February 16, 2010: One Night, Two Piano Men

San Jose, CA
HP Pavilion

Sing us a song you're the Piano Man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling all right.

Is everyone singing along? As loud as you can? Good... Now to the report....

Way back in 2009 -- around March or so -- I bought a couple of tickets for the Elton John/Billy Joel concert in November. Veteran concert goer that I am, buying tickets seven months early is no big deal, but it DOES create excessive anticipation. So, naturally, you can imagine my disappointment when the show was postponed due to illness! Well damn!

So, here we are, nearly a year after buying the tickets and it's FINALLY time for the show. It occurred to me over the weekend that I hadn't heard any Billy Joel in a while, so I went to my iTunes and realized I hadn't loaded most of my Billy Joel CDs! OOPS. That mistake rectified, I bopped around the house listening to old friends.

Now, I've seen both Elton and Billy solo, but I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen either of them. My best guess was the LAST time they came through together about 10 years ago. That is far too long, but my memory of that show was not diminished by last night's show. Last night, as then, I wished the show could have lasted another 3 hours as they only skimmed the surface of a life time of hits.

And a life time of hits indeed it was. As we left the show, I said to Emerson and Cheryl "that just covered the first twenty years of my life!" And it was true! Nearly every song brought back a memory of some point in my life -- and not those vague general feeling types of memories, but a memory of a specific place, time, and/or event.

We got to the venue a little later than intended, but the line outside was long enough to assure us the show wouldn't start exactly on time. We made our way through the "Jesus freaks out in the street handing tickets out for God" (literally -- the usual crowd of people telling us we would burn in hell for going to a rock concert were handing out tickets to hell! We agreed we'd only take them if we could get front row seats!) and got inside and to our respective seats with relative ease.

In our seats, Emerson turns to me and says "where are the pianos?" Within a minute the pianos rise out from under the stage and the show kicks off with Billy and Elton entering for the opening set. The crowd goes nuts with the opening notes of "Your Song" on which our two piano men trade vocals. This is followed by "Just the Way You Are" which I don't think I've ever heard Billy perform before. Granted it's been a while since I've seen him, so I could be forgetting.

The opening set ends with the first flashback to my childhood. "My Life" -- the song that sent me on my way to perdition. Waaaay back in 1978 when that song came out and I was still very impressionable, my 5th grade CCD teacher, whom I adored, informed us that "My Life" was in violation of the Fifth Commandment (honor thy mother and father) and as such we shouldn't listen to it. This was my first encounter with such censorship and as this was coming from an adult I admired I was very much confused. You see, I REALLY LIKED the song. Would I go to hell for listening to it? Thus came my first act of rebellion -- I'd listen to it, but just not tell anyone! Now, 30-some years later, I still can't quite figure out how the Fifth Commandment got broken on that one. Sorry Mrs. St. John.

So, after we've started down the paved road to hell, Billy and his band left the stage and Elton took over for his set. Opening with "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" was just to die for (uh, no pun intended!) The crowd was more sedate during Elton's set -- sitting more than standing, though frequently standing at the end of songs to applaud. Some songs, like "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," got people up and moving.

The lighting and effects were amazing while Elton played and compensated for his lack of interaction with the audience. Not that he wasn't putting on an amazing performance, but he seldom addressed the crowd and when he did is was in the form of brief references to the upcoming songs (e.g. "these next few songs are from Madman Across the Water.") Of course, less talking meant more singing. "Tiny Dancer" got a huge roar (and reminded me I need to replace my copy of Almost Famous), and "Daniel" put me in mind of my younger brother who was named Daniel after my father's older brother who was killed in a car accident at 21. That song completely takes me back to my childhood as it's the only Elton John album my parents owned because my father can so closely relate to that song -- I heard it a lot. As the set was drawing to a close, it dawned on me he hadn't played anything that had been released after 1980! Wow! That's when it hit me that I LITERALLY grew up listening to these two men. Of course, then Elton pulled out "I'm Still Standing" and brought us into the '80s.

Elton's set closed out with "Crocodile Rock" and the crowd was on their feet. The stage went dark briefly while Elton's piano went down, Billy's came up, and the bands swapped out. And now it was Billy Joel's turn to perform his counterpoint. Opening with "Prelude/Angry Young Man" was perfect! The crowd was more on it's feet for Billy than Elton -- which is probably to be expected as it's the difference between New York attitude and English refinement (for lack of a better term.)

Billy's set was less visually stimulating, but his personality shone through more and there was more interaction with the audience -- including a valiant attempt at the classic "Do You Know the Way to San Jose." Not an original maneuver by any means, but fun any way. Too bad most of the people in San Jose are from someplace else and kinda missed the joke.

