January 16, 2026: Caught in a (Pre) Teen Dream

Uptown Theater
Napa, CA 

It's Christmas 1977, and Aunt Eileen and Uncle Bill have joined the annual family celebration. Aunt Eileen is my great aunt, my Nana's older sister. Growing up, I really didn't see Eileen and Bill all that often, and it's quite possible that Christmas 1977 was the last time I saw them. Aunt Eileen had severe arthritis and was home bound most of the rest of her life. Despite the limited connection, Aunt Eileen will always have a special place in my childhood memories because that Christmas she gave me a ten dollar gift certificate to the Emporium, a major Bay Area department store chain.

9-year old me

Wow. Nine year old me was now loaded! I had never had ten dollars for anything before, and up until that point the only money I ever had was the two dollars I would get each birthday from another great aunt. Sure, I could only spend the ten dollars at the Emporium, but that was okay since in those days the Emporium had a record section. So shortly after Christmas, my mother was going to the mall and I went along with my gift certificate. Up to the second floor of the store and over to the record section where I could get my most desired wish -- Shaun Cassidy's second album Born Late. It was the first record I ever bought.

Back in 1977, Shaun Cassidy was a huge star. He was on the Hardy Boys as Joe Hardy and had two albums that were huge hits. I was made aware of his existence through my older cousins, and we all had a huge crush on the latest teen idol. Now I had his record all for myself and I could listen to "Hey Deanie" whenever I wanted. Or at least as often as I could have access to the stereo, which at nine was a bit limited. Still, I was in heaven every time I got to listen to Born Late.

Now, as things go in the shelf life of teen pop stars and the attention span of a nine year old, I grew up and moved on from my first pop star crush, and Shaun Cassidy faded into the background as he turned to projects behind the scenes rather than in front of them. A couple of years ago, my friend Ana Marie sent me a message "Hey, Shaun Cassidy is playing a show in LA, want to go?" I thought it would be a fun idea, so said let's do it. Unfortunately, the show was sold out and we didn't go, but Ana set an alert for future shows near us so we wouldn't miss out the next time he was within reasonable distance.

Last spring, Ana messaged me "Shaun Cassidy in Napa, January 2026." Well, of course I said let's do it and she was able to grab us a couple of tickets. We're both fifty-seven now, so it had been a VERY long time since Shaun Cassidy was number one in our hearts. We'd both grown up and moved on to other musicians and different musical styles than teen pop idols, but how often do you get to go back in time and be nine years old again? The whole idea of the show was amusing to me, because, really the idea of going to see a teen pop idol from 1977 (whose last major tour was in 1980) is a little silly. I figured worst case scenario, I have a night out of nostalgia. Of course, thanks to social media, I knew that wouldn't be the case as I'd seen clips of other shows posted online and they were all very entertaining.

Still have my original album

With the show rapidly approaching, it did occur to me that I hadn't listened to Born Late in at least 45 years, so I'd better refresh my memory on the Shaun Cassidy catalog. First, I called up the Shaun Cassidy Greatest Hits album that Ana Marie had given me years ago as a birthday gift and that was my commute music for the week. There were several songs that I didn't know at all on that album as they came from his third and fourth albums which were less successful and I have zero memory of their existence. It came in handy though, as a couple of them turned up in his set list. Then it was dig up that old LP (yes, I still have it 48+ years later) and put it on my turntable for a listen. In replaying the album, I realized I must have played side two more often than side one because I actually remembered about 75% of the words of all five songs (man, were records short back in the day!) I'd only remembered two songs from side one. Both albums set a strong sense of anticipation. Nine year old me was getting VERY excited.

I drove up to Napa Friday afternoon to meet Ana Marie at the hotel she'd booked for us and traffic was horrible. It took me two and a half hours to go 65 miles. Fortunately, the excited nine year old kept me in a good mood. Ana made it to the hotel before I did, so when I arrived I just needed to find the elevator to find our room. When I walked into the lobby, there was a group of 5-6 women all of a certain age, and we happened to get in the elevator at the same time. I held the door for them as they pulled in with their luggage and as one of them thanked me she said "It's a girls weekend." Oh, I replied, "Napa wine weekend?" knowing that was probably only part of the answer. Naturally, she said yes, but that they were also going to the Shaun Cassidy concert. Of course they were.

