September 4, 2016: San Francisco Fest on the Green

San Francisco, CA
AT&T Park

Wow.... Just, wow. What a great weekend. It was as trip back in time on so many different levels. Things started out on Saturday night when we managed to get a group of 13 Journey fans together for a night-before dinner at Rosa Mexicano in San Francisco. We had a pretty good mix of locals and out of towners and it was go great to spend time talking and laughing with friends. Once I stopped road-tripping for Journey after 2006, this was the thing I missed the most. Sure, I had a ridiculous number of opportunities to meet, talk, and visit with the various members of my favorite band, but that was never my goal -- it was the frosting. The cake was meeting and making new friends who had the same love for Journey that I did and along the way we were able to have so many happy times and make lasting friendships.

The gang at Rosa Mexicana

Saturday night was much like so many of the pre-show parties I attended between 1998-2006. So, Adriana, Jenn, Barb, Valerie P. it was great hanging with you all. Cheryl, remind Charles he is on our list for not showing up! Hope, Jenny, and Darryl glad you could drive in from the Central Valley. Leslie, Linda, Walt, and Emerson -- we have GOT to get our act together and see each other more often! And special shout out to the attendant at the parking lot where I parked my car who waved off the $10 parking charge for me when the credit card reader wouldn't work! Woo hoo! Free parking in downtown San Francisco! SCORE!

When Journey announced their tour plans for 2016 back in November, the original schedule didn't have a San Francisco date. A bit annoying and with Steve Smith back touring with the band for the first time since 1983, I wasn't going to wait to find out when a San Francisco date would be added and hit the road for the tour opener in Irvine in May. Then March rolled around and WOW what a way to end the tour -- a Day on the Green-like show at AT&T Park with Tower of Power, the Steve Miller Band, the Doobie Brothers, Santana, and Journey! This was going to be one epic night of Bay Area legends! Especially since I was too young to go to the original Days on the Green shows featuring Journey in the early 80s.

So, Sunday rolled around and Ana Marie made the trek down from Sacramento to join me for the show. We met at my place and headed out to grab a quick lunch before getting on CalTrain to meet people at AT&T. I had suggested a meet-up at the Willie Mays statue in front of the park at 2:00 for a quick group photo and chat before the show started, so I wanted to be sure to be on the 12:48 train that arrived in San Francisco at 1:38, especially since when I'd checked the schedule for Sunday there weren't any plans for extra trains and the next train would be at 1:48 (arriving at 2:38.) We got to the train station a couple of minutes before the train was due and as we were walking to the platform I noticed my phone was missing! Ack! Quick jog back to the car to see if it had fallen out of my bag and not left at home. Yep, there was my phone sitting on the back seat. Run back to the station and get up to the platform and see that the train is running about 10 minutes late. Not a huge surprise, it tends to run behind when there are large crowds. There were a lot more people at the station than I had anticipated and when the train pulled in, we were all in for a surprise. The train was PACKED! They let about half of the people on the platform on the train before the conductor said the train was full! Fortunately she also let us know another added train was coming about 20 minutes behind.

We finally got on the train about 1:20 -- it was crowded, but not full and Ana and I were able to get a couple of seats -- and off to San Francisco. We got to the city about 2:10 and headed up to the ballpark and I could not believe the number of people everywhere! I've been to Opening Day and playoff games at AT&T a bunch of times and those were the only times I could compare it to. Maybe a bobblehead day back when the Giants only gave away 20,000 instead of 40,000. Lines everywhere! People everywhere! I knew immediately there would be no way we could meet up with people at Willie Mays in the masses of people. Ana and I did a quick circuit around the statue to make sure no one was waiting on us then headed over to the merch booth to pick up some swag. I spent too much money, but it was worth it! We got in line and waited to get through security. The lines were pretty long, but moved at a pretty good pace. Usually before baseball games they open the gates two hours before the scheduled first pitch, but on Sunday there was only an hour between the opening of the gates and the start of the show which explains why the lines were so crazy.

We were probably in our seats by 2:45 for the 3:00 start. Tower of Power was up first and put on a great set of soul and R&B with fantastic harmonies and their amazing horn section. They didn't have a very long set list, but covered the big hits which I always forget just how well I know them. They closed out with "You're Still a Young Man" and "What Is Hip," but I think my favorite tune is still "So Very Hard to Go."

