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

June 29, 2025: It's a JPP Reunion!

Alameda County Fairgrounds
Pleasanton, CA 

 

Living in the San Francisco Bay Area is a treat when your favorite band is Journey. They're a hometown band, so they're almost always going to play a hometown (area) gig. Steve Augeri, however, is not a Bay Area resident, so his appearances out here on the West Coast have been few and far between since he and the rest of the band went their separate ways (pun absolutely intended!) So when I saw he was going to appear at the Alameda County Fair this weekend, I definitely wanted to go. I had just one concern -- it was the Sunday after my company's annual conference ended. At the beginning of the year, there was a good possibility that I would be in Las Vegas working twelve hour days and in need of some serious rest this weekend. That fell through, so it was no worries about hitting a Sunday night show.

I grabbed a pair of tickets for Ana Marie and myself a few weeks after they went on sale. This meant front row was out of the picture, but I was able to snag seats about 10 rows back. Now it was just time to wait. About two weeks ago, Darryl sent a group text to the Nor Cal Journey fans to see who wanted to get together for dinner/drinks before the show. After a bunch of back and forth, the pre-show gathering was just five of us -- Darryl, Jenny, Chris, Ana Marie and me. We'd meet up with everyone else at the show.

I headed out Sunday afternoon about 3:30 to make our 4:30 meeting time and cruised into Pleasanton with out hassle and arrived at McKay's Taphouse and Beer Garden right on time. It was a nice little spot, very casual, with picnic tables and couches set out for people to sit and visit. Ana had arrived a few minutes before me and had ordered some cider and a sandwich and after I got settled, I promptly followed suit. Darryl, Jenny, and Chris arrived shortly after me and we all settled in for some tasty food and good company. We hung around McKay's for a couple of hours catching up and telling old stories.

Soon enough it was time to head over to the fairgrounds and meet up with everyone else. Since we'd all driven to Pleasanton from varying directions, we arrived a bit staggered at the fairgrounds. Ana and I headed in ahead of the others and wound our way through the fairgrounds to the amphitheater. As soon as we entered the gates, we ran in to Renee, Debbie, and Krystal. Quick hellos and hugs while I followed the usher to find our seats -- two rows behind Linda and Walt who were visiting with Emerson. A few rows down in the seated pit, there was Robin and her daughter. Soon we were all gathered at the stair boundary and catching up, when Scott appeared behind me. More hugs and hellos followed when Matt and his wife Wendy arrived. We had most of the old NorCal contingent gathered for the show. I smiled as I looked around and saw all the familiar faces of the friends I'd made during those crazy Journey journeys of the late 90s/early 2000s. Twenty-five plus years on, and we quickly fell back in to the groove.

With about 20 minutes left to settle in our seats, people drifted off to grab last minute drinks and chat. I went over to say hello to Scott's wife Kim and meet his kids. Kim joked that the Journey gang had known Scott almost as long as she had. I laughed and reminded her I first met her the same weekend I meet Scott -- at the 1998 Fan Convention in San Francisco!

I headed back to my seat and settled in waiting for the show. Steve started out right on time with "Separate Ways." Unfortunately the mix was terrible and Steve's voice was totally drowned out. It took a few songs to get sorted, but finally things sounded better by the time Steve and the band kicked in to "Send Her My Love." That was immediately followed by "Lights", which, as always, got a great hometown reaction. Steve introduced it by talking about how much he loved San Francisco and the Bay Area and had considered moving out here back in the day. That would have been interesting for this home town fan. 

Steve's voice isn't what it once was and there were some rough spots, but getting to hear him sing again was all we needed. The old gang stayed on their feet as Steve introduced "Higher Place", and I was instantly ported back to that long ago November weekend when the band first played songs from Arrival. The set moved along briskly and soon we were hearing "Faithfully" and "Don't Stop Believin'" Looking at my phone, I realized that we'd blazed through the show in just an hour.

The main set wrapped up with "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" which included a bit of a guitar duel between Steve and his long-time guitarist Adam Holland. This bit was delayed briefly as Steve's guitar somehow got disconnected from the sound system, resulting in a roadie coming out to fix it and Steve standing at the edge of the stage rubbing his eyes with mock tears. After a few moments things were fixed and Steve and Adam played back and forth and morphed into a bit of "Rocky Mountain Way" before seguing back to LTS.