Billy's set encompassed a wider timeline -- everything from the '70s to his last studio album in 1993 (yikes!) and included the album track "Zanzibar" from 52nd Street. But, once again, I got transported back to specific times and places. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" -- BAM. Summer 1980. I'm sitting outside on the lawn with a new friend from the neighborhood I've been living in for less than a year and we're singing along to the radio. "Only the Good Die Young" -- it's 1985, my 17th birthday party, and someone has given me Billy Joel's Greatest Hits I & II. My girlfriends and I immediately put it on the stereo and crank it up as loud as my mom would let us and sing along as only girls in their senior year of an all-girls Catholic high school can. One of the unifying moments in what was otherwise a very odd birthday for me since half of my friends weren't talking to the other half so I spent most of the party shuffling between people in different parts of the house. But we had Billy Joel and my disastrously memorable home made cake! (Trust me, all in all, it's a fond memory.)

"We Didn't Start the Fire" slapped me in the face when I realized it was over 20 years old. Has time really gone by that fast?

After Billy closed out his set, it was time for Elton and his band to return for the encore. Back and forth between the two again on classics "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues", "Uptown Girl", "The Bitch is Back", "You May Be Right", and "Bennie and the Jets."

Then the bands leave, and it's just two pianos.

"Candle in the Wind."

"Piano Man."

Can't get much better than that (though I will say the sold out audience was WOEFUL on the chorus -- it's always one of the best parts of "Piano Man" and the crowd wasn't quite as strong as I've heard in every other occurrence!)

Walked out with a smile on my face and again wishing the show could have gone on for another 3 hours so more of my favorites could have been heard. All in all a magical evening.

Set Lists:

Elton/Billy
-- Your Song
-- Just the Way You Are
-- Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
-- Ode to Joy (Beethoven's 9th)
-- My Life

Elton
-- Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
-- Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
-- Levon
-- Madman Across the Water
-- Tiny Dancer
-- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
-- Daniel
-- Rocket Man
-- Philadelphia Freedom
-- I'm Still Standing
-- Crocodile Rock

Billy
-- Prelude/Angry Young Man
-- Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
-- Do You Know the Way to San Jose (sorta)
-- Allentown
-- Zanzibar
-- Don't Ask Me Why
-- She's Always a Woman
-- Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
-- River of Dreams
-- We Didn't Start the Fire
-- It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
-- Only the Good Die Young

Encore (Billy/Elton)
-- I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues
-- Uptown Girl
-- The Bitch Is Back
-- You May Be Right
-- Bennie & the Jets

(bands sink into the stage)

-- Candle in the Wind
-- Piano Man

October 25, 2009: U2 on YouTube Live

Pasadena, CA
Rose Bowl

What a spectacle. Ultimately that's what I walked away with after last night's U2 show at the Rose Bowl attended by me, my cousin Eileen, her son Zach, and 95,997 of our closest friends! An amazingly over the top spectacle.

When U2 announced their tour at the beginning of the year, I shot off a note to the usual suspects to see who might be interested in going to a Bay Area gig and a few other out-of-area folks including my cousin who lives down in So Cal who promptly asked if I wanted to come down south and go to the show with her. I said sure, why not, I can do both shows. Well, good thing I decided to go for it as there was no Nor Cal date on the 2009 schedule (fortunately, one was just announced for 2010!)

So, six months or so pass from when the tickets were purchased and Saturday morning I hop in the car for the 400-mile (or so) drive down 101 to visit Eileen and see the show. I was making great time until I crossed the LA city limits. I hate LA and the traffic does nothing to endear the place to me. The last 50 or so miles took me over 90 minutes -- grrrr. But I arrived eventually and spent Saturday night visiting with family.

When I arrived Eileen told me she had been receiving frequent emails about the traffic and parking and the need to arrive early and so on and so on. She'd splurged on the premium parking and a good 4 hours before show time we hopped in the car to make the drive up to Pasadena. The drive was surprisingly easy and traffic free and we were wondering if we'd been suckers to buy the hype from the emails, but as we approached the Rose Bowl, we found that by following the directions given with the parking pass we had managed to avoid a HUGE line of cars heading in. Great! We were able to park very close to the stadium and the multitude of entry gates where we found people who'd obviously been there for hours having tailgate parties. The gates were due to open about 5, so we had about 45 minutes to kill and figure out where to go in. There were so many lines that it they all wound up merging into a huge clot which made navigating tough. Especially since we had her 11-year old son in tow.

