September 28, 2018: Rock on with Ringo

San Jose, CA

City National Civic

The Beatles broke up when I was two. John Lennon was killed when I was 12. The only tour George Harrison did in my adult life was a brief tour of Japan in 1991. That leaves Paul and Ringo as the two remaining Beatles who regularly perform shows. I've seen Paul McCartney perform at least seven times, but it seems I always missed Ringo when he came through town. There were a variety of reasons -- other plans, tickets sold out before I could get them, etc. So clearly trying to get to one of his shows has been on my list for quite some time. Then a few years ago, Gregg Rolie (formerly of Santana and Journey) joined his All Starr Band, and I got even MORE motivated to try to go to one of his shows. That finally happened Friday night.

I bought the tickets for this show about six months ago with my friend Mary. Between then and now, Mary and her husband moved to Portland, so we had to make some adjustments to our plans for the evening. Mary flew down Friday afternoon and planned to catch CalTrain to Palo Alto where I could easily pick her up from work. She missed her first train, so we wound up getting down to San Jose about 7:00 -- not a whole lot of time to grab dinner before the 8:00 show time. Since I knew we'd have a short window between when we'd arrive in San Jose and the start of the show, I grabbed a quick bite to eat and after we parked the car, Mary and I had a quick dinner in my car. Not exactly the plan, but it would do.

We got into the Civic pretty quickly and found our seats, which were about 10 rows from the stage. Looking around, we were on the younger side of the crowd. There were some kids under 21, presumably at the show with their parents (or possibly grandparents), but for the most part the crowd looked to average around 65. We got settled in and chatted for a bit while we waited for the show to start. The biggest thing I noticed about our seats while we were waiting is that the rows were VERY narrow. You pretty much would have to get out of the row to let people get by to get to/from their seats. It got pretty annoying later once the show started and I wanted to stand up and dance a little.

The show started off about 8:15 with the All Starr Band walking on stage first. I kind of chuckled to myself as Gregg Rolie was the first one out. Gregg was joined on stage by Steve Lukather (Toto), Graham Gouldman (10cc), Colin Hay (Men at Work), Warren Ham, and Gregg Bissionette. Everyone got a big cheer, and then Ringo came out to a bigger cheer and they all launched into "Matchbox," the old Carl Perkins tune the Beatles covered way back when. That was followed by Ringo's solo track "It Don't Come Easy." One more Ringo-led Beatles tune followed and then Ringo handed over the lead singing duties to his band members.

I've gotta admit, the All Starr Band is a big reason I've wanted to see one of Ringo's shows for so long since in addition to hearing Beatles classics and Ringo's solo hits, you also get to hear songs from other well known musicians and their musical history. First up was Graham Gouldman. Now, I'm going to admit here that while I've known of the band 10cc for a long time, there is no way I could ever name one of their songs much less a member of the band. That's not to say I don't know 10cc songs, it's just that I don't have any association between the band and the songs. Thus led to the introduction of "Dreadlock Holiday" as a "hit song all over the world, except in America!" It's actually a song I know and would hear on KFOG before they went and blew up their format a couple of years ago. No idea that was a 10cc song!

That was followed by "two time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer" Gregg and the Santana classic "Evil Ways." I've heard Gregg perform this a number of times now and I never get tired of it. Next up, was Steve Lukather, who along with Colin Hay, ensured there were songs in the set that were hits after 1980! Lots of clapping along to "Rosanna." Finally, it was over to Colin Hay (who I did not recognize at all until he was introduced!) and the requisite "Down Under."

The show proceeded like this, with Ringo coming out front to do a couple of his numbers before turning things over to his band to do theirs. I really loved the energy Ringo had all night, but he has got to be one of the most awkward front men I have ever seen. He's clearly much more comfortable sitting behind the drums, which he did for a number of tunes -- both of his own and for nearly all of his bandmates songs. Around this time, I started doing a mental checklist of the Ringo-led Beatles songs trying to figure out what he'd be singing during the set list. First to pop in my head was the thought "Well, he'll have to do Yellow Submarine." And, yep, very next minute, there it was. It was great fun to sing along. "Yellow Submarine" is one of those songs I've just loved since I was a kid. It was kid-friendly way back when, and it still just puts a big smile on my face.

