June 18 2010: I'm a Screamng Thirteen Year Old

San Mateo, CA
San Mateo County Event Center

June, 1982 -- Flush with cash from my eighth grade graduation, I make my mom take me to the mall so I can hit Musicland. I have enough cash so that I can buy not one, not two, but THREE new records. Woo hoo was I loaded! I pick up Paul McCartney's Tug of War, Journey's Escape, and Rick Springfield's Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet. Thus begins the foundation of my music collection....

June, 2010 -- Time just flies by and by now I've seen Paul McCartney at least a half dozen times, Journey too many times to count, but ah.. Rick Springfield... nary a once. But, lookie here, he's playing the San Mateo County Fair on a Friday night. Ten bucks for a flashback to the early 1980s and junior high -- why not?!

Now, I have no problem going to shows by myself, but this one... this one just screamed "girls night out." And after a bevy of emails and text messages and varied changing plans, I wound up going to the show with my good friend Mary who picks me up after work and off to the fair. Being a GA show, we got in about an hour before show time and grabbed a couple of seats as close to the front as we could (probably about 20 rows back) and camp out -- taking turns going for food. Looking around, as expected, there were lots of groups of women in their 40s out for a fun, light hearted night.

Show starts right on time at 7:30 and out comes Rick and his band and the crowd gets up on their feet. My first thought... "Wow, does he look good or what?!" Let's get serious for a minute here... back in '82 I bought McCartney because he was a legend, Journey for the songs, and Rick 'cause he was eye candy! Sure, I loved the music and "Jessie's Girl" was one of my favorite tunes, but oh the ever so dreamy Dr. Noah Drake... siiiiiigggghhhh.... So the music, obviously, was secondary to my 13-year old hormones. 28 years later... well, he's older to be sure, but has aged very VERY well... (another siiiigggggghhhh....)

The set list was filled with the old hits, some new tunes, and a sprinkling of covers. My personal highlight from the set was "Love Is Alright Tonite" -- which was probably my favorite of his hits and the song that always got me dancing in the living room when I played Working Class Dog (a gift from my dear cousin Laura who couldn't join us at the last minute!) All these years later, I was dancing and singing like I was 13 all over again. I did fairly well at remembering the lyrics to the old songs, some of which I hadn't heard in 25 years (having listened to the two albums I own earlier in the week, I was covered on some tunes), but had to hum along at a couple of points because they weren't all coming back to me. At a couple of points in the show, he climbed out into the crowd and stood on the seats and sang and played guitar. I must say he's a pretty decent guitarist. Most of the time he's handling the rhythm duties, but he pulled off a couple of nice solos and a pretty decent cover of "Crossroads." The handful of "newish" tunes were pretty good too and worked well in the set, but of course, everyone was really there to hear the old '80s hits.

As the show was winding down, he came out into the audience again during "Human Touch" and worked his way down the center section and wound up two rows behind me and across the aisle. Well, to head back up to the stage, he crossed the aisle, hopped up on a chair in the row behind me and started climbing forward. ZOINKS! I was about 3 chairs away as he climbed over into my aisle. My inner 13 year old dropped in a dead faint!

The main set closed out, naturally, with "Jessie's Girl" which he teased by saying "We don't play that any more." (Yeah, right, like anyone would believe that!) After he headed off stage, Mary asked me "Are there usually encores at these shows?" I told her the ones I'd seen always had them, but I couldn't think of what the encore might be this time. Rick and the band appear once again and do a cover of "Wild Thing" and close out with "Kristina."

All in all, a fun night out, and a good way to start my summer concert season (albeit a couple of days late since the U2 show I was supposed to see on Wednesday has been postponed for a year!)

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.

March 20, 2010: Night Out with Neal

Modesto, CA
State Theater

At some point Saturday night while sitting in the State Theater it dawned on me -- it had been EXACTLY 12 years since the very first time I saw Neal Schon perform. That night, I dragged my poor friend Mary with me. This night, I was in the second row with almost a dozen other Journey buddies. My how time has flown.

It was kind of the theme for the day -- how fast time goes by when you're having fun. My day started with picking up Cheryl and meeting Leslie for Telysa's shower. How is this kid I've known since she was 16 suddenly old enough to be a mom and get married? Where'd the time go.

