the entire show in all directions I'd be experiencing it through my phone rather than immersed in it. I did grab some photos, but notably most of the video I grabbed was from the quieter sections of the show rather than the visually stunning ones.

One thought kept running through my head as my eyes bugged out of my head -- I've got to buy a video of this, but how the hell do you capture this all in a video that you can watch on a normal television? The small snips of video I captured on my phone did an OK job of getting a sense of what it's like, so I suppose a professional crew could capture it, but I guarantee the feeling won't be the same as seeing it in person.

A few more moments of the show I wanted to highlight. The first was the only time in the show I actually closed my eyes. For "Already Gone" the video screen essentially disappeared and bright spotlights shone through and would rotate out towards the crowd. They were really blinding so I closed my eyes for much of that song. Then later when the band launched into Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good", the screen was filled with archival photos and video of the band over the decades and it was great to see photos of Glenn Frey prominent among them. Some of the photos of Glenn made it extremely simple to see just how much Deacon looks like him. We also were treated to Don Henley's "Boys of Summer" and the video for that one started off with a shot exactly like the opening shot from the original video and got a huge cheer. It took a few seconds of watching the video before I thought "that's not right -- this is a different video using the same look." I was right and that video morphed into something completely different.

After a brief break, the show closed out with "Take It Easy", "Rocky Mountain Way", "Desperado", and "Heartache Tonight." The first three were backed by some of the quieter, peaceful videos, but "Heartache Tonight" went out with full color animation. All in all a great compilation of the experience of the evening.

I'm contemplating getting tickets again and sitting in one of the upper sections and experiencing it again from that angle. I think it will be less overwhelming a second time, but I would also have an ability to appreciate what I'm seeing rather than being completely gobsmacked the entire time. I will definitely go to future shows at the Sphere should the opportunity arise (and I'm extremely curious about my company's plans for NEXT year's conference and concert since I think there will be a good chance I'll get to attend again.)

Setlist

Hotel California
One of These Nights
Lyin' Eyes
Take It to the Limit
Witchy Woman
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Tequila Sunrise
In the City
I Can't Tell You Why
New Kid in Town
Seven Bridges Road
Those Shoes
Life's Been Good
Already Gone
The Boys of Summer
Life in the Fast Lane

Encore:

Take It Easy
Rocky Mountain Way
Desperado
Heartache Tonight

 

July 17, 2024: You Just Might Find You Get What You Need

Levi's Stadium
Santa Clara, CA

According to legend, the first time I got on a plane to attend a concert was when I flew to Detroit to see Journey for the first time. That's not exactly true. About four months before that memorable night, I was in Germany seeing the Rolling Stones. The key difference between those two trips is that the trip to Michigan was solely to see the newly reformed Journey while the trip to Germany was a vacation with my friend Ana Gloria to visit our friend Barbara and her husband Chris who were stationed there while he was in the US Army. When we planned the trip, Barbara let us know that she and Chris had tickets to see the Rolling Stones in Nuremberg one of the days we'd be visiting. We said if you can get us tickets we'll pay you back when we see you, if not it's not a big deal -- you go to the show and we'll do something on our own that night. They were able to get us a pair of tickets which cost about 50 Deutsche Marks (this was pre-Euro days) and we were set. So a few days after arriving in Europe and visiting Paris (thus missing Journey's debut with Steve Augeri) and Munich, my friends and I were on the road to Nuremberg to see the Stones. It was a memorable show filled with classic Stones hits and thus a legendary band was checked off my list of acts to see.

I was never a huge Stones fan. As a kid born in the late 1960s, the Stones were just that ubiquitous band that had been around forever. I vividly recall people shocked -- absoulutely shocked -- that they were still touring in the early 1980s. These guys were in their forties for crying out loud! Much too old to be carrying on as rock stars! Still, they're the Rolling Stones and a major influence on 20th century music, so of course I paid attention to their music. However, having seen them in 1998, I didn't feel a burning need to see them again in the subsequent years as they continued to tour. Usually whenever a local show was announced, I thought about it for a second then thought "well, I saw them in Germany, I don't really need to see them again."

Flash-forward more years than I want to admit, and my high school friends and I have gathered for our annual Christmas party. After a spending a day and dinner in San Francisco, we gathered back at my friend Isabelle's house for dessert and still more conversation. Somewhere along the line the conversation turns to music and Keith Richards' upcoming eightieth birthday. Now, Isabelle is a big fan of the Rolling Stones and an even bigger fan of Keith Richards and retrieves a painting she made of him back in high school. I instantly remember it from that time and we all laugh and reminisce about our teen-aged selves. We then marvel at the fact that Keith Richards is still alive at eighty and Barbara and I recount the tale of seeing the Stones in Germany.