Ringo took a bit of a break after that and went backstage while the band played "I'm Not in Love" (oh! another 10cc song I know but didn't know!) and "Black Magic Woman/Gyspy Queen" which totally rocked the house. Steve Lukather was incredible on the guitar and he and Gregg had a good time playing off each other.

A third round of Ringo songs and band songs, and things started to wrap up close to 11 as the show closed out with "A Little Help from My Friends."  I was thrilled to hear that live. I've heard Paul do "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band" a few times and always wished it would morph into "A Little Help from My Friends," but it never does, so getting to hear Ringo perform it was special. Ringo dashed off stage after that, but the band stuck around for a bit and a minute later, Ringo was back out and singing John's "Give Peace a Chance." Great way to end the night!

Set list (courtesy setlist.fm)

Matchbox
It Don't Come Easy
What Goes On
Dreadlock Holiday [10cc]
Evil Ways [Santana]*
Rosanna [Toto]
Down Under [Men at Work]
Boys
Don't Pass Me By
Yellow Submarine
I'm Not in Love [10cc]
Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen [Santana]
You're Sixteen
Anthem
Overkill [Men at Work]
Africa [Toto]
Oye como va [Santana]
I Wanna Be Your Man
The Things We Do for Love [10cc]
Who Can It Be Now? [Men at Work]
Hold the Line [Toto]
Photograph
Act Naturally
With a Little Help From My Friends
Give Peace a Chance


*Yes, I know all the Santana songs are covers of other people's songs. For this purpose, it indicates they performed the Santana version of the song.

February 9, 2018: Neal Schon's Journey Through Time Featuring Deen Castronovo!

San Francisco, CA
The Independent

Next month will mark the twentieth anniversary of the first time I ever saw Neal Schon play live. That was the first thought that hit me last night at The Independent. The show was about two or three songs into the first set and I was standing a couple people away from Neal's side of center stage when I looked up and had an instant flashback to that night in 1998. Then, it was a slightly bigger club featuring a night of reggae music. Now, it was Neal and Gregg Rolie pulling out the whole Journey catalog with Deen Castronovo doing double duty as drummer and lead vocalist for the Perry-era tracks. Marco Mendoza took the role of Ross Valory with John Varn handling some of the keyboard parts that Gregg's Hammond B3 couldn't quite manage.

When this show was first announced, I wasn't sure I could make it. Tickets were $100 and went on sale right before Christmas when the budget's always a little tight, but I knew this wasn't a show to miss, so I dove in and got myself a ticket. That the funds are going to fire relief in the Napa/Sonoma area was definitely a push too. Show day rolled around pretty quickly, and it was up to the city to meet Leslie, Cheryl, Jenn, and Teresa for a pre-show visit and quick bite to eat. After some adventures in parking, we finally arrived at the Independent about 5:00 and found Hope and Sandi at the front of the line. Teresa and Leslie joined them while Cheryl, Jenn, and I went to grab a bite to eat. On our way to the cafe, Deen popped out of the club. He was dashing to his car, so we didn't get to chat, but he did go over and say hi to Teresa and the others after we'd left.

Cheryl and I took our time after dinner since neither of us was all that excited by the prospect of standing in line until 8:30 when the doors would open and headed over to the club about 7:00. When we arrived, it was time to do the "meet and greet" -- I walked down the line and ran into friends about every 5 feet, both those I knew would be there and a few I didn't. That is the one advantage to a general admission show -- you have to line up well in advance, so you get a chance to see people you weren't expecting to see. There was a pretty good crowd of the old Journey gang and lots of visiting while we waited to get in.

Once we finally got inside, everyone kind of clustered in different areas. There was a group of us pretty close to center stage. A few off to the side. And a few others lost among the crowd. Before the show, I figured the set list would include some pre-Perry era Journey, some Santana tunes, some pre-Escape tunes, and maybe some covers. That's not at all what we got. It was a show full of Journey tunes from all eras. There were songs I've never heard live before. There were songs I thought I'd never hear again. It was surreal. And the star of the show was Deen on vocals. He was just amazing. He's always been the closest to sounding like Steve Perry among all the guys who've sung lead for Journey in the post-Perry era, and the way he sang last night was just more evidence of the fact.