While we were wandering around, we could hear a bit of the sound check for U2, which was fun, though I was surprised it was still going on that close to the gates opening. I suspect it was because of the YouTube webcast -- not just a sound check but a technical check. We checked out the little fair that was going on in the parking area, but it too was mobbed, so we decided to just go get in line for entry.

That was probably a good idea, even if it took about 45 minutes of waiting. I'm quite sure I've never been to a concert as big as this one -- the only time I can think of being in a crowd that big was when I went to the Super Bowl! (And I think this crowd was bigger!) By getting in shortly after the gates opened, we were able to grab some food and find our seats with little hassle. Thank goodness, since our seats were 69 rows up!

Now 69 rows up sounds like awful nosebleed seats (especially when there are only 77 rows to start with) but we were at the end of the stadium closest to the stage so they really weren't all that bad. The stage was incredible! Absolutely massive, with the now-familiar circular/elliptical stage with a catwalk that allowed some very lucky folks with General Admission tickets to be front and center. But it was also very open and there were very few obstructed views -- just the few places near the legs of the "space ship." And while the only way we could see any band members clearly was by looking at the huge video screens, being further away from the stage gave an AWESOME perspective on the whole thing. It was pretty amazing.

The opening act was The Black Eyed Peas who the best I can say is I've heard of them, I think I know a song or two, but not really much more than that. They took the stage about 7:15 and opened with one of the songs I know, "Let's Get It Started in Here." Okay, nice opener. They were very energetic and enthusiastic, but really not my thing and with so much processing on all the vocals it was hard to know if they were really singing live. I'll assume they were, but almost everything was processed and altered. The crowd was generally responsive, but it wasn't until their encore that the crowd really got rocking. Slash joined them on stage and they did a great cover of "Sweet Child of Mine." The crowd went nuts when Slash walked out and even more so when he played those first few unforgettable notes. Fergie took the role of Axl in this mix and sounded quite good on it (one of the few unprocessed vocals of the night.)

Thus amped up, the crowd eagerly awaited the arrival of U2. Shortly before the band took the stage someone started talking to the crowd and welcoming us to the show. I said to my cousin "I'll bet that's Rocko," and tried to spot who was talking down on the stage just as the person said "I'm Rocko Reedy and I'm the stage manager..." Ah... the Journey/U2 connection continues. So, anyway, Rocko welcomes us to the show and tells us it will be shown on YouTube and that LA was picked because of how well everyone sings along and he wants us to sing along as loud as we can so the world can hear. Ok, not a problem....

A few minutes later "Space Oddity" by David Bowie is blaring through the stadium and everyone is on their feet cheering -- it's obviously the walk out music. Lights go down, and from our vantage point, Eileen and I can see the band walking out towards the stage. Larry takes the stage first and starts up on the drums. The rest of the band appears and they kick in to one of the new tunes from No Line on the Horizon which, though I own, I haven't listened to much so I don't recognize the tune or know the words. No worry, that's to be reasonably expected. It's followed by another new tune, and then one from one of the previous two albums. As you can probably tell by now, no set list. If you really want to know the set list and/or just see the show I saw it's available on YouTube (I may watch it later myself just to see what the world saw!)*

*The video is no longer available on U2's YouTube channel. Most likely because it is now available for purchase. I have the DVD and can't recall if they cut anything from the original show.

All in all the set list was very heavy on 21st century material versus older more familiar stuff, and when they played one of the new songs I actually know the words to, "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" they totally changed the arrangement so I was completely confused. Also, I really could have done without "Unknown Caller" (seriously, Bono, were you making a tech support call for your computer when you wrote that crap?) I really liked their previous two albums, but No Line on the Horizon hasn't caught my ear. There are a few tunes I like, but all in all, not their best work in my opinion. Eileen was even more disenchanted with the set list than I was. With the heavy emphasis on newer material the whole "sing along loudly" direction was kind of peculiar. Not that the crowd didn't sing along on a lot of tunes, but the loudest sing alongs were on the older stuff (and the couple covers.)

That said, however, they did sound great and the production value of the show was beyond belief. I seriously can not describe what everything looked like, so I'll be uploading pictures soon and you can see for yourself (or as noted above, go to YouTube.)

The show ended around 11:15 and very few people had left early, so there were 96,000 people heading for the parking lots! YIKES! Not wanting to lose Zach in the crowd, we decided to stay in our seats for a bit and let the crowd thin out before heading to the car. We were in the car about 11:45 and out of the parking lot about 12:45. Ugh. However, it could have been much much worse -- there were HUGE lines of people waiting for shuttles to take them to the remote parking areas. God only knows what time those people got home as the lines were still huge when we pulled out of the lot and then they would have to do the same parking lot exit traffic mess we had!