Once home from the party, I start thinking. Isabelle has never seen the Stones. Mick and Keith are eighty -- there aren't going to be a whole lot of more opportunities to see them and they'll be in the Bay Area in July. Tickets had been on sale for a while, and I knew they'd be pricey but I took a look to see what a decent seat would cost. As I thought, they were expensive, but not more than what I'd be willing to spend to see one of my favorite acts, so on December 18 I texted Isabelle: "In honor of Keith Richards' 80th birthday I would like to treat you to one (1) ticket to the Rolling Stones in July." She delightedly agreed and off I went to grab two seats for the show.

The show date finally rolls around, and Isabelle and I head out for dinner in Mountain View before catching the light rail to Levi's Stadium. We run a little late at dinner, but I didn't expect it to be a problem as there was no way the show was going to start at the ticketed time of 7:00 -- it was still light out for crying out loud! We arrived at the stadium and it took a little longer to get through security than usual -- something in my bag set off the alarm -- but we eventually got inside. I'd forgotten exactly where I had gotten the seats. My brother and I have season tickets for the 49ers, so I knew where to sit and knew I'd gotten seats near to where our season tickets are, but wasn't exactly sure where. It turns out they were in the club section that I'd only been able to see when we toured the stadium prior to the opening season. So our seats were about the 50-yard line if it'd been a football game. I was also pleasantly surprised to find the seats were wider than our seats and had padding. Very comfortable.

When we arrived, the opening act was performing. While there hadn't been an opening act advertised, I wasn't surprised. It was an all-girl band called The Beaches and they were quite good. I did keep laughing to myself though thinking "they're young enough to be the Stones' grandchildren!" Isabelle and I half listened and half chatted through their set while we waited for the main act.

As darkness fell, the stage lit up. Here we go. The first thing we hear is the opening riff to "Start Me Up" because of course that's what you open with! Mick and the boys take the stage like only the Rolling Stones can and my first thought is "Yeah, they've still got it." They've been around longer than I've been alive, but they still have that ultra-cool swagger that screams "We're the Rolling f-in' Stones and you're not!" The crowd was up on its feet and unlike crowds at other shows with acts of this vintage (ahem, old) they stayed on their feet almost the entire night.

The second song of the set was "Get Off of My Cloud" and my heart swelled. Nearly twenty years ago my aunt Diane was dying from cancer and a nurse had asked her what her favorite music was and she replied "rock." This got a laugh from the family who were there at the time especially my uncle Tom. Diane's idea of "rock" was Anne Murray and the Carpenters! She was definitely an easy-listening type person. After her funeral, the family gathered back at my parents' house for what can best be described as an old-fashioned Irish wake (with cosmos instead of old-fashioneds!) Late in the evening, my uncle Tom went out to his car and brought in a CD and re-told the story of Diane telling the nurse she liked rock music. He then put the CD on and cued it up and said "I'm sure this is what Diane is listening to now." He hit play and "Get Off of My Cloud" came blaring out of the speakers. We all laughed and cried and danced. Tom died ten years later, so hearing this song brought back happy and sad memories of them both.

As the set rolled along through classic hits, new tunes, and fan-favorites, I found myself watching Isabelle as much as the show. She was clearly really enjoying herself. She's had a rough few years and I was so happy to see her having so much fun. About half-way through the show, Mick went off stage for a bit of a break and Keith took over and sung a few tunes I didn't know. Isabelle loved it.

Throughout the show, I was amazed at just how much energy they had. Mick and Keith are eighty. Ron Woods is seventy-eight. They were going full-bore the whole show -- and this was the second to last show of the tour. Sure, they're doing stadium shows that pull in huge audiences and have multiple days off between shows which I'm sure helps them keep going full bore on show nights, but I kept thinking about how so many of my favorite performers are in their 70s and 80s and could only come to one conclusion -- music keeps you young.

A few highlights of the show for me included a cover of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" (well, duh), "Sympathy for the Devil", and an amazing version of "Gimme Shelter." That last tune had one of the backing singers come front and center to sing a duet with Mick and all I kept thinking was "my god, she's channeling Tina Turner!" Turns out, she had been starring in the London version of the Tina Turner musical before joining the tour. She was absolutely fantastic!