The show opened with three songs from the pre-Perry era which, fortunately, I was able to identify pretty quickly. I like those albums, but listen to them so seldom that it always takes a while for me to remember which song is which. Then we got the first stunner of the night when they launched into "Daydream" out of "Kohoutek." Daydream! It took me a second to actually recognize it because I was so stunned. It was just amazing to hear live with that otherworldly sound it has. It's a totally underrated gem in the Journey catalog. That was followed by "La Do Da" and "Line of Fire" which have appeared in recent Journey sets since Steve Smith returned to the drums. Then came the next highlight -- Deen doing his best at copying Steve Perry's Captured introduction of Neal and Gregg going in to "Walks Like a Lady" (it was pretty close, but not quite.)

By this point in the show, I figured, OK, it's going to be pre-Perry through Captured era Journey, so you can imagine my surprise when a few songs later Deen launched in to "Still They Ride" out of "Lights!" (As always, "Lights" got a great hometown reception.) I was amazed. Escape is my favorite Journey album, and "Still They Ride" has always been near the top of my list of favorite Journey songs. I had thought they were going to play "Stay Awhile" out of "Lights" because Deen had mentioned rehearsing it when he chatted with Teresa before the show, so "Still They Ride" was a pleasant surprise.

The guys had been playing for about an hour and a half when they wrapped up the set with "Wheel in the Sky." I was hot, thirsty, and my knee was beginning to ache, so thought "great show, I need to get some water before I drive home." Then Neal said "stick around, we'll be back in a little bit for our second set." Second set?!! Oh my god! I'm gonna die! I had to get some water, so I said goodbye to the gang at the front of the stage and worked my way back to the bar to buy some. I found Emerson and Nicole and chatted with them for a little while before going back and buying a second bottle of water, having guzzled the first in less than five minutes. (The place was HOT! Not quite House of Blues Hollywood hot, but pretty close. No one fainted this time at least!) Prior to the show, Teresa had arranged for a couple of seats due to her recent surgery. Cheryl was in one, but Teresa stuck at the front of the stage all night, so I was able to join Cheryl at the second seat for the second set. Thank goodness! It was cooler there and I could sit and rest my knee. (As I said to Darryl on Facebook the morning of the show, we may be young at heart, but we're old in the knees!)

The second set started about 11:00 and just blew my mind. Deen and Neal came out first and Deen stepped up to the front of the stage and did an AMAZING medley of "Patiently", "Trial by Fire", and "Stay Awhile!" My jaw just dropped when "Patiently" turned in to "Trial by Fire." Deen was clearly emotional after that one too, and after all the crap he's been through over the past few years, I'm so glad he seems to have gotten everything turned around. He clearly appreciated what he was doing last night and "Trial by Fire" really cemented it.

The rest of the guys came out after that and on to more pre-Escape Journey. "Lovin' You Is Easy" was a big surprise, but then they went in to "Lady Luck" and it was just unreal. Seriously, it was so amazing to get a chance to hear these songs that I've never heard performed live before. Cheryl and I were just gobsmacked by it all. There was a fellow behind us equally gobsmacked and we all just said "wow!" Then came a stretch of pre-Perry songs that I had to guess at (thanks to setlist.fm for confirming/correcting my guesses) with Marco taking the lead vocal on "Hustler."

Then came "Mother, Father." ACK! My all time always and forever favorite Journey song! I was so happy to hear this one again, and only minimally weepy. Deen does such a great job on this, so it was great to be able to hear him sing it again. The set wound down with "Any Way You Want It" and "Don't Stop Believin'." Gregg had an amusing look on his face as it started and kind of waved his hands around like a conductor at the opening notes which were played by John Varn on keyboards since, obviously, a Hammond B3 sounds completely different than a piano!

The guys went off after that, but the house lights didn't come back on, so we knew they were coming back out. I turned to Cheryl and said "What do you think they'll do? This isn't a normal show where you can say 'well, they haven't played X' yet." The fellow behind us suggested it might be "On a Saturday Nite" on the theory that it was the only Gregg vocal that hadn't been done, but we didn't think so. You don't follow "Don't Stop Believin'" with pre-Perry Journey. One of us commented that we were surprised we hadn't heard any Santana and our new friend said "yeah, but I wouldn't expect it." Well, guess what? Santana set encore!