Hail Hail the gang's mostly here!
(photo courtesy Darryl Croffoot)

After TOP, it was a dash up to the World Series trophy case to see if we could meet up with some friends (and no, Darryl, it wasn't to rub into the face of Dodger fans!) I had inadvertently picked the absolutely perfect spot as right next to the trophy case (with the beautiful triplets in their full glory on display) was a big back drop for group photos! Leslie F. was there when we arrived as were Matt, Wendy, Darryl, and Jenny. Eventually Cheryl, Scott, Adriana, and Jenn joined us and we all got in line to get our picture taken. We all chatted for a bit and then the Doobie Brothers took the stage, so we all dashed off to our seats.

We missed the first song or two, but Ana and I kicked back and enjoyed some more classics. Like in Irvine, the crowd wasn't completely up on their feet until the end of the set with "China Grove" and "Listen to the Music." I actually spent part of this set texting with a few people, but most importantly with Darla's daughter Telysa. If there was anyone at the show I absolutely HAD to connect with it was Telysa and her husband Rob. We've done a pretty good job at staying in touch via Facebook since Darla died, but an absolutely miserable job of seeing each other in person. We agreed to meet back at the trophy case between the Doobies and Steve Miller, so once the Doobies' set was done, off Ana and I went to meet Telysa and Rob.

We had a really nice visit and wound up missing most of Steve Miller's set, which was fine by pretty much all of us. I'm not a huge Steve Miller fan and I saw him a couple of years ago (last year?) with Journey so I was good. We took this break to grab a bite to eat before we headed back to our respective seats for the last few songs of the set. What I really wanted was to be set and ready to go for the next two acts -- Santana and Journey!

Before I get to the two headliners, a bit about the crowd. This was definitely an older crowd -- many of whom I'm sure attended those great Day on the Green shows back in the day -- but wow what a lot of energy. People were dancing and singing all over the place. It was clear everyone was having a fantastic time with all these local legends. I'm pretty sure that I saw a post on Twitter or Facebook after the show was over that there were 50,000 people at the show making it the largest crowd in AT&T Park's history (since baseball seating is about 42,000, that would be impressive.) I know I was amazed seeing people sitting in the far left field seats on the main and club levels -- those seats are totally angled the wrong way for the stage set up. And there were a smattering of people in the left field seats in the upper deck too -- though I suspect they may have been staff and/or folks wanting to get away from the crowd a bit. Still, those seats face home plate, not center field where the stage was. The field was completely filled (sorry Giants! I hope it's not too wrecked when you get back from this road trip!) and about half of the arcade seats above the right field wall were filled in too. Only the bleachers behind the stage in center field were completely empty! And with all those people at an all day concert, I didn't notice one bit of trouble. I'm sure there probably was some, but for the most part, it was just a great night out listening to great music

While waiting for Santana to come on stage I noticed the set up -- even from a distance it didn't look like a Hammond B3 was set up anywhere. That's strange, I thought, aren't Gregg and Neal and some (all?) of the other original members going to join the show? That was the implication I got when the show was announced shortly after the dual headlining Journey/Santana shows in New York this spring. Well, I figured, you're sitting pretty far from the stage, maybe you just can't see the organ.

Alas, my first instinct was right, and Gregg and Neal didn't join Carlos and the current line up of Santana for the show. Once I got over that little disappointment, I was able to really enjoy the set. Carlos has two guys on vocals and they did an amazing job harmonizing and trading lead on a variety of songs. Most of the set list was either stuff from the multi-platinum Supernatural album ("Maria, Maria", "Corazón Espinado", "Smooth") or classic original Santana ("Jingo", "Evil Ways", "Soul Sacrifice", "Black Magic Woman", "Oye Como Va".) Carlos's brother Jorge joined in mid-set and played the Malo hit "Suavecito" which was absolutely fantastic! I did rather laugh to myself whenever one of the classic-era songs was played -- I've never heard anyone but Gregg Rolie sing those tunes! And they sounded just a bit off with the programmed keyboard rather than the original Hammond B3 organ. One of the closing highlights of the set was the amazing drum solo by Cindy Blackman Santana. She is one bad ass drummer!