The show closed out with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" which was absolutely perfect. As I stood there and sang along I couldn't help but think about how glad I was that I had gone to see the Stones one more time. They're perhaps the greatest rock band of all time and can still bring it 60-plus years on.

Set list:

Start Me Up
Get Off of My Cloud
Tumbling Dice
Angry
Far Away Eyes
Like a Rolling Stone
Bite My Head Off
Mess It Up
You Can't Always Get What You Want
You Got the Silver (Keith Richards on vocals)
Little T&A (Keith Richards on vocals)
Before They Make Me Run Keith Richards on vocals)

Sympathy for the Devil
Honky Tonk Women
Midnight Rambler
Gimme Shelter
Paint It Black
Jumpin' Jack Flash

Encore:
Sweet Sounds of Heaven
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

September 9, 2023: Let's Groove Tonight!

Chase Center
San Francisco, CA

When tickets went on sale for Lionel Richie with Earth, Wind, and Fire earlier this year, I thought "oooooh that would be a cool show to see!" However, I'd just bought a bunch of other tickets for other shows and my credit card was melting. Throw in buying a new car and some travel, I decided to wait a bit and see if I could get a ticket later on once my immediate expenses calmed down a bit. I went back and forth for a several months on whether or not I'd get a ticket and would periodically check availability and pricing. Tickets were still generally available and not too outrageous, so I'd wait and see.

About three weeks ago I finally bit the bullet. I wanted to go to the show and the only thing that was stopping me was money which I now had, so what the hell get the ticket! I am SO glad I did!

I took the train up to San Francisco after clocking out from work a little early. As has seemed to be the case every time I've gone to Chase Center directly from the CalTrain station, I missed the Muni light rail connection as the cars pulled in just as I was exiting the train station with no way to get across the street to catch the light rail. This time I actually missed TWO light rail trains because of timing and street lights! No matter, it's a relatively short walk from the CalTrain station to Chase Center and it was a pleasant evening, so I walked the 15-minutes or so it takes to get there.

The doors hadn't opened yet when I arrived, so I debated -- stand in line for something to eat at Gott's Roadside, or just stand in line to get into the arena and eat something there. The line for Gott's looked like it would take as long as getting in, so I just opted for arena food and waited on the doors. The wait for the doors was a bit longer than I anticipated, but soon enough I was in the arena and off to grab something to eat in the lounge area behind my seat.

Once I finished eating, I headed in to my seat which was in the last row of my section. That turned out to be a pretty good thing as there was more space between my row and the row in front of me than the other rows, and only two seats to my left before the next section which was designated for wheelchairs. That meant there was a lot of room to move around and the couple sitting next to me and I took full advantage of that once the show began.

Now, I can't say I was ever a huge Earth, Wind, and Fire fan, but I always enjoyed the songs I knew and figured it would be a fun, upbeat show. I wasn't wrong. They took the stage to "Shining Star" and I was up on my feet dancing along immediately and within a minute I thought "Oh I am SO GLAD I got this ticket!" I was rather surprised to see the entire section to my right was seated. Sure, this wasn't a young crowd my any means, but Earth, Wind, and Fire play music you dance to! Get up and dance dammit! You can sit when Lionel Richie comes out and plays all his ballads!

I knew I probably wouldn't know all of their set going in, but I knew about half of the set. An early highlight was the bass solo by Verdine White. The stage had been set up with a catwalk out to the middle of the arena and dang if he didn't dance on down to the secondary stage to play his solo! I don't think I've ever seen a bass solo before -- it was funky!

I loved their cover of "Got to Get You Into My Life" and I was reminded of hearing it as a kid. I may have actually heard the Earth, Wind, and Fire version before I heard the Beatles original (not totally sure on that one though.)

About half way through the show I got to wondering how many members of the band were still original members as the only one I could remember and recognize was Phillip Bailey and that was in part due to the fact he was a donor when I worked at the SETI Institute. Never fear, shortly after this thought crossed my mind, Phillip introduced the band. It turns out there are only three original members left - Phillip, Verdine White, and Ralph Johnson. I should have guessed they were the only three original members as they were all dressed in gold suits while the rest of the band was wearing black suits with gold embroidery. (Oh yeah, they still LOOK like Earth,Wind, and Fire with their costumes even if the platform boots have been replaced by sequined sneakers!)