After the shower, we made a quick stop at Leslie's for a change of clothes and a little down time. Cheryl checked in with Jenn to get a report on the previous night's show in Vegas. The end of the conversation I heard sounded like it was good, not great. Hmmm. Well now it was time to head out to Modesto and environs to meet up with Darryl and Jenny, Chris C. and her husband, Chris W. in from Connecticut, and Emerson for some pre-show dinner and laughs. On the way we talked about how we've all kind of grown beyond the crazy passions we had from 1998-2005 (or thereabouts) and tried to figure out what we might be hearing that night. All the while listening to Neal's Piranha Blues CD with me remembering liking it more when it first came out than I was in the car and wracking my brains who came with me to see the Piranha Blues band perform. (I think that was another show I dragged poor Mary to if only because I remember following Ross to the parking lot and Mary commenting on the fact he was carrying his guitar case to his car. I'm pretty sure that was the gig.) I was also laughing to myself that we particular three were less than enthusiastic about this upcoming show. We were looking forward to seeing friends and hearing what we were confident would be good music, but there wasn't that jazz of excitement that there once was.

We met up with the rest of the gang and headed for a dinner full of stories and laughs and just general good times with friends. Being that it was Darryl's birthday, he got a balloon hat in the shape of a guitar. We were loud and laughing and all in all having a great time. This is the thing I miss the most about not going to as many shows as I once did.

Over to the State Theater where the show was scheduled to start at 8. As I mentioned above, our little group took up most of the second row. We found Hope sitting in front of us (me specifically) in the front row. I had calculated that if the show started on time and Neal and company played for two hours as promised, I'd be back on the road by 10:30 and home a little after midnight. Whoops, so much for making assumptions!

At 8:00 Miles and the kid on keyboards (forgotten his name, but I believe he's a regular in Miles's band) came out for a 30 minute opening set. It's incredible how good Miles is -- and he keeps getting better. He came out playing what appeared to be a ukulele (my best guess as it was a small, 4-stringed, guitar-like instrument) and completely blew my mind. Being that close I could really see his finger work and it's impressive. A couple songs in he switched over to guitars and even sang a bit. All in all, he did papa proud.

Thus it was closer to 9:00 when Neal and company hit the stage. In addition to Miles and the kid on keyboards he was joined by Marco Mendoza on bass and Prairie Prince on drums and launched in to "Kohoutek." Well, okay, a song I recognize. (My big fear heading into the show was that though I have nearly all of Neal's solo work, I have a really tough time distinguishing his original solo material apart.) The band was then joined by a singer and I've completely spaced on his name (help! Leslie!) who was absolutely adorable. Pretty decent singer too, though the vocals were hard to hear most of the night. Not sure if that was a problem with being in the second row or just a wholesale problem with the sound.

The sold-out house (my guess about 500 people) was loud and enthusiastic through out the evening as the band went through obscure Journey tracks ("I'm Gonna Leave You" and "The Time"), covers ("Whiter Shade of Pale", "Gypsy Queen") and a variety of solo material. It was really fun watching Neal and Miles play off each other -- with Miles getting a few solos out front. Though I must say the blond doppelganger effect was weird -- Miles looks sooooooo like his dad it's scary.

The crowd generally stayed seated all night long (much, I suspect, to Hope's disappointment) but they weren't sedate. It's probably a little hard to get up and dance to stuff you don't really know all that well.

The show lasted about 2 hours as promised, and didn't disappoint. I don't have a set list, though Hope took a picture of it so maybe she can fill us all in. Leslie, Cheryl, and I said our hasty goodbyes and piled back into my car for the drive back to the Bay Area (uh, thanks Darryl for coming to lead us to the freeway -- I was too brain locked to do reverse directions!) I finally made it back home around 1:30 and crashed into bed after an exhausting but thoroughly fabulous day.

Get to repeat all over again this Saturday, though with only about a 40 minute drive into San Francisco. So, who's coming to the Fillmore?

February 22, 2010: Bombastic Bon Jovi

San Jose, CA
HP Pavilion

Guess concert season has officially begun... 2nd show in 7 days!

For someone who wasn't a huge Bon Jovi fan "back in the day", I sure have made up for lost time -- this has got to be the 5th or 6th time I've seen them in the last 10 years or so. They put on such a great show and really get the whole "arena rock" thing. Big. Bombastic.