That truly closed out the night in amazing fashion. This was a show that you just don't get to see, and totally worth everything it took to get there. After the show was over, everyone hung around for a bit for a long farewell and I managed to spot Lora Beard and Cyndy Poon from Fan Asylum and went over to say hello/goodbye. A few last minute group photos, and we were all headed back to our cars for the ride back home (or hotel as the case may be for a few.)

A few final shout outs: Special thanks to Leslie and Linda for your thoughtfulness. The execution may have been bumbled, but the thought was there and I appreciate it. And special thoughts to CJ, you and Mark were with us last night too. I love my Journey family!

Set List:

Set 1:

I'm Gonna Leave You
Look Into the Future
Kohoutek
Daydream
La Do Da
Line of Fire
Walks Like a Lady
Feeling That Way
Anytime
Lights
Still They Ride
Separate Ways
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'
Wheel in the Sky

Set 2:

Patiently/Trial By Fire/Stay Awhile
Mystery Mountain
Of a Lifetime
Just the Same Way
Where Were You
Lovin' You Is Easy
Lady Luck
You're On Your Own
Hustler (Marco vocal)
Nickel and Dime
People
Mother, Father
Any Way You Want It
Don't Stop Believin'

Encore:

Black Magic Woman
Gypsy Queen
Oye Como Va

March 21, 2016: The Original Santana! (or at least a resonable facsimile thereof.)

Las Vegas, NV
The House of Blues

It's been over 10 years since I last went to Las Vegas, and nearly that long since I've traveled further than Lake Tahoe (which for someone born and raised in the Bay Area is more or less the backyard) for a Journey-related show. Vegas is not my favorite destination and I've rarely spent more than about 24 hours in the city on any trip -- always for a concert. This time was no different, but it was for a very special concert. After over 40 years the "original" lineup of Santana was reuniting for a show to promote their new album Santana IV (due out April 15.)

I put original in quotes up there because, over the nearly 50 year history of the band, there have been many different lineups and I think most people would consider the original Santana lineup to be the version that played at Woodstock in 1969. That lineup was Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie, Chepito Areas, Michael Carabello, Michael Shreve, and David Brown (courtesy liner notes to The Best of Santana.) That wasn't exactly the lineup of last night's show, but we got close enough with Gregg Rolie, Michael Carabello, Michael Shreve and Neal Schon joining Carlos and a couple of members from the current version of the band on stage for a 2 hour show that was filmed for TV and DVD.

Rewind a bit in time here before moving on to the show. Santana is one of those legendary San Francisco bands of the 1960s -- idolized along with the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane that came out of the craziness of 1960s San Francisco. Having been only 10 months old when Woodstock took place, barring some highly irresponsible relatives bringing a very young child to the Fillmore, the chance of me ever seeing the original lineup of Santana wasn't ever going to be very likely. Amazingly, however, despite living my entire life in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had never seen ANY incarnation of Santana. I've seen Carlos make guest appearances at a couple of shows, but never the full on band. I realized this some time ago and made a mental note to try to get to a Santana show in the near future.

Now, I've seen Gregg Rolie numerous times and Michael Carabello has been in his band nearly every time I've seen him, and most of Gregg's set list is comprised of the well known Santana hits of the late 1960s/early 1970s. Over the last few years there had been rumblings about Neal Schon trying to get his former Santana compadres together to record a new album, then bits of stories that some recording had started, until finally, yes there was going to be a new album released this year.

Back in January, it was announced that there were going to be three shows featuring both Journey and Santana on the east coast with the big kick off show at Madison Square Garden. I've got to admit, as a Bay Area native, I was kind of pissed off. Two legendary San Francisco bands joining up for a big dual headlining show with Neal playing in BOTH bands and it's in New York City! A trip to New York was way too expensive to take, so I simmered a bit and figured they'd eventually do a show in San Francisco.  (September 4, 2016, AT&T Park! Woo!)