Once the band got to "Boogie Wonderland" everyone was finally up on their feet and dancing through the end of the show. When "Let's Groove" followed "Boogie Wonderland" I was pleasantly surprised -- I had completely forgotten that it was an Earth, Wind, & Fire song! I appropriately danced along until the set ended a little over an hour after it had begun.

Time to sit and relax until Lionel took the stage, and I found myself really enjoying the between acts tunes playing over the PA. Lots of classic Motown and R&B. Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, the Temptations, and so on. It really fit the mood. (And, yes, duh, I know Lionel Richie and the Commodores were Motown acts.)

The lights went back down about 9:15 and out on the secondary stage, a trap door opened up and up came Lionel Richie on a rising platform and he immediately launched into "Hello." I laughed to myself and thought "I should have expected that to be the first song!" I also immediately noticed he was wearing a white tuxedo jacket with tails and laughed again -- someone has been taking fashion advice from Steve Perry!

Again, I was immediately delighted that I had decided to get a ticket for this show as Lionel went through hit after hit from both his solo and Commodores catalog. So many hits that I kept thinking "oh gosh, I forgot about that one!" But with the exception of a couple of Commodores songs I knew the words to every single one of the songs.

A couple of personal highlights -- "Three Times a Lady" which is probably the first Commodores song I remember hearing as a kid and being somewhat annoyed by it as a ten-year old. I forget exactly why it annoyed me then, but I laughed at the memory. "Sail On" got stuck in my head once the show was over, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear "Brick House" (which might be neck and neck with "Three Times a Lady" for first Commodores song.)

Lionel also performed a bit of "Endless Love" after teasing the audience into thinking Diana Ross would be joining him to sing (despite opening with "I've been asking Diana Ross to come sing this with me for 37 years and she always says no.) So the audience took on the Diana half of the duet. It was quite fun.

Towards the end of the show, a piano came up on the secondary stage (in addition to the one that had been on the main stage all night) and Lionel sat down and played "Still" which I absolutely loved. 

The main set closed out with a song I did not expect at all -- "We Are the World" -- which he introduced by reminding the audience that "those people" are human beings and we all share family, love, and loss. I got quite teary-eyed as he sang the whole song through. (I simultaneously did a mental check off of who sang which lines in the original version, which was helped by recently being sent a video of a rehearsal take.)

The last song of the night was one I had expected much earlier -- "All Night Long" -- but it was a fun way to dance away the end of the show.

I made my way out of the arena fairly quickly and almost made the first Muni train back to CalTrain, but it was too full, so I waited a few minutes for the next one being too tired to walk all the way back. Of course, CalTrain has a weird schedule and there isn't a train between 10:45 p.m. and 12:05 a.m., so with the show ending around 11:00 it was a bit of a wait for the train back home. Thank goodness it was a Friday night! I think they actually added a second train after the 12:05 because the line was REALLY long by the time I got to the station (there had been a Giants game that night also, so some lingering folks from the game were also in line) but I was able to get a seat easily. Finally got home a little after 1:00. The long day rather blew up my plans for Saturday, but it was worth it!

Always buy the tickets.

Set Lists

Earth, Wind, & Fire

Shining Star
Let Your Feelings Show
Serpentine Fire
-- Verdine White bass solo --
Sing a Song
Got to Get You Into My Life
Departure
Reasons
After the Love Has Gone
That's the Way of the World
Fantasy
Boogie Wonderland
Let's Groove
September
In the Stone

Lionel Richie

Hello
Running With the Night
Easy / My Love
Truly
Stuck on You
Sail On
You Are
Dancing on the Ceiling (Snippet of Van Halen’s “Jump”)
Three Times a Lady
Fancy Dancer
Sweet Love
Lady (You Bring Me Up)
Just to Be Close to You
Zoom
Endless Love
Brick House / Fire
Still
Say You, Say Me
We Are the World

Encore:

All Night Long (All Night)

August 20, 2023 -- Oh It's 80s Night!

Concord Pavilion
Concord, CA

A few months ago my friend Barbara sent a message to our Mercy Girls group text -- she had a Groupon for tickets to see Culture Club with Berlin and Howard Jones at the Concord Pavilion, was anyone interested in joining her? It was a pretty good deal, so I said what the heck. Our friend Lora said she'd go too so long as she didn't have to drive. I volunteered to be the chauffeur for the evening, and the three of us made plans to go to the show.

