March 27, 2010: Another Night Out with Neal

San Francisco, CA
Fillmore Auditorium

Birthday Weekend Number Two! Last week it was off to Modesto for Darryl's birthday and a concert. This week it was up to San Francisco for Emerson's birthday and a concert. Awfully repetitive wouldn't you say??

Last night started with a dinner for 17 at Benihana at the Japan Center just up the street from the Fillmore Auditorium. It was great having friends from near and far join up for a birthday/pre-show dinner before Neal's show at the Fillmore. We weren't as loud or raucous as we were last week, but that was more due to the nature of Benihana than the crowd. It was great, however, to get a little while to catch up with Jenn and Valerie P. -- I hadn't seen either in several years which is simply MUCH too long. As a bonus, we got to sit in the room that was visible to all passersby and we had quite a few people peeking in looking at us having dinner!

We walked back down the street to get in line for the show and, naturally, ran in to more people we knew. As we filed in, the crowd was a bit sparse and I was thinking that it would look like the Soul Sirkus crowd -- maybe a quarter full theater. Most of the group made their way to the stage to be front and center for the show and were pleasantly surprised when Miles and the keyboard kid came out 15 minutes early for their opening set. It was the same set as in Modesto, opening with Miles playing a ukulele. This time, however, there were some fans of the Miles Schon Band in the audience who were hooting and hollering and singing along. I was asked straight off by a couple of people standing behind me who was playing. When I said "Miles Schon" I got a puzzled look. "Neal's son." More looks of confusion. After some explaining it turned out they are fans of Arnel's who'd come to check out the show. (At least that's my best guess, it was a bit hard to converse, but I did get a bit about Arnel and Journey.)

After Miles's set, the crowd started squeezing in and I was getting claustrophobic up front, so I bailed and went over to sit by the bar and watch from the side. Had a good view and could visit some with Karyn and Joe, Charles, and Darryl, and anyone else in the group who decided to stay out of the throng. By the time Neal took the stage, the place was looking pretty full. Not packed sell out by any means, but a pretty decent crowd overall. The set was much the same as Modesto, but there was at least one different song (no clue what the name of it was) when Neal brought out a double necked guitar. Hadn't seen that in Modesto. Forgot to mention last time that one of the covers was Led Zep's "Immigrant Song" and again confirming for me a preference for Zep with out Robert Plant singing. Yes, I know, sacrilegious, but his voice always sounds like screeching cats dragging their claws on a chalkboard for me. Add in that I can't hear "Immigrant Song" with out thinking of the Viking Kittens* and well, I was laughing to myself a bit.

Cameras were scattered around the theater recording the show for posterity. Whether or not it sees the light of day, who knows, but at least there was a good crowd and good sound (MUCH better than in Modesto -- could actually hear the vocals!) Saw Ross on our way out too, which was fun.

All in all, a fun evening out with friends and I really do miss the "ole days" of groups of people gathering before shows. Will have to find a way to do this again soon!

*It's getting harder to find this online as it's been blocked on YouTube for copyright issues. Too bad, it's one of the best and earliest viral internet items I can remember.

April 24, 2005: Soul SirkUS

San Francisco, CA
Fillmore Auditorium

Rule #1 -- no more general admission concerts on a school night without a planned vacation day the next day.... gawd, I'm beat!

That said.... this groggy, not enough sleep, oh my whole body hurts haze I'm in today is totally worth it! What a great show last night! High volume, high energy, and man does Jeff Scott Sotot work up a sweat! Playing most of the tunes from World Play, with a Journey medley (that included bits of "People and Places" and "Patiently") and a few covers ("Purple Rain" and "Crazy" stand out) thrown in for good measure, this 2+ hour show was the best twenty bucks I've spent in a while.

As most of you know, this show at the Fillmore was being filmed for a DVD release.* This meant those of us up front and center had to do battle with the guy with the hand held camera and the official photographer -- made for an interesting dodge now and again. There were at least 3 other cameras that I saw (and with the size of the Fillmore, I don't imagine that there were more.) Hopefully this show will see the light of day as the 900 "seat" Fillmore was only about a third full. Show was great and the crowd that was there was enthusiastic, but it's been a long time since I've been to the Fillmore and had that much room to move around in. (Though somehow that didn't seem to keep the guy behind me from banging his head into mine -- yes, a literal head bang! Probably explains the headache I had after the show!)