So last night I headed out to San Jose to meet Leslie (woo hoo! my concert buddy is back in town!!! YAY!) and Emerson for a quick dinner before heading over to the arena for the show. We got to our seats in section 116 (pondering why we always wind up on the left side of the stage) which were right to the side of the stage. Pretty good. The opening act, Dashboard Confessional, hit the stage right at 7:30 -- just as we had finished getting settled in our seats. I know of Dashboard Confessional, but couldn't say I know any of their songs. That said, they were pretty entertaining and had a good opening 40 minute set. I may go pick up some of their stuff.

As we waited in anticipation of the show, the three women sitting in front of us turned around and warned "we might get a little nuts and will probably stand up all night." Works for me. While we waited I studied the stage -- a circle stage with a circle catwalk that brought to mind the U2 stage. Biggest difference between Bon Jovi stage and U2 stage... the seats inside the circle for U2 are General Admission and some of the least expensive tickets, Bon Jovi -- not so much. (We think they cost in the neighborhood of $500!)

But in the tradition of great bombast the band took the stage following an impressive video sequence on the big screens. They kicked off with "Blood on Blood" from New Jersey which was a nice change, then launched straight into "We Weren't Born to Follow" from the new CD. And here I had my second Bon Jovi as U2 moment (yeah, I know -- a little weird, stick with me.) The video screens for this song flashed images of various leaders and icons -- from Gandhi and JFK to Jimi Hendrix and Elvis. The whole "pioneer" leader set, and more socio-political types than rock pioneers. I know Jon Bon Jovi was particularly involved in President Obama's campaign, and there's a quasi-political theme to the song, but it's a little hard to put political consciousness and Bon Jovi together. Lingering bias from the '80s I guess.

The set list was a good mix of old and new (or perhaps old, recent, and new) and not having that life-long connection to the tunes I really enjoy some of the newer stuff that life-long fans aren't as enthusiastic about. I look at it this way -- these guys are in their late 40s/early 50s now, not their 20s, they're not going to have the same world view (hell, do YOU?) Throw in the difference between being rising/dominating stars in the '80s to an older/established band in 2010 and it's just a different vibe over all. I like the grown-up songs I guess. (Yes, I realize this is in contrast to the comments in the previous paragraph.)

So, the set included about half of the new album and it was intermixed well with older tunes. I've said it before, but Bon Jovi is one of the very few "classic" bands I've seen that really SELLS their new material. They go out and perform it with as much energy as the older stuff and EXPECT the crowd to sing along. There's just a cocky confidence about it.

The look of this show was pretty amazing as well. The video screens are REALLY sophisticated -- splitting, flipping, rotating. (Guess that's why there are $500 tickets! Those things can't be cheap!) And gave impressive images. The only weird bit I found was a screen that for most of the show sat behind and BELOW the stage -- I could see it from my seats above and to the side of the stage, but I have no idea how anyone on the floor or looking straight on at the stage could see it. Maybe it's supposed to be raised and couldn't for some reason, but seeing as there were seats behind the stage and that screen would have blocked those seats completely if it were raised, I don't think it was meant to go above the stage. A particularly excellent highlight was the lighting on "When We Were Beautiful" -- it looked like Jon was standing in a sunset. Simply gorgeous.

Other performance highlights included Richie taking the lead on "Homebound Train" and making it really bluesy -- just fabulous. That was followed by Jon coming out on the catwalk for the first time and just backed by David Bryan on keys performing a GREAT cover of the Leonard Cohen classic "Hallelujah". Absolutely beautiful. Shortly afterwards, Jon is joined by the rest of the band out on the catwalk for acoustic versions of "Something for the Pain" and "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night."

And, as always, there was the encore of "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "Livin' on a Prayer" -- they never fail.

Oh, and of course there were Jon's black leather pants. :-D

Set List:

Blood on Blood
We Weren't Born to Follow
You Give Love a Bad Name
Born to Be My Baby
Lost Highway
When We Were Beautiful
Superman Tonight
Keep the Faith
We Got It Goin' On
It's My Life
Homebound Train (Richie on vocals)
Hallelujah
Bed of Roses
Something for the Pain
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
Work for the Working Man
Bad Medicine/Bad Case of Lovin' You
Who Says You Can't Go Home
Love's the Only Rule

Encore:
Thorn in My Side
Wanted Dead or Alive
Livin' on a Prayer