I haven't been to the Concord Pavilion (current sponsor name "Toyota Pavilion") in over fifteen years. It is a major hassle getting there from the San Francisco Peninsula as it's over an hour-long drive without traffic, and there's always traffic. The absolute worst stretch is the last 8 miles through Concord on the one road that leads to the venue, and after a nightmare experience getting there for a Stevie Wonder concert, I swore I'd never go back unless it was my ONLY option for seeing someone I really wanted to see. Other than a show I already had tickets for that same year, I haven't been back. I've flown to Los Angeles and Las Vegas rather than drive to Concord to see a performer I really wanted to see. So, knowing it was a pain in the rear to get there, my friends and I set out early and arrived shortly after the parking lots opened and managed to get an excellent parking spot in the general parking area that was just the other side of the premiere parking. Score! However, we arrived so early we had to wait about 45 minutes for the gates to open! I can't remember the last time I was that early for a show (recent Matchbox Twenty pre-show event not included.) Eventually the gates opened and we got in with plenty of time to grab something to eat before the show.

One side effect of Barbara getting our tickets via Groupon was she wound up with extra lawn seats in addition to our reserved seats. After multiple attempts to get friends or family to take them, I was able to connect with my cousin Denise and she and a few of her friends took the lawn seats. While we were waiting for our food, I happened to see Denise walking past, so a quick hello and a hug before she headed off to get her spot on the lawn. 

While waiting for the show to start, I had to laugh at the various band t-shirts I spotted on fans in the crowd -- the Go-Gos, the Cure, Duran Duran, Human League -- yep, this was a night for us 80s kids!

Going in to the show, I figured I would know about half to two-thirds of the songs by each act. I enjoyed all of them back in high school, but none were a huge favorite. I was most concerned about Berlin because I could only remember the names of two songs off the top of my head, but knew I probably knew a few more, so I did something I seldom do -- looked up the set lists from earlier in the tour to see what they were playing. I remembered a few more songs after that and was looking forward to hearing them live.

Berlin took the stage right on time at 7:00 and launched into "Masquerade" which, once I heard it again, I remembered, so OK this was going to be better than I thought! Our seats were in the 200 section of the venue, so a bit further from the stage than I would normally get for myself and it meant looking at the video screens a bit more than I normally do. Not a huge problem except that during Berlin's set it was still fairly light out so it was hard to see the screens. It appeared they were playing a lot of their 1980s videos while performing the matching songs. Early in their set, I was a bit distracted when an owl started flying around! Never seen that before! Terri Nunn sounded fantastic and it was great hearing her on "The Metro" and "No More Words." Of course the big highlight of their set was THE HIT -- "Take My Breath Away" (obviously) and everyone was singing along. Berlin played for about half an hour and the stage was quickly turned over for Howard Jones.

Going to a show with two of my high school friends was going to be a blast except there was one problem -- Mary, our resident Howard Jones fanatic, had moved to Portland and Ana Gloria, expert in all things Culture Club, is living in Denver. Well WHAT a bummer to be heading to a fun show with out our two friends who would really love it and definitely would have come if they still lived in the area. I texted them both and asked "What song do you want a for a concert call?" If they couldn't be with us in person, at least they could have a virtual participation. With Howard about to take the stage, I did a quick look up of his set list to see when I could expect Mary's request -- two of the three were the last two songs of his set. Perfect.

After seeing the multitude of '80s band t-shirts and hearing an eclectic mix of 1980s tunes being played over the PA between sets I should not have been surprised when HoJo took to the stage with a keytar! I thought they were extinct! The other notable instrument on stage was what I could only guess at the time was some kind of bass guitar which was the strangest thing I can remember seeing because it clearly had too many strings to be an actual bass guitar and looked like a long stick. (It's apparently called a Chapman Stick and puzzled me all night.)

Unusual instrumentation aside, I was really looking forward to this set as I was more familiar with the HoJo hits. This was only in part due to sharing the exact same class schedule as Mary our junior year of high school when she would supplement her "Cure Fact of the Day" with a periodic "Howard Jones Fact of the Day!" I didn't recognize the opening song "Pearl in the Shell" (despite the fact that it apparently comes from his album Human's Lib which I had on cassette and is likely stuck in a box in storage.) This was soon followed by "I'd Like to Get to Know You Well" which is an excellent song to have early in the set. A fun point about midway through the set was when he covered "Too Shy" by Kajagoogoo which was written by the bass player with the weird looking Chapman Stick, and an easy sing along for the crowd at the chorus. (I am shocked it didn't get stuck in my head all night!)