The show was running pretty smoothly and more or less on time until a couple of people came out to speak between Santana and Journey. The long and the short of it -- this show was a memorial/tribute to the late Bill Graham who had orchestrated so many great shows back in the day and most memorably the Days on the Green, some of the money from the ticket sales was going to the Bill Graham Foundation which supports local art and music programs, and that the show sold out completely in ONE DAY! Go old people music!

Journey came out to close out the epic evening of music and played a condensed version of the set list they played in Irvine back in May. As I let the music wash over me, I felt a lot of stress and tension leave my body. It had been a particularly stressful week at work leading up to the show and I needed a night like this more than ever. A couple of poignant moments came with Neal's two solos. His first, early in the set, was "Taps" followed by the "Star Spangled Banner" (most everyone was standing) which I'm sure was a partial tribute to his mom who passed away a couple of weeks ago and whose memorial service had been on Saturday. The second solo was definitely a tribute to his mom with "Amazing Grace" and I'm pretty sure a chunk of "Beyond the Clouds" from the Generations album. It was pretty powerful. Another highlight came fairly early in the set when Neal stepped up to the mic to introduce "Lights" which he said was a song he wrote with "Steven Perry" and then cracked "Steve are you here tonight? He's here a lot you know. Steve, if you're here, come on up!" (For those unaware, Steve Perry is a big Giants fan and has been in attendance pretty frequently over the last 5-6 years.) I laughed and leaned over to Ana and said "He usually sits up there" and pointed to the club level section next to the broadcast booth. Yeah, this Journey/Giants fan knows where Steve Perry usually sits (and hell, nearly ran smack dab in to the man back in 2010!) Neal also encouraged folks to light up their phones and wow... the stadium looked AMAZING with all the phones waving through out the song about our beloved home town. "Lights" is always the best when played at home in the Bay Area. To be in the city proper, sitting on the shore of the bay... couldn't get any better. I know I'll be picturing that scene every time the Giants play "Lights" during the 8th inning (of course, they need to start winning a few games for that to happen! ARGH are they frustrating right now!)

I ran out to the restroom during "La Do Da" so I wound up missing about half of Steve Smith's solo, but the part I did catch was amazing. As the set was winding down, the lady behind me started getting very worried, they hadn't played "Don't Stop Believin'" yet. I turned around and said "Don't worry, they will." And blammo, right on the heels of "Faithfully" there it was. The crowd went nuts -- or at least as much of the crowd as was left. Lots of folks headed out early for one reason or another. I'll never understand that, especially when the next day is a holiday that most people have off.

The show wrapped up with "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" and then it was the mad dash back to the train station to catch the express to Belmont. We made it in plenty of time and even managed to grab a couple of seats. Ana and I rehashed the show all the way home (and even a bit afterwards before Ana made the trek back to Sac.) This was such a fun and amazing weekend that was so reminiscent of all those shows I took in over a decade ago now. I've said all along that the thing I miss most about my Journey journeys is getting to hang with all the amazing people I've met over the years. This weekend just reinforced that feeling. It was SO great to catch up with people I haven't seen in a while and a big bummer to not get to see everyone. Journey peeps -- you rock!

Set lists (all but Journey's courtesy of Setlist.fm, so any errors are not mine)

Tower of Power
We Came to Play
Soul With a Capital "S"
You Ought to Be Havin' Fun
Get Yo' Feet Back on the Ground
So Very Hard to Go
Soul Vaccination
You're Still a Young Man
What Is Hip?

Doobie Brothers
Jesus Is Just Alright
Rockin' Down the Highway
Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)
Dark Eyed Cajun Woman
Spirit
Sweet Maxine
Eyes of Silver
Clear as the Driven Snow
Bill Payne keyboard solo
Takin' It to the Streets
The Doctor
Black Water
Long Train Runnin'
China Grove

Encore:
Without You (I'm not sure this was played as I only remember one song in the encore)
Listen to the Music

Steve Miller

 I Want to Make the World Turn Around
Serenade
Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma
Winter Time
Jungle Love
Take the Money and Run
Abracadabra
Dance Dance Dance
The Stake
Fly Like an Eagle
Swingtown
Jet Airliner
Rock'n Me

Encore:
Space Cowboy / The Joker

Santana

Toussaint L'Ouverture
Foo Foo
Maria Maria
Corazón Espinado
Jingo
Evil Ways
Soul Sacrifice
Suavecito (Malo cover) (with Jorge Santana)
Crystal Blue Persuasion (with Jorge Santana)
Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen (I don't remember hearing Gypsy Queen)
Oye Como Va
Smooth (with Jorge Santana)

Band introductions -- "Roxanne" (Police cover) sung by one of the guitarists, was quite fun!