Then about two weeks ago, late on a Friday I see the announcement -- the "original" Santana performing in Las Vegas at the House of Blues! Tickets are only $30! THIRTY DOLLARS?!!! Oh heck yeah, I'm in. I knew I could find a cheap flight to Vegas and a one night hotel stay wouldn't break the bank, so I was all in. The tickets went on sale the next day and in the span of an hour I had my concert ticket, my flight and hotel all purchased before even having a chance to talk to my boss to let him know I'd be taking two days off from work for it. (Thankfully, I have a great boss!)

I flew in to Vegas yesterday morning and met up with Adriana, Hope, and Valerie P. -- none of whom I'd seen in several years and it was just great catching up with old friends. Jenn would be flying in a little bit later in the day. We split up for a bit after grabbing a bite to eat, but Adriana soon sent me a message that there would be a press conference outside the House of Blues at 3:00, so I went down to check it out. To be honest, it was probably the worlds shortest press conference. It was essentially a bunch of suits saying "yay us we have Santana in the house" and then each member of the band got up and spoke for about 30 seconds. Carlos maybe got a minute. Then poof, bang, it was over. The best information I got was that the show would be shown on AXS TV in June and then released on DVD and shown on PBS as part of their pledge drive in the fall. Carlos did give big praise to Neal for being the instigator of the project, so that was pretty cool.

So, now on to the show (finally they say!) The concert was General Admission, which is really not my favorite way to see a show any more, but I figured I could put up with it for one night. Jenn and I got in line to get in about 5:45 for the 6:30 opening of the doors. We got inside about an hour later and managed to get pretty close to the stage and then we had to stand and wait. The House of Blues was much smaller than I expected and they'd only sold the floor area -- the upper balcony section seemed to hold friends and family of the band and probably some other big wigs. While the crowd was waiting the PA played mostly age/era appropriate music and it was amusing to hear the crowd sing along from time to time to Bob Dylan and Them. The crowd looked somewhat younger than I expected, but it was definitely a middle aged and over crowd.

[Note: I'm going to pause here for a moment to mention I'm a "greatest hits" type of fan of Santana, so I did not write down a set list and as yet I've been unable to locate one for last night's show. I have found some for recent shows with the current lineup which should help some as I continue.]

Blurry iPhone pic of Gregg Rolie

The show started right on time at 8:00 when Carlos and most of the band stepped out on stage. They opened up with "Soul Sacrifice" and then went into "Evil Ways" [edited after seeing video!] before taking a pause for Carlos to introduce the band. He first introduced the guys from the current line up before introducing Michael Shreve, Michael Carabello and Gregg Rolie. Standing in the wings (and easily spotted from my position) was Neal Schon. Carlos repeated what he had said earlier at the press conference that it was Neal who was the engine driving the reunion. When Neal came on stage he had the biggest smile I've ever seen, and honestly, he smiled pretty much non stop through out the show. He really was having a great time (despite a few issues I'll mention later.) I'm pretty sure the next song was "Jingo" (again, I know the song, just not the order) and it was so much fun to watch Neal and Carlos play together. It was a bit strange to see Neal as the secondary guitarist, but they really played well together.

Carlos and Neal

The show covered a lot of the hits of the early Santana years along with some new songs, though Carlos only introduced one of them. I had a pretty good spot close to the stage and a decent view of everyone but Gregg who was at the far right as you face the stage. To see him I had to bob around a few heads, but it wasn't too bad. He too looked like he was having a great time. A lot of the show felt a lot like a big jam session as songs were extended and I thought "this jamming stuff is what Neal really misses and wants to do." Neal took a couple of solos along the way which was cool. Still, a personal highlight for me was hearing Carlos play "Europa" -- it's absolutely one of my favorite tunes. Neal actually stepped off stage for that song, returning right afterwards.

Now, the show didn't go 100% smoothly. There was some kind of problem with Neal's guitar cable and the tech had to come out several times to fix and/or replace it. I don't know how they're going to cover that up in the video, but I'm guessing they'll find a way. (I wouldn't be surprised if there had been a run through of the show with the cameras running just for this possibility. Don't know that for a fact though.) A similar thing happened with the keyboard player at one point also, but not as often as it did with Neal.

Ron Isley, Neal, Gregg

The main set closed out with "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" and "Oye Como Va". The band then came out for an encore with guest Ronald Isley (of the Isley Brothers) who Carlos called "more important to [him] than the Statue of Liberty, more important than the Golden Gate." He also went on for a bit about the song "Twist and Shout" which led me to believe that's what they would be singing, but no, it was something else (sorry folks, not sure what it was called.) Ronald Isley sang for two songs before the band closed out the show with one last tune (which I have completely forgotten at this point.)