We finally got home around 1:15 and just crashed. Poor Eileen had to get up early to get the kids off to school (hopefully Zach didn't fall asleep in class today!) and I was up about 8 so I could hit the road early and make the 6 hour drive home.

As always, a far too short visit with my cousin, but we're doing much better at seeing each other more often (third time in two years!) All in all a great weekend. Back to reality tomorrow and only one concert left on my 2009 schedule!

October 18, 2009: A Smooth Evening with Rob Thomas

San Jose, CA
Event Center

ARRRRRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!! I just spent 30 minutes writing up a note and it vanished!!! ARRRRGGGHH!!!! Okay, starting over....

My much delayed concert season has finally kicked in to full gear with the first of 3 shows in 8 days. It's taken forever to get here -- I bought many of these tickets months ago! Finally getting the payoff!

I've been a Matchbox Twenty fan since their first album and have loved all of Rob Thomas's solo work, so was really looking forward to this show. My friend Ana Marie is pretty much in the same boat and was going to go to the show with me Sunday night, but a family emergency forced her to cancel on me Sunday morning. Bummer.

So I made my way to San Jose on my own and arrived at the Event Center a little after 7:00 and the first act, Carolina Live, was already on stage. Not knowing who they were I took my time getting to my seat, but was VERY pleased when I finally worked my way down. Now, I had thought the seat would be pretty good being in the first row of the first fixed seat section, I just didn't realize HOW good. I was right off the floor and about 8 rows from the stage. Started kicking myself immediately for not bringing my camera! GRRR.

Carolina Live was fairly decent, but totally unfamiliar so I really have no opinion on their set. They were followed by One Republic who some folks in the audience seemed to know, but again totally lost on me. The only song they played that I knew was a cover of Tears For Fears' "Shout" -- which they butchered. The singer's voice was just too thin and he kept trying for notes out of his range. When he stayed in his range, he was OK. The most remarkable thing I noticed was their instrumentation. One guy switched between bass, guitar, and cello while a second pulled out a violin when not playing guitar. Don't see that in every rock band.

Between sets I chatted with the couple sitting next to me and wound up making a concert buddy in the woman. When Rob Thomas hit the stage around 9:00, she jumped up with me and we sang and danced around together most of the show. He opened with "Fire on the Mountain" from his new CD and followed up with two more new tracks before taking on older material. (Sorry, no pen, no paper, thus no set list. I'm out of practice!) The first third of the show was pretty rockin' and my new buddy and I were up dancing and singing along. Throughout the show I sent periodic texts and calls to Ana Marie so my actual concert buddy could get a little taste of the show. Somewhere around mid-show he played a tune he'd recorded during the Cradlesong sessions and said he regretted not putting it on the album. It was called "Sunday New York Blue" and he was right to regret leaving it off -- great song hope there's a downloadable version somewhere.

Now, this was the second time I've seen Rob solo and I've seen MB20 a few times and each time leading up to the show I'd wonder "will Carlos show up?" The first time I saw MB20 was shortly after "Smooth" was all over the radio and lo and behold Carlos DID show up... following an introduction that started with "We don't play 'Smooth' in our set..." *shrug* Got a good version of "All Along the Watchtower" instead. Okay, maybe at the solo show... well, I got "Smooth," right after an introduction that started "I invited Carlos but..." So I wasn't really holding my breath. Thought it would be possible, local show and all, but it's been 10 years since "Smooth" was all over the radio it's not as big a deal. Yeah, right.

So the main set ended and the band headed offstage and I kept my eyes on the side of the stage as I had a clear view of the techs on that side. Did a mental check list of songs not yet played and "Smooth" was among them. The band comes back on stage and launches in to "This Is How a Heart Breaks" and I catch a white hat out of the corner of my eye. I look over to the side of the stage and there's Carlos... with a guitar. I point him out to my new buddy and the crowd around me all starts looking over. I barely heard the introduction as I was wildly getting Ana Marie on the phone -- I'm sure she was deafened by the roar that came up from the crowd as Carlos Santana took the stage. There were maybe 4,000 people in the arena (possibly less as it was far from sold out) but the roar sounded like 20,000. They did a fairly slow tempoed version of "Smooth" before launching into a couple of covers -- Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" (I think, I tend to get my Hendrix confused and I wasn't honestly listening to the lyrics at that point -- all about the guitars.) and Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine." Amazing. Outstanding. Incredible. There really aren't enough superlatives to cover just what a mind blowing experience it was.

I REALLY wish I'd brought my camera....