Love, Peace and Happiness

Journey

Intro
Separate Ways
Be Good to Yourself
Only the Young
- Neal solo 1 - Taps/Star Spangled Banner
Stone in Love
Any Way You Want It
Lights
- Jon solo -
Open Arms
Who's Crying Now
Escape
La Do Da
- Smitty solo -
- Neal solo 2 - Amazing Grace/Beyond the Clouds
Wheel in the Sky
Faithfully
Don't Stop Believin'

Encore:
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

May 12, 2016: Steve! Smith! On! DRUMS!!!!

Irvine, CA
Irvine Meadows

At the end of the 2006 Journey tour with Def Leppard, I decided I was done with road trips away from Northern California. I said to a couple of friends at the time "I'm not traveling unless someone named Steve is singing. Hell, it could be Steve Smith!" A joke to be sure, but also one that reflected my thought that Steve Smith returning to perform with Journey a decade after he last recorded with them and over two decades since he had last toured with them was just too unlikely. Well, here we are another decade after THAT and Steve Smith is back out on the road with Journey playing drums. Never say never I guess.

When the "San Francisco Fest" tour was announced back in December, I was a bit perturbed that there wasn't a show listed for the Bay Area. The closest show was for Fresno in August (since canceled) - nearly 200 miles away from San Francisco! I figured a show would eventually be added, and boy was it, but I also didn't want to wait all summer for a show since I really wanted to see Steve Smith back in Journey. So it was that I decided to make a road trip to Irvine for the tour opener -- two things I hadn't done in 10 years! (In fact, I think the last tour opener I went to was in 2004!)

So there I was on Wednesday, tooling down I-5 from the Bay Area to SoCal. It's a long and boring ride, but with good tunes and cruise control it went by pretty swiftly and I arrived safely late Wednesday afternoon. I'd be meeting up with Cheryl, Jenn, and Rose on Thursday for the show, which was something else I was looking forward to -- hanging with some Journey buddies I don't get to see much any more (especially since Cheryl went and moved to SoCal from NorCal like a crazy person!) My favorite part of all those road trips I did over about 10 years was always hanging out with all the friends I'd met and made along the way.

Thursday arrived soon enough and I met Jenn and Cheryl at their hotel for lunch. Rose would be picking them up later as all three had VIP seats and thus would be heading over to the show earlier than I was. Closer to show time I drove over to Irvine Meadows for one last time -- this is apparently the last season for the venue, and honestly it probably is a good thing. This was probably my 4th time seeing a show there (under various names) and it's got to be one of the most inconvenient venues I've ever been to. Parking is a nightmare (and I learned even buying the premier parking didn't help with the nightmare exit) and the way the crowd has to go in and out of the amphitheater is supremely stupid.

I got in about 6:15 or so for the 7:00 start. Cheryl, Jenn, and Rose were still in their VIP party, so I just grabbed a drink, found my seat, and waited for the show to start. About 15 minutes before the show started, Rose came out and found me and we had a nice little chat. Just before the show started, I saw Cheryl and Jenn make their way to their front row seats. I was pretty much directly behind them, just a couple of sections back.

When the tour was announced, I tried to think of a couple of Dave Mason songs, but nothing came immediately to mind. Fortunately, when he took the stage for his set he launched into a bunch of familiar tunes from both his solo career and time in Traffic and I recognized most of them. I didn't write down a set list for his part of the show, but I enjoyed it.