"Too Shy" was followed by my personal favorite Howard Jones song -- "No One Is to Blame." I mentioned this being my favorite HoJo song to Mary a while ago and she was quite surprised I even had a favorite! It's just one of those songs that hit at the right place and time and still has a special place in my heart, so it was fantastic to hear it live.

His set wrapped up with "What Is Love?" and "Things Can Only Get Better" which he tied together nicely by referencing a line from the third verse of "What Is Love" -- "And maybe love is letting people be just what they want to be."

Another break to turn over the stage for Culture Club. Lora was a little perplexed when she didn't see things getting set up as we had between Berlin and Howard Jones. I pointed to the big black curtain hanging over part of the stage and reminded her that headline acts have their set prepared and hidden while the openers perform. (She doesn't go to concerts as much as some of my other friends.) A quick check of the phone to see when to anticipate Ana Gloria's concert call -- second song in, got it!

Boy George (or "Man George" as he later joked) and the band took the stage about 9:15 and opened with an excellent cover of "Sympathy for the Devil." They really had a good bluesy sound to them which surprised me somewhat since I generally put them in the reggae-influenced pop category. Covering the Rolling Stones was unexpected (checking out the set list not withstanding.)

Again, this was a set list I knew I would be relatively familiar with overall thanks to Ana Gloria's undying fandom back in high school. When we all turned 40, I put together some mix CDs as a gift for each of my friends. One of mixes included answers to 10 questions including "What song reminds you of [name]?" I had to laugh when I looked at the responses for Ana Gloria -- 3 responses "Karma Chameleon", 1 response "Love Is Love." So, we all associate AG with Culture Club, but none of us guessed "It's a Miracle" as her song of choice, which she got to listen to through a muddy mobile phone connection. 

Boy George sounded fantastic, though he was singing in a lower key than he was 40 years ago. And of course he looked stylish as always with a red hat jauntily atop his head and an interesting jacket. (And of course fabulous eye makeup!) Though I must say it was a bit weird seeing him with a goatee. It looked fine, just different!

"Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" was a definite highlight of the set as it was slowed down and more acoustic than the original. I did laugh at myself while standing up and dancing along -- I found myself dancing rather like Boy George did in the video. Quite unintentional! But the biggest highlight for me was towards the end of the set when "Church of the Poison Mind" turned into Wham!'s "I'm Your Man." I'd been up and down in my seat all night, but absolutely could not stay sitting for that. Wham! was my first concert back in 1986 and "I'm Your Man" was one of two new songs they performed that night. I was already in an '80s nostalgia mood, so that was just a perfect tie in for me.

The main set closed out with "Miss Me Blind" and then we had to wait a bit for the encore. Not terribly long, but longer than I typically expect. As I has suspected, Boy George had a bit of a wardrobe change and returned to the stage now sporting a yellow hat and black and yellow jacket. The band launched into a cover of "Bang a Gong" which was excellent and towards the end of the song both Terri Nunn and Howard Jones returned to the stage to sing along which was great fun. It turned out that last night was the last night of the tour with both HoJo and Berlin. (There are a couple of shows left in LA with just Berlin opening.)

Terri and Howard stayed on stage for the finale -- "Karma Chameleon" (naturally) and it was a fun way to end a trip back in time.

The show wrapped up a bit before 11:00, but with general exiting delays and stopping for some water, it was 12:45 when I dropped Lora and Barbara back at Barbara's house and headed for home. A late night before a work day AND one where I needed to be in the office made for a bit of rough Monday, but all in all a fantastic night out with good music and good friends.

Set Lists (courtesy of setlist.fm.)

Berlin

Masquerade
No More Words
The Metro
Animal
Transcendance
Take My Breath Away
She Sells Sanctuary (The Cult cover)
Sex (I'm a...)

Howard Jones

Pearl in the Shell
Like to Get to Know You Well
Everlasting Love
New Song
Too Shy (Kajagoogoo cover)
No One Is to Blame
Celebrate It Together
What Is Love?
Things Can Only Get Better 

Culture Club

Sympathy for the Devil (The Rolling Stones cover)
It's a Miracle
I'll Tumble 4 Ya
Melodrama
Everything I Own (Bread cover)
Let It Go
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
Eyeliner Voodoo
Angel of Mercy
That's the Way (I'm Only Trying to Help You)
Church of the Poison Mind / I'm Your Man
Time (Clock of the Heart)
Miss Me Blind
 
Encore:
Get It On (T. Rex cover)
Karma Chameleon