November 2, 2002: Bone Bash III

Concord, CA
Chronicle Pavilion

Hello one and all, your intrepid roving reporter here, stone deaf after last night's Bone Bash. The Bone Bash is an annual concert sponsored by one of the local classic rock stations -- 107.7 "The Bone" (known to those who pay attention to call letters as KSAN.) This was the biggest show they've sponsored to date with 4 bands on the lineup -- Montrose, Y&T, Joe Satriani, and, of course, our beloved Journey.

I got to Concord about 4 so that I'd have time to visit with fellow Journey fans before Montrose hit the stage at 5. I spent some time visiting with people, and when Montrose hit the stage some went in to watch and I went to grab something to eat. (I'd seen Montrose recently and once was really sufficient.)

Y&T hit the stage about 6:05, and I wanted to see them so went in and grabbed my seat in the third row. To be honest, I thought I knew Y&T better than it turned out I did, so I left about halfway through their set to use the bathroom and check out the swag table. They had T-shirts from the Hawaii show and a new pin I hadn't seen before (a winged scarab) so I picked that up.

I definitely wanted to see Joe Satriani, so when Y&T ended, I swam upstream back towards my seat. Visited with more friends between sets and then Satriani hit the stage. He's just amazing to watch. I really must go see him again.

Finally, around 9:15 Journey hit the stage. I knew they would be playing a shortened set since there were 4 bands and an 11 pm curfew. Plus the Bone had been advertising a "guitar god encore," so Journey was going to be a bit squeezed between all of that. They took the stage and launched right into "Red 13/State of Grace," and the place went wild. The Chronicle Pavilion is fairly strict about who gets to the front row -- you must have a wristband to be in the front row and up against the stage. This makes it next to impossible for people to come down the aisles and into the front, but it doesn't stop chair crawling. So there was a bit of clamoring the first few songs as people tried to get closer to the stage.

The set turned out to be even shorter than I had expected it to be, so when they started in on "Wheel in the Sky," I was surprised! During "Be Good To Yourself" I noticed several members of the road crew running around, and when the song ended, Deen didn't come up front to take a bow with the rest of the guys. When the band came back on stage for their encore, Neal said that Deen had the flu and couldn't finish the encore. Deen's drum tech, Jim, filled in for "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'."

They left the stage again about 10:45, and the road crew brought out a couple of monitors for the grand finale. A few minutes passed and the guys (with out Deen) came back out on stage and were joined by Dave Meneketi (Y&T), Joe Satriani, the guitarist from Testament (a metal band that had played on the side stage before the main show) and the drummer from Y&T. They launched into a rockin' cover of Led Zepplin's "Rock and Roll."

The show ended and I was exhausted and had a loud ringing in my ear... a good night!

[Short]Set List:

Intro/State of Grace
Separate Ways
Ask the Lonely
-- Neal Solo -- Star Spangled Banner
Stone in Love
Only the Young
Lights
Feeling That Way
Anytime
The Time
Don't Stop Believin'
Chain Reaction
Faithfully
Escape
-- Neal solo --
Wheel in the Sky
Be Good to Yourself

Encore:

Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'