Steve noted the time and let us know that the "next band up" was "Hard Curfew" at 9:30. After a chuckle from the crowd, the set went into a vamp mode as apparently, Steve didn't put together a set list. One of my personal highlights of this section was when Steve covered Rod Stewart's "Forever Young." It's one of my favorite Rod Stewart songs and just as it did the last time I saw him with his full band, I got a bit teary eyed. Both because Journey's music will always take me back to my teen aged years, and because hearing Steve will always take me back to those crazy days in my 30s of dashing around the country catching another show and meeting more fans. I may be getting older, but my heart stays young.

With some time yet to kill before the curfew, Steve decided to sing "Open Arms" which he prefaced by saying he was in no condition to sing that vocal. He did a great job. The show closed out with most of "Be Good to Yourself" combined with bits of "Whole Lotta Love" and "Won't Get Fooled Again."

The show was over much too soon, but there was still time afterwards to gather and chat with all the friends who had made it. Linda and Walt had to duck out right after the show as they were heading on vacation in the morning, and Robin and her daughter got shuttled out a different exit, so we didn't get to visit with them after the show. My favorite part of all my Journey journeys was never the concert -- it was always meeting and hanging out with my fellow fans. It was terrific to get to do that again for a few hours this weekend. I did take time to think of the people I missed - especially my fellow JPP crew. Cheryl and Leslie F. have moved out of the Bay Area, Mary Ann and Leslie W. were never local, and of course we lost Darla seventeen years ago. They were all forefront in my mind during the show, but so were the memories of so many others and so many fun times.

We will continue to meet again, and of course the memories always remain. 

photo courtesy of Emerson Dong

Set List

Separate Ways
Ask the Lonely
Stone in Love
Send Her My Love
Lights
Higher Place
-- guitar solo --
Wheel in the Sky
Faithfully
Don't Stop Believin'
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'
Rocky Mountain Way

Encore/Vamp

Anyway You Want It
Forever Young
Who's Crying Now
Open Arms
Be Good to Yourself/Whole Lotta Love/Won't Get Fooled Again
 

June 22, 2025: Not Your Mother's Mosh Pit

Levi's Stadium
Santa Clara 

 

One of my regular job responsibilities is to work with the hiring managers on my teams when they hire interns -- make sure the intern has a desk and a computer and help get them get settled into their roles. Because my office is 5 miles from the main Bay Area campus, we are included in all their activities, but for the first couple of years we had interns back in person it was a challenge connecting with the site intern coordinators, so last year I volunteered to join the committee so I could be better informed of the planned activities and plan my teams' activities accordingly. I'm part of the committee again this year, and about two weeks ago, and the leader of the intern coordinating committee posted on our Slack channel -- "We've been offered tickets to the Metallica concert on June 22, is anyone available to host this event?" Well, you don't need to ask me twice -- I checked my calendar and it was clear, and the only concern was the intern orientation scheduled for Monday that I was co-leading. I'll survive, so I said yep, I can host.

There were only 20 tickets available, and after confirming I could bring a guest, that left 18 slots for our interns. After going through all the sign-ups and the waiting list, we only had 15 interns who were able/wanted to come which meant my co-worker Jennifer and her husband could also join. Jennifer and I are the two executive assistants in our office and do a lot to support the interns, so I was glad she could attend too. As it turned out, all 15 interns were part of our teams, so that was a nice treat (though it would have been good to have interns from the San Jose campus join us also.)

Since I could bring a guest, I invited my friend Ana Marie who has been a Metallica fan since the earliest years and is much more a fan of heavy metal music than I am. She was really excited because one of her favorite metal bands is one of the opening acts for the two-day concert schedule. Unfortunately, Ice Nine Kills was one of the openers for the Friday show, so she couldn't see them. We got Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera.

Since I was the host, I was responsible for distributing the tickets and parking passes. Three of the passes went to the interns, one to Jennifer, and I got to use the Gold VIP Lot 1 parking pass. Oh yes... did I mention our seats were in the company suite?! That meant that our food and beverages were included. I was sent a copy of the menu for the Friday show with the expectation that Sunday's menu would be similar. Along with your typical stadium fare (hot dogs, pretzels, nachos, etc.) there were things like sushi and grilled lobster tails. Oh this should be nice!

Player Parking Lot!