The Doobie Brothers were up next (again I didn't write down a set list, but you can find one here) and I was curious what their set would be like. Unlike Dave Mason, I could name a bunch of their songs off the top of my head and was interested in what their show would be like. Now, I can't say I'm a HUGE fan of the Doobies and probably wouldn't go out of my way to see them, but I wasn't put off by having them on the bill with Journey. They came out and did a great set of their hits, with a few more obscure songs thrown in. The crowd down in front was up for a lot of their set, but most of the rest of the folks were doing a lot of chair dancing. It really wasn't until the encore of "Listen to the Music" that everyone was up on their feet dancing along. I will point out one annoying thing about their set, or more accurately their set design. The backdrop they use shows the Golden Gate Bridge and a city skyline. The skyline didn't look at all like San Francisco, but even worse, you can't see downtown San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge as depicted on the banner! It looked more like the view you would see from the Bay Bridge. Just a native grumble.

Journey took the stage about 9:30 and by that time the crowd had filled in and was buzzing. Where I was sitting it was about half sitting/half standing, but the lower section and the pit where Cheryl, Jenn, and Rose were was on their feet. Early on in the set list, they played "Be Good to Yourself" (with Jenn, Cheryl, and Rose appearing on the big video screen) and I definitely missed Deen's backing vocals on that one. They've brought on a guy playing keyboards and doing some of the background vocals, but he definitely didn't hit the notes Deen did. They never introduced him and he was kind of hidden behind Jon all night.

Between Dave Mason and the Doobies, Jenn had come up to visit me and insisted that I use her ticket for a couple of songs during the Journey set, so we coordinated that I would head down and meet her after "Any Way You Want It" (about 6 songs in) and hang out for a couple of songs. My seat was in the lower rows of the Loge section -- about 5 or 6 rows up from the aisle between the Loge and Orchestra seats, but in order to get over to the restroom area to meet Jenn, I had to walk all the way to the top of the Loge section, over 2 sections, and then back down. That meant leaving my seat pretty much as AWYWI started. I met up with Jenn and swapped tickets then headed down to the front row for "Lights" and "Open Arms" I headed back up to swap back during "Line of Fire" -- Jenn scolded me for not staying through that song too, but it's not one of my favorites, so I'd rather wander up and back during that than another song I like more.

For most of the show, I really focused on watching Steve Smith. I've seen him numerous times on his own or with Vital Information, so I know what an amazing drummer he is, but to see him back with Journey was something special. It occurred to me that this was as close as I was ever going to get to seeing the classic Escape line up perform, and I really loved that. (Okay, sure, never say never, hell could freeze over, pigs could fly, and Perry could rejoin for a gig or two, but if I held my breath on that one I would have passed out a long time ago!) Perhaps having Steve Smith back was part of the reason for the Escape heavy set list. It was great to hear "Who's Crying Now" in the set and fun to watch Jenn jumping up and down during "Dead or Alive." (Yes, I saw you Jenn!) Near the end of the set, they launched in to "La Do Da" and towards the end of the song the rest of the band stepped off stage while Smitty went off on a solo. It was fantastic and very similar to some of the things I've seen him do during his own shows. Arms and legs in constant motion. Amazing!

One of the unexpected bits of the show was the full on cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll," once again proving to me that I like Led Zeppelin songs so long as Robert Plant isn't singing them.

The show was over much too quickly and I worked my way through the throngs of people to meet up with Cheryl and Jenn to give them a ride back to their hotel. Taking forever to get out of the parking lot does have one advantage in that it allowed us to visit a bit more before all was said and done. We met up again Friday morning for a quick breakfast before we headed our separate ways -- Cheryl and Jenn to Phoenix for the next show, me to visit a cousin near LA (where we wound up watching the Journey episode of "Behind the Music" and clips of Perry's 1994 Beacon Theater show thanks to You Tube.) As always, time flew by much too fast, but it was great hanging with my Journey buddies again. See you all in San Francisco!

Set List:

Separate Ways
Be Good to Yourself
Only the Young
- Neal solo -
Stone in Love
Any Way You Want It
Lights
Open Arms
Line of Fire
Dead or Alive
Rock and Roll
- Jon solo -
Who's Crying Now
Escape
La Do Da
- Drum solo -
- Neal solo 2 -
Wheel in the Sky
Faithfully
Don't Stop Believin'

Encore:
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'