*As far as I can recall, this is another DVD that never saw the light of day.

Most of the Nor Cal gang (and our visiting So Cal gang) had passes for the meet and greet after the show, so we all hung around for a while to say our hellos and get things signed. I was actually so exhausted that I barely moved from my table. I did get to chat briefly with Jeff and really just said hello and good bye to Neal (we'll see if my "allergy" flares up after such a short encounter) and headed for home.*

*My "allergy" is in reference to having come down with a cold on more than one occasion after meeting Neal. It had happened so often by this point in time, I was frequently joking that I was allergic to Neal since there had been a couple of occasions I'd met the other guys without Neal and hadn't gotten sick.

No set list noted, so pull out World Play and pick tunes you like, they were played.

October 26, 2001: Trichromes Harvest Ball

San Francisco, CA
Fillmore Auditorium

What a long strange trip it's been...

So, just what happens when you take Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead, Neal Schon of Journey and throw in Sy Klopps, Ralph Woodson, and Ira Walker? About three hours of rocking blues!

What a fabulous show I got to see last night, and what an interesting experience overall. The Fillmore is always such an amazing place to see a show. This is the legendary Fillmore (not "Fillmore West") -- the original hall run by the late Bill Graham in the 1960s and was a launching pad for so many of the legendary San Francisco bands of that era. And, mercifully, since it has been taken over by SFX when they bought Bill Graham Presents a few years back, the corporate goons have left well enough alone! The Fillmore is a small dance hall-maybe 1,500 people tops-and just a fun and funky place for a show.

The night opened with a screening of "Sunshine Daydream" a ninety minute film of a Grateful Dead concert from 1972. It was... um... interesting. For you Deadheads out there, it's going to be digitally remastered with a remixed soundtrack and released next year. Personally, I'm gonna pass.

At 10:00 the Trichromes hit the stage... adorned with leis (I don't know why) and they launched into a 75-minute set of blues based tunes. There were a few covers that I recognized -- some Bob Marley, Dylan, and of course Dead tunes. While most of the tunes were instrumental jams, Sy Klopps (better known as Herbie Herbert) did step up in front to sing.

Sy Klopps (aka Herbie Herbert) on the mic

All I can say is WOW... Herbie can SING! His voice is definitely suited to blues, but I was very impressed. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I heard. I guess I had figured Herbie had a passable voice for singing and left it at that. His voice is definitely more than passable.

This band was having a blast on stage. Whether it was a contact high from all the dope being smoked in the crowd (these ARE Deadheads we're talking about here) or sheer joy of playing, it was obvious these guys were having a great time (I suspect it was a combination of both.) Neal and Ralph Woodson played off each other all night long -- two fabulous guitars.

There was a forty-five-minute intermission, and the crowd thinned out considerably. The place was maybe half full for the first set and by the time the band took the stage again at midnight, it had dwindled by half. My friends and I had decided we'd leave at 12:30 whether or not the show was over - we were all exhausted from a long day, and wanted to get home at a reasonable hour. Alas, that plan was foiled.

About twenty minutes into the second set, I looked over to my left and who should I see about twenty feet away, but Ross! I had seen him wandering around the place before the first set, but not later. I elbowed Darla and we decided to stick around and watch Ross watching Neal. (It was worth it!) Since the crowd had thinned, we moved a bit more towards center stage. A few minutes later, who should stand in front of me, but Ross! He and his brother Brett were having a great ole time... And Neal was cracking up whenever he caught Ross in the audience. At one point, Neal's guitar caught the lei that was draped on his mic stand (why he had a mic I don't know since he didn't sing at all) and it was only a matter of time before the mic stand toppled over. Ross and Brett were nearly doubled over laughing before Neal saw it and took the lei off and tossed it into the audience.

About 1:15 the band closed their set, and went off stage. The announcer for the night (I'm not sure if he was with the band or with the venue) came out and said a few words about Bill Graham and asked the band to come out and pay tribute to Bill. Thirty minutes of jamming, and it STILL wasn't over, and my friends and I decided to get our coats and head for the car -- especially since the garage closed at 2:30! We heard someone say "Thank you and good night." as we were walking down the stairs, so I guess we left just at the end, but for all I know, those guys are STILL playing!