Ana drove down early Sunday afternoon as I wanted to be at the suite early to get my bearings and welcome the interns. We headed down to Santa Clara about 4:00, and after being directed to the wrong parking lot and having to detour around to get where we were supposed to be, we finally arrived at the Gold Lot right behind the stadium. We paused to check with the lot attendant to confirm we were in the right place, and he let us know that yes, we were in the Gold Lots, but we'd passed the entrance to Gold Lot 1. We turn around and head where he directed us and are confused by the barricaded gate. That's when it hit me -- OH MY GOD... we're parking in the Players' Lot! As a second generation 49er season ticket holder I was completely geeking out. Over a parking lot!

We pull up to the security gate and get issued yellow wrist bands by one security guard while the other walked around the car with a dog to inspect the car (including inside my trunk.) We passed through the gate and pulled in to the valet station and handed off my car. The attendant handed me the claim ticket and said I should text the number he'd written on it about 5 minutes before we planned to exit and he'd have the car ready.

We head towards the stadium and our entry gate. After passing through another security check, we head inside and show our tickets and are directed to an elevator where we're given an orange wrist band -- all we needed to show we were where we were supposed to be. We got off the elevator and got directions to the suite and wandered down the hallway passing a bunch of fantastic artwork celebrating the 49ers (another thrill for this lifetime fan.) Once we find the suite, we find it's set up with some popcorn, soft drinks, and some sweets. There's a grill for hot dogs, but it hadn't started going yet. We also meet Tony, our suite waiter. Yes, we also have a waiter.

There's time to kill before the show starts, so Ana and I head off to find some food. I wanted to see if it were true that there were grilled lobster tails and we found the sea food/sushi stand a few sections down. The lobster tails weren't ready yet, but we were able to grab some crab claws, jumbo shrimp, and a fancy shrimp cocktail. When we got back to the suite, Tony had stepped out, so Ana went back to the bar which was a few steps away and picked up a couple of cocktails for us. I had been told when the tickets were sent that only non-alcoholic drinks were provided, but nope, turned out the booze was included too! (I suspect that "non-alcoholic drinks only" was due to the guest list being "interns", but most of our interns are graduate students and thus over 21. I did confirm which of our undergrad interns were at least 21 when they arrived.)

The interns gradually arrived and most were in the suite by the time Suicidal Tendencies took the stage. All were very excited about the show and kept thanking me for arranging it. I kept saying "thank the Sales team -- they gave us the tickets, I just said I'd host!" (This week is our major company conference so most of the Sales team was headed to Las Vegas on Sunday, thus not available to host customers. So consolation prize to me being unable to attend the conference this year and missing Kenny Chesney at the Sphere.)

I'm going to skip over Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera since while I'm familiar with the band names and recognize the names of a few past/present members, I have zero knowledge of their catalog. Additionally, everything they played sounded exactly the same to me. (Apologies to any metal fan friends reading this, but metal has never been my scene.)

I will however, use this as an opportunity to describe the stage. I was surprised to find the stage was set up in the middle of the field and that it was more or less a ring with an open area in the middle. Not surprisingly, the entire field was general admission. While Suicidal Tendencies was playing, there were two drum kits on risers on opposite sides of the stage (roughly 3:00 and 9:00 from my vantage point) that were covered with drapes. Ana and I assumed one kit belonged to Pantera's drummer, and the other to Lars Ulrich. It turned out that both kits were for Pantera. More on Lars's kit shortly.

I should also take a moment to discuss the food and beverage scene. Between sets, Ana and I would go off to check out the different food stands. I eventually got my grilled lobster tails (small and chilled, fairly good considering they were a stadium concession.) Ana grabbed some nachos and pretzels. (Our German interns did not consider them actual pretzels largely because they were pretzel sticks.) We both went off to find the ice cream stand and got a couple scoops of ice cream that we could top with a variety of things of our choosing. Meanwhile, waiter Tony would pop in and out of the suite dropping of assorted treats -- a charcuterie board, some sushi, assorted sweets (including some yummy cream puffs!) -- and got the hot dog grill going. All while keeping the drink fridges filled and offering to refresh mine and Ana's drinks.

