September 30, 2005: Three Days, Three Shows -- Day 1

Marysville, CA
Sleep Train Amphitheater

So, have you ever had one of those days at work where you spend all your time putting out one fire while two more erupt behind you?? Well, I've had two straight weeks of that. The only things that kept me sane were popping Escape in the CD player, a bottle of wine, and repeating to myself "Just a few more days until your Journey weekend" over and over and over.

When I finally cut out of work around noon yesterday it felt like the last day of school -- woo hoo! I'm FREE! Off to have FUN! Now tell me, how many people think driving 150 miles in an afternoon (and then 150 miles BACK a few hours later) is fun??

But fun it was. After a rest stop at Roxanne's for an early supper, it was off to Marysville and show one of three in a row. For those of you who've never been to Marysville, it's about 40 miles and a million years away from Sacramento -- talk about the middle of no where! One two lane road leads to the amphitheater and you're quite sure you're lost by the time you actually find the place.

As I said, I REALLY needed a Journey show last night, and wow, did I ever get one. I think this was the best show I've seen so far. (Though Irvine still wins for best set list!) Leslie and I were sitting up in the first section behind the pit on Neal's side. Fairly decent seats overall, but we're both used to being spoiled with great seats. The nice thing about it was we really were able to take in the whole production -- staging, performing, etc. You miss some of that when you're up close and personal.

Of course, the down side of being further away from the stage is that you wind up in the (cue music) No Standing Zone.... Other than a few die-hard folks (me, Leslie, Roxanne and her gang, Hope...) not a whole lot of people were standing out by us. At least no one made us sit down either, so that was cool. The crowd was, as always, a bit confused by the first set, but I've really grown to love those tunes. Last night in particular, just letting the sounds of "Kohoutek" and "Nickel & Dime" wash over me was just the antidote I needed for all my stress.

They've changed the first set up a bit since I've seen them last in early August, and included two Generations tunes in the set. "The Place in Your Heart" (so great to hear that again live!) and "In Self-Defense" (much better live IMO) made for a nice change with the early years. Ross took on "Walks Like a Lady" in the first set, and when I looked around there were 3 teen-aged boys who were just going completely nuts over it. Don't know if they were going nuts just to go nuts, or if they were really into the song, but they sure looked like they were having a blast!

After dashing back to my seat from intermission, I found the crowd much more responsive to the second set. Again as expected. Still, the folks around me only stood for about half the set. While I would normally say WTF to that, having the two 6 foot plus guys in front of me sitting down was quite helpful! The guys were absolutely solid for this set. Everything sounded just spot on. There was no one particular highlight for me as everything went extremely well. The only disappointment being Deen not taking a lead vocal.

When they came out for the encore, Steve's intro to "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" was just incredibly sexy. Leslie and I just looked at each other and said "Wow." The show ended about 3 hours after it began and it was off to do battle with the parking lot and to make the long haul back home and try to get enough rest for today's show. (Didn't quite happen, I could use about another 2 hours of sleep, but must leave for Novato in about an hour...)

One show down, two to go...

Set List:

People & Places intro
Kohoutek
Of a Lifetime (Jon vox)
I'm Gonna Leave You (Jon vox)
Nickel and Dime
Mystery Mountain (Jon vox)
Walks Like a Lady (Ross vox)
In Self Defense (Neal vox)
Just the Same Way (Jon/Steve)
Feeling That Way (Jon/Steve)
Anytime (Jon/Steve)
The Place in Your Heart
Any Way You Want It

--Intermission--

Intro
Be Good to Yourself
Ask the Lonely
Only the Young
Faith in the Heartland
Star Spangled Banner
Stone in Love
Wheel in the Sky
Chain Reaction
Higher Place
Lights
Every Generation
-- Jon solo --
Open Arms
Escape
Faithfully
Don't Stop Believin'
Separate Ways


Encore:
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

August 8-18: Michelle's Adventures in Journeyland (part 4)

We were back to the hotel by 2:00 and in bed shortly thereafter. Our Saturday event was an early lunch at the Fog City Diner, site of a Journey photo shoot for the Raised on Radio album. (And, to our surprise, there was a picture of Neal hanging on the wall outside the ladies room!) Amazingly we ran on time for this day, and got to the diner for a group lunch. While we waited on our food, we held a personalized quiz for Cat, since she’d missed the entire event the day before with her Fan Club obligations. Then it was time for the raffle, and I think everyone went home happy with some autographed goodie.

Back to the hotel for a quick change of clothes and a video thank you from the committee to the band (next time, cue cards for me...) and off to the cars for the drive to Marysville for that night’s concert. Smokers in one car, nonsmokers in the other, and we were off. I led to the bridge and Darla (with Ana Marie as a navigator) let the rest of the way. We would have been perfectly on time too if we hadn’t missed the exit and gone about 3 miles out of our way. I still hate driving a mini van though...awful awful awful...and the fact we weren’t killed twice is simply amazing...I guess my skills are better than I thought!

Mary Ann had gotten Fan Club seats for the two of us, and Ana Marie had them again for she and Toni. Imagine our shock when Ana Marie got after show passes again! Wow. Mary Ann and I had 3^rd row seats for this show, and as luck would have it, Cat was sitting in the same row, two seats over! We talked to the couple sitting between us, Mark and Jae—also fan club members—and asked if they would mind moving down a seat so that the three of us could sit together. They were more than gracious and agreed, and so, when “Faithfully” was played, Cat, Mary Ann and I wound up on the giant video screen as we swayed back and forth in time to the song. Yet another claim to fame!

Once more the show came and went too quickly and it was time to go outside. Getting through the throngs of people with after show passes was a bit of a trick—apparently a couple of radio stations had given bunches away. We all waited outside again for Ana Marie who was able to bring her Aunt Sheryl to the after show this time. The wait wasn’t nearly as long this time…Ana Marie was out in about 20 minutes. We all piled back into the cars and headed back to The City, having said our farewells to Angie and Michelle A. who were staying in the area on their way to Konocti the next day.

After more adventures in driving through San Francisco in a mini van, we arrived back at the hotel around 2:00 and gathered the committee in my room. Mary Ann had a 6:00 flight, so her shuttle was picking her up at 4:15. We all stayed up with her to say good-bye, and then crawled into bed. The 8:30 wake up call was a cruel way to start Sunday morning, but we had arranged for an “informal” farewell brunch at 9:00. I had just crawled out of bed when there was a soft knock on my door...uncertain if we’d put out the do not disturb sign, I got up to answer it to make sure it wasn’t housekeeping. It wasn’t. It was Dale. I told her I’d just gotten up and I’d meet her in the lobby in a few minutes. I splashed some water on my face and pulled on some clothes and stumbled downstairs as the rest of my committee members slowly awoke and arose.

Brunch ended and it was time to say our good-byes. Everyone needed to check out of their hotels and get headed for home. It had been a fantastic weekend and the complete and utter exhaustion I was feeling was well worth it. I finally arrived home for some brief rest around 3 Sunday afternoon. I unpacked enough to do laundry, took a nap, ate a light dinner, and crawled into my very own bed for a good night’s sleep.

Journey Past and Present 2001 was over. The next week was mine...all mine...5 Journey shows in 7 days...

to be continued...