The show ended around 10:15 and Jenn and I chatted for a few minutes with Adriana, Hope, and Valerie before calling it a night. We both had morning flights back home (and poor Jenn actually had to go in to work this morning!) so we needed to get to bed. It was a quick turn around trip to Vegas, but I'm so glad I went. It was a great show and it was so good to see some old friends that I haven't seen in a while. I do miss some of my crazy travels.

January 13, 2007: Return to the Fox

Redwood City, CA
Fox Theater

So, two weeks, two benefits, two reports! The Nor Cal gang came to MY part of the bay and took in another great show by Gregg and his band at the Fox Theater in Redwood City. Now, unfortunately, it wasn't like the LAST time Gregg played a Voices of Latin Rock Benefit at the Fox -- where he was joined by Neal and several fellow former Santana members. Okay, so now I'm REALLY bummed I didn't grab a ticket to the show at Bimbo's on Thursday. Siiighh... Oh well, maybe next time! The show opened with a band called La Ventana that most of us missed as we were hanging out in the lobby of the theater yammering away as we always do at one of these gigs. When Malo took the stage we decided to go inside where it was MUCH warmer than the lobby which had an icy wind blowing through. (And while I know most folks live in places where it routinely snows during this time of year, we NorCals are NOT used to temps in the 30s and 40s as it has been lately and was again last night -- BRRRRR!)

Malo put on a good show which had people dancing all around. And despite only knowing one song myself (their big hit "Suavacito") I found myself dancing along as well. There's just something to those Latin rhythms that make you just want to move!

Gregg hit the stage about 9:45 or so and by that time we'd all worked our way down front. Anyone who's seen Gregg's band play knows just how good they are and how much fun they always seem to have on stage. The set list wasn't all that much different than any other time I've seen him over the last 6 years or so. More Santana stuff this time than Roots stuff, plus one new tune that he really needs to get recorded.

While they were playing I had the same thought cross my mind that I often have when I see Gregg -- all of those songs are nearly as old as I am. Gregg's time in Santana began before I was born (sorry Gregg!) and lasted until I was about 3 years old, but all those songs still sound completely fresh and exciting. Sure, I have literally been hearing them all my life, but there is a LOT of music I've been hearing all my life that hasn't held up over time.

The only downer of the show was it was general admission which means invasion of your personal space and all the general stupidity that comes along. Even with a more mature crowd, it's still annoying.

After Gregg's show was done, a couple of folks hopped next door to the Little Fox to catch the last bit of Evolution's show. I wasn't one, but did catch the end of "Faithfully" through the windows as I headed back to my car. The folks who caught that show will have to fill us all in.*

*I should have stuck around outside to listen from the street. Gregg joined Evolution for a few songs later in their set, including "Just the Same Way." My excuse -- it was below 30 degrees out! Way cold for the Bay Area!

May 21, 2005: Gregg Kicks Off the Summer Season

Santa Clara, CA
Avalon Night Club

Just in time to kick off the summer concert season AND appease my need for some live Journey music, Gregg and his marvelous band played another Bay Area gig. I've lost track of the number of shows I've seen since Roots was released in 2001, but it must be well over a dozen by now (maybe even 2 dozen??) This past Saturday's show was the first time he had a significantly different set-list than all the previous shows I'd seen. In the past, the shows have focused primarily on songs from Roots and the classic Santana tunes we all know and love. Thus, I was puzzled by the promotion I was seeing about "an evening of songs from Journey and Santana" -- Gregg seldom performs any Journey tunes. I had only heard him do any twice -- and that was when he was first out on the road with Roots and Dave Amato was on guitar and took the Perry vocals on a couple of tracks.