Metallica took the stage about 8:40 just as it was getting dark. All of the interns were in the outside seats, so Jennifer, her husband, and I stayed seated on the indoor stools behind the plexiglass. Ana stood behind the outside seats. As I've noted, I'm not a huge metal fan, but I do have a basic familiarity with their catalog. I joked with Ana that I totally understand why fans like her don't like the Black Album -- it's the one people like me are most familiar with! Even with that caveat, while I didn't recognize the opening song, I did know the second "For Whom the Bell Tolls." The set continued with more unfamiliar (to me) material, so I sat back and watched the interns who were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Nearly all the interns are foreign nationals most of whom are either from Germany or China. One of the German students mentioned to me that this was his first concert ever - not a bad way to start, but seriously spoiled with the suite and free food!

Ana decided to go in search of some merch during a couple of Metallica's newer songs, and while she did perhaps my favorite moment of the show occurred. James and Lars took a break while Kirk and Rob had a little jam session of their own. Rob stepped up to the microphone and let the crowd know they were going to play something by legendary Bay Area punk band the Dead Kennedys. Well cool. Then Kirk starts playing his guitar. I may not know the Dead Kennedys catalog either, but I'm fairly certain it does not contain "Do You Know the Way to San Jose!" I started cracking up and looked around me and shook my head -- I was the only one in the suite who knew what was going on. Twenty-something interns and my thirty-something colleague are not going to know the 1968 Dionne Warwick classic. 🤣

The second half of the set contained a few more songs I am familiar with so I popped out from behind my plexiglass protection for "Wherever I May Roam" and "The Unforgiven" (Ana laughed at me, but hey, what I can I say, those are the songs I know!) It was about this point in the show when I finally saw how Lars's drum kit was moving from one section of the stage to another as I saw the set nearest our section descend below the stage while another one appeared on the opposite side. I had figured that was what was happening as Lars moved from place to place on the stage, but it mostly happened in the dark so I never saw it. With the center of the stage being open and holding a several hundred people, I wasn't sure how much of it was a tunnel.

Towards the end of the show, James stopped at the beginning of a song ("Moth in the Flame" thanks to setlist.fm) because someone near the stage had fallen down so he alerted security to help get things sorted before starting the song again. The show closed out with two more songs I knew, "One" (I had to ask Ana to remind me of the title, because all I could remember was the video. I'm fairly sure it's the first Metallica song I ever heard) and "Enter Sandman."  Sandman, of course, got everyone going and giant black and yellow beach balls dropped on the fans on the field. I once again popped out of the suite to hear that classic live.

The show ended there, and I took a look at the clock -- 10:55. Levi's Stadium has a usual curfew of 10:00, but can have it extended to 11:00 a few times a year. Nope, no way there was enough time for Metallica to follow up with an encore. And given that there really wasn't anywhere for them to go as "off-stage" it made sense to end there.

We wrapped up the evening with the interns all being thrilled and amazed after a great time. I checked in with our German students to see if they were planning to attend the intern on-boarding session the following morning which they were invited to but were not required to attend having been employees for several months already and not needing much of the information provided. They looked confused, so I told them to come if they wanted, but don't worry about it if they didn't make it.

Before heading to the elevator, I texted the valet as instructed, and when Ana and I got downstairs (passing through a security check verifying our yellow wrist bands) to find my car ready and waiting for me to exit once I retrieved my keys from the valet.

As I've mentioned a few times, I'm not a huge metal fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed my first (and likely only) metal concert. Ana said it was one of the best Metallica shows she'd seen, so I'll take her word on that. It was definitely the LOUDEST concert I've ever attended and I was eternally grateful to both my ear plugs and the plexiglass of the suite. I only had one complaint about the show. Sitting in the suite put us further from the stage than I normally like to be, and thus most of the show was viewed on the screens. Ana countered that with "Yeah, but we had Tony to bring us drinks!"

 

Metallica Set List

Whiplash
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ride the Lightning
The Memory Remains
Lux Æterna
Screaming Suicide
Kirk and Rob Doodle 
    --“Do You Know the Way to San Jose” (Dionne Warwick cover 🤣)
    --“California Über Alles” (Dead Kennedys cover)
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Wherever I May Roam
The Call of Ktulu
The Unforgiven
Whiskey in the Jar (preceded by Lars & Rob jam)
Blackened
Moth Into Flame
One
Enter Sandman  

Postscript: Both I and the German students survived the intern on-boarding session Monday morning. 

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