October 4, 2009: Journey in the Sonoma Valley

Glen Ellen, CA
BR Cohn Winery

Kind of strange for me to be reporting on a Journey show at the very end of the tour -- a full year after my previous show. But things change over time...

Anyhoo... I was looking forward to my 3rd concert of my very delayed concert season and getting to spend yet another birthday weekend at a Journey show is always something to look forward to. We had an absolutely GORGEOUS Northern California autumn day. Winds Saturday night had blown everything out of the air, so when I picked Cheryl up for the drive to Sonoma County everything was looking fresh and crisp and as I said to Cheryl, the kind of day that makes soooo many people want to move to the Bay Area. Cool crisp autumn air, bright sun, bay as smooth as glass, gorgeous scenery for miles and miles.

The drive was surprisingly quick, even with our little wrong turn that took us to the Napa County line (darn you Google maps!) and we got to the winery about 12:30. When we got out of the car Cheryl realized she had forgotten her ticket -- to a sold out show! Fortunately the wonders of modern technology allowed her to call up her purchase records at Ticketmaster to show to the lady at the ticket table and she got in.

The place was absolutely mobbed and it was general admission seating. Not the greatest of combinations. Cheryl and I made our way in and did get to see Adriana, Sandi, and Bonnie who had arrived early and found a spot right up in front. Of course, it was also at the bottom of a steep slope, so yikes! Cheryl and I made our way up the incline and found a very small patch that was still free and settled ourselves in.

We arrived just in time for the third act -- Lara Johnston, daughter of Doobie Brother Tom Johnston. WOW this girl can SING! She's an itty bitty thing with a great big voice and performed mostly blues and R&B covers, but wow. I was singularly impressed. Helped that a few of her dad's friends provided the band, but she's got the voice and stage presence to go places. Very impressive.

She was followed by blues legend Taj Mahal, who I just saw a couple of weeks ago with Bonnie Raitt. Unfortunately, his set was basically ignored by the crowd, which is too bad because he's a huge talent. He played a smaller, shorter, quieter set yesterday than he did with Bonnie, but it was quite good -- too bad most people missed it.

Taj was followed by Pablo Cruise. I didn't even know they were still around! Heck, I think the last memory I have of Pablo Cruise was seeing one of their albums at my cousins' house circa 1978. It belonged to one of my older cousins (Mark? Sheila?) and I just remember thinking their logo was cool. Hey, I was 10. In any case, they played for about 45 minutes and did their 2.5 hits ("Find Your Place in the Sun", "Love Will Find a Way", and "Whatcha Gonna Do") and got the crowd on their feet.

Then it was time for Journey. And the crowd, who'd enjoyed the winery's product in copious amounts, began to move. My view of the stage had been great all day, but when the set turned over all of these people came pouring in to fill up between me and the stage. The upside of the venue -- it was very small and so even with the crowd filling in I was still pretty close to the stage. The downside of the venue -- general admission seating on a slope. ugh. I hate general admission. With the increased crowd in front of me, seeing anything on the stage was a bit of a challenge. I basically gave up trying to see Arnel -- he's just too short. Couldn't see Neal all that well either. But had a clear view of Deen and Jon most of the night so can't complain too much.

I was kind of worried how I'd handle this show. Last year's was too emotional to be truly enjoyed. This year that hurdle was passed, but I knew the excitement of the past decade (yikes!) had also burned itself out. No problems. The music started and I had a smile on my face. It was a pretty short set -- about an hour and 10 minutes or so -- and covered mostly the greatest hits with a few Revelation tunes thrown in. Can you believe I forgot a pen and paper for the set list? Think, "dirty dozen" minus "Open Arms" and you should be good. I DID love the bluesy harmonica/guitar bit Jon and Neal did (which Cheryl tells me has been part of the show all tour) That was a highlight. Despite the crowd, I was able to get some pretty decent shots with my camera (alas the connecting cable is at my office so can't upload tonight, will have them soon.) Memories of the JPP adventures hit hard when they played "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'," and couldn't help but tear up a little. Still missing my dear friend and know Journey shows will never be the same with out Darla whooping it up along side.

For the last show of the year, they sounded pretty good. Cheryl and I made several concert calls so got to share the joy with our Journey buddies who couldn't be there with us. Overall, I walked away feeling pretty good about the show and may consider expanding my traveling radius for the next tour. A lot of that amazed joy has gone away, but the love of the music hasn't and it was a good show full of good tunes.

Because of the remote parking and the narrow country roads back to the highway, Cheryl and I took off during the encore so we didn't get a chance to say good bye to everyone. Really wish we could have visited more you guys!

Now, to go back to work tomorrow and explain to the new guy in my department this whole "Journey thing."