After grabbing some dinner at a yummy tapas restaurant, Ana Marie and I walked down the street to the Uptown Theater to get in line for the show. As I had expected, the audience was almost entirely women in their late fifties and early sixties. (God bless the handful of husbands and boyfriends who went along for the show!)  Ana had managed to get us orchestra seats on the right side of the stage, so we were pretty close. While waiting for the show, we chatted a bit with the women around us. One woman had brought her pink satin Hardy Boys jacket that she'd had as a kid (and I thought I was a pack rat!) It was so very 1970s! It looked like she was able to get it autographed, so she may have been part of the pre-show VIP experience.

Soon the house lights went down and the band came out to the stage, and Ana Marie and I were on our feet along with several others in our section and we're cheering along as Shaun takes the stage and kicks off with "Hey Deanie" (woo hoo! my night has been made right off the bat!) While the song is going on Ana and I notice a little disruption behind us -- one of the few men is pestering the woman behind us. It sorted itself out quickly fortunately, but really, dude? We settle back into our seats and Shaun goes on to "Teen Dream" another favorite from the Born Late album. I hadn't remembered (if I had ever known) that Shaun wrote "Teen Dream" until I pulled out the album to listen to it again. It's a really catchy little pop song, and one of several he wrote or co-wrote for the album. It made me wonder what he might have done if he'd stayed with song writing rather than turning to television writing. 

Shaun structured the show more like a one-man stage show than a concert and the between songs talking was more story-telling than stage patter. In that sense, it reminded me a bit of the Springsteen on Broadway show I saw in New York a few years ago. So between songs we got stories about growing up as part of a "show folk" family, and all of the stories were filled with genuine affection. It was quite touching and put a lump in my throat at times. 

The set rolled on with an assortment of old hits and a couple of new songs he's written. Shaun's voice is deeper and richer now than it was back in the 1970s, which given that he's now 67 and not 19 isn't all that surprising. He sounds fantastic. About half-way through the show the usher let a woman in front of us who'd been standing and dancing for most of the show to come out to the aisle to sing and dance, so Ana Marie and our friend behind us likewise did the same.

A couple of additional highlights for me were "Walk Away" (another big favorite from Born Late, which he said he wrote after his parents' divorce when he was sixteen) and "Tell Me It's Not True" from Blood Brothers, the musical he was in with his brother David back in the 1990s. Ironically, I happened to have been in New York when the Cassidy brothers were performing Blood Brothers, but opted not to see it at the time. For "Tell Me It's Not True," Shaun was joined on vocals by his guitarist -- his nephew Cole Cassidy. It was a very moving moment, and yeah, Cole made his Uncle David proud. 

The main set wound up with Shaun's first big hit, the cover of "Da Doo Ron Ron" and the group of us dancing in the aisle were joined by folks dancing in their seats. Toward the end of the song, Shaun threw in a bit of the Police's "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" because it's meaningless and all that's true (and of course, quite a fun segue!) The band took a bow once the song was over and exited the stage with the exception of the piano player. Shaun closed the show out with a story about the first two records he owned -- Meet the Beatles and the soundtrack to The Music Man (starring his mother Shirley Jones) -- and realizing that there was a common song on the two albums, "Til There Was You." It was a very sweet way to end the show. Nine year old walked away with her heart full and 57 year old me walked away with a face that hurt from smiling so much.

Set list
courtesy of setlist.fm

Hey Deanie
Teen Dream
Do You Believe in Magic?
It's Like Heaven
My First Crush
Break for the Street
Hey There Lonely Girl
That's Rock 'n' Roll
Walk Away
Tell Me It's Not True
Be My Baby
The Last Song
Da Doo Ron Ron

Encore:
Till There Was You