Once we got through the gawd-awful comedian who would have been booed off the stage if any one had bothered to even listen to what he was rambling about, the large contingent of Nor Cal Journey fans took to the floor for key spots. Gregg and the guys took to the stage and acknowledged all the familiar faces that were standing right up front. About four songs in to the set, I noticed an unfamiliar guy standing behind Michael Carabello and wondered who he was. Shortly after, he walked out on stage and Gregg introduced him by saying "How'd you like to hear some Journey songs?" That got a great response from the crowd and the band launched into a four song set of "Just the Same Way," "Anytime," "Lights," and "Any Way You Want It." The singer (Robbie something, no one seemed to catch his last name!) did an admirable job. While he's no Steve (Perry or Augeri) he did very well. Hearing someone who clearly doesn't have the range to cover the songs as originally written, really helped drive home to me just how difficult those tunes are to sing. When the set was over, Gregg looked down at Darla, who was standing right at his feet, and said "So, how was that?" -- I laughed to myself when I saw the exchange. Yep, Gregg's gotten used to us showing up!

After the show, the band stuck around for an autograph signing session. It was a bit of a mad house, but I was able to give Gregg his JPP star that the rest of the guys received at the luncheon in Hollywood. There should be a couple of pictures around soon -- just need to get them from the people who took 'em!

I'd hoped to have the set list, but since I didn't write it down and I've yet to get a copy sent to me, we'll have to skip this time.

November 30, 2001: Gregg Gets Back to the City by the Bay

San Francisco, CA
Slim's

Welcome home Gregg Rolie! What a fun show! The San Francisco crowd at Slim's was much more enthusiastic than the crowd in Palo Alto earlier this week, and the Nor Cal gang present had a blast!

The show last night was very much similar to the show on Wednesday -- nearly the same set list from what I could tell. The big difference last night really was the crowd. The show at the Icon had maybe 100-150 people. Slim's, while not at capacity (450) was pretty crowded. I'd guess 300 people or so. Among the crowd -- Ross Valory and Herbie Herbert. And everyone had a rollicking time! And, as on Wednesday night, "Just the Same Way" was wildly received, yet calls for "Look Into the Future" got a laugh out of Gregg.

While I personally didn't see Herbie, I did get to see Ross work his way to the front of the club and stand about ten feet away from me (again) for a few minutes.

After the show ended and I was leaving the club, I got to meet Chepito Areas who was there to see his son Adrian playing in Gregg's band. Very proud father!

November 28, 2001: Gregg Returns to His Roots

Palo Alto, CA
Icon Supperclub

I'm exhausted and can't hear very well out of my right ear, but it was so worth it! Last night a friend and I took in Gregg Rolie at the Icon Supperclub in Palo Alto and had a fantastic time!

The Icon is a fairly small club that has gone through a number of permutations over the years and has turned into a pretty nice little place. The show started about thirty minutes late, but it didn't seem to bother too many of the 150 or so people that were in attendance -- many of whom looked to be Santana-era fans. I felt like a kid! LOL!
 
The show kicked off with "Going Home" from Gregg's new CD Roots (for those of you who haven't gotten it yet -- what are you waiting for?!) Gregg and his band followed with a fantastic version of "Jingo," and the night proceeded with a great mix of new tunes and Santana tunes. I seemed to be the only person in the audience to actually KNOW the new tunes, which was rather amusing.

The band was unbelievable. You'd think they'd all been playing together for years. Dave Amato (from REO Speedwagon) handled the guitar duties and just blew me away. With percussion provided by Adrian Areas (son of Chepito Areas) on timbales, Ron Wisko on drums, and Michael Carabello on congas the beat was huge and full of energy!!
 
Gregg was fantastic and very loose on stage. A minor technical problem mid-way through his set had him joking with the audience until he and his tech could get his keyboards on the right setting.

There were a few guys in the back of the club that would periodically call out "JOURNEY," which I found amusing as I figured there'd be no way he could do any Journey with the set up. I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised when towards the end of the set they launched into "Just the Same Way." I'll give Dave Amato an "A" for effort in covering the Perry part, but he did a much better job on Neal's guitar than Perry's vocals! The crowd went nuts for it too.

If there was any doubt that there are still a large faction of Journey fans that prefer the pre-Perry material, I can tell you, last night I ran into a dozen! Between the cries for "On a Saturday Nite" (which got a laugh from Gregg and the comment "but it's Wednesday") and the woman next to me who commented to another fan "no, I want old Journey, when HE sang." there was a definite early-Journey presence among the crowd!

Looking forward to Friday night's show in San Francisco!