July 1, 2014: Killer Queen!

San Jose, CA
SAP Center

It's taken me a bit longer to put this together than I'd expected, so with out further ado.

Last Tuesday night I met up with Leslie, Todd, and Emerson to take in Queen + Adam Lambert in San Jose. All I can say is "Wow!" Totally amazing night. Before we get to that, however, a little back story. I was never a huge Queen fan "back in the day." They were a band that was more popular with friends' older siblings than me or most of my friends. I knew who they were and a handful of songs of course, but for the most part if anyone asked me about them my response would have been along the lines of "yeah, they're OK I guess" and then would have promptly forgotten about it. I really had no opinion one way or the other about them and, all things considered, I only really remember hearing "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions" and "Another One Bites the Dust" on the radio when I was a kid. (I'm sure I heard other tunes, I just have no recollection of them at all.) So, clearly, I came very late to the Queen party. In fact, I'm pretty sure that it wasn't until I heard/saw the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in my early 20s that I really registered what an incredible band they were. Better late than never I suppose.

Now, add in to this mix that I have probably watched a grand total of 15 minutes of American Idol in my life. Reality television just isn't my thing and I'm not overly interested in talent shows any way. Since I don't live under a rock, I had heard of Adam Lambert and vaguely knew who he was, but beyond that he was on my radar about as much as Queen was when I was 10.

Still, when the tickets went on sale for this show I thought "hey, that could be loads of fun!" I'd seen Queen in 2006 when they had Paul Rodgers handling the lead singer duties and had been blown away by their show. Despite not knowing much about Adam Lambert, I did know enough to think he'd be a better fit for Queen than Paul Rodgers was. Boy was I ever right!

I'm going to start off by saying despite finding an appreciation for Queen 20-some years ago now, I'm still mostly a "Greatest Hits" fan. I knew most of the songs in the set, but there were a handful that I wasn't all that familiar with. None of that mattered at all.

The show kicked off about 8:15 with all kinds of pomp and flair and when Adam Lambert walked out in his shades, leather jacket, black t-shirt, and leather pants I leaned over to Emerson and said "he's channeling his inner George Michael!" (Seriously, he looked like '90s era George Michael.) He came out with tons of energy and flair and early on in the show I thought how great it was that Brian May and Roger Taylor let him just be himself while performing. They easily could have told him to reign things in -- they're the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers after all. One of my favorite over the top moments came during "Killer Queen" when Adam Lambert was lounging on a purple fainting chair fanning himself off.

As a singer and general performer, Adam Lambert was fabulous. He didn't have that compelling magnetism that made Freddie Mercury famous and is a sign of a strong front man. That's not to say he wasn't fantastic, but just that he didn't have that vibe/energy that had everyone following what he does. I think it's probably a combination of his age and relative lack of experience (compared to the rest of the guys on stage) and the fact that he's the "fill in guy" and it's not his own stuff he's performing. There's a difference between great entertainer and compelling performer that's a little hard to describe/define; it's one of those "I know it when I see it" kind of things. Adam is definitely in the former category.

When I saw Queen with Paul Rodgers, the show was quite good, but there were songs that Paul Rodgers couldn't (or didn't) sing because he doesn't have the range that Freddie did. Adam Lambert, on the other hand, covered the whole range magnificently. My favorite Queen songs are mostly the slower ballads -- Freddie's voice is so amazing on many of them -- and Adam nailed them.

Overall, the show was the kind of show you remember going to (or wanting to go to) as a teenager. Loud, fog machines, multi-colored lights, laser lights, a spinning disco ball. All of it. Just amazing production. There was even a dual drum solo featuring Rufus Taylor (presumably) Roger Taylor's son on one kit while Roger was on the other. I can't remember the last show I went to that had an honest-to-god drum solo. Later in the show Brian May had about a 5 minute guitar solo. Again, I can't remember the last time I saw a show with a solo like that. Probably the last time I saw Queen!

Brian May and Roger Taylor each took a turn on lead vocals. Brian did a lovely acoustic version of "Love of My Life" and Roger took on "These Are the Days of Our Lives." The latter was accompanied with video of the band in their hey day. I've loved that song from the moment I first discovered it and the older I get the more I appreciate it. Brought a bit of a tear to my eye.

The climax of the show, of course, was the finale. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a bear of a song to sing and performing it live has got to be a huge challenge. It was handled beautifully. Adam Lambert started it, then it switched to Freddie's vocals on the video, and the multi-layered vocals were also the famed video. The song closed out with Adam back on vocals, but trading off the last few lines with Freddie. Adam totally nailed the song and it was AMAZING to watch. I shot some video on my phone and when I've gotten a chance to see if I can fix the orientation issues I'll upload it to my YouTube account and update this post. (Trying to find time to do that has already delayed this entry by 12 days!)

Of course the encore was the perfect ending to the show -- "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions." It was all over much too quickly, but it was a fun and hugely entertaining night out. I hope they come back around again soon.

Set List (courtesy setlist.fm):

Now I'm Here
Stone Cold Crazy
Another One Bites the Dust
Fat Bottomed Girls
In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited
Seven Seas of Rhye
Killer Queen
Somebody to Love
I Want It All
Love of My Life
'39
These Are the Days of Our Lives
-- drum solo --
Under Pressure
Love Kills
Who Wants to Live Forever
-- guitar solo --
Tie Your Mother Down
Don't Stop Me Now
Radio Ga Ga
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
The Show Must Go On
Bohemian Rhapsody

Encore:
We Are the Champions
We Will Rock You

What the Heck Happened After 2010?

As I transferred the last few Rockin' Road Reports from my Facebook account to this blog, I realized I hadn't written a whole lot after 2010. One post each for 2011 and 2012 and none at all for 2013! What the heck happened?

Well, as should be apparent by the change from strictly Journey concerts with a few others tossed in to having more tales of other bands, I seriously cut back on my Journey shows. That was one factor. Another, larger factor, was the shift in how people interact online in 2014 (as I write this) and how people interacted online in the past. The Rockin' Road Report started on the Journey Digest mailing list and eventually would also appear on Back Talk, the message board for the official Journey website. Back Talk was shut down around 2008 and the Journey Digest, while technically still in existence, is rarely used these days. Now, keeping up with fellow Journey fans entails mostly communicating on Facebook. When I first joined Facebook in late 2008, one of the key features for interaction, was the "Notes" section. Over time, that section became less featured as new functions were added.

With the change in communication styles, I wrote fewer tales from the various concerts I attended. I know there were several I had planned to write up, but as I spend more time online via my iPad than my computer, I never got around to it. I also have been attending fewer concerts. I know 2013 was particularly quiet, and as I write this in February 2014, I have no concert tickets purchased as yet. There is a Journey show coming up in June (I think) that I plan to attend, but have had to wait to purchase as the ticket prices have gotten quite exorbitant since those early shows in 1998.

Taking a look at my calendar, here are all the shows I've been to since that last report from July, 2012.

October 2, 2012 -- Peter Gabriel (from the 4th row!)

November 30, 2012 -- Bruce Springsteen (epic as always, but a bit emotional for me as one of my favorite uncles had passed away earlier that day.)

April 25, 2013 -- Bon Jovi (with out Richie Sambora)

July 20, 2013 -- Goo Goo Dolls/Matchbox 20 (in Irvine)

July 21, 2013 -- Wallflowers/Counting Crows (also in Irvine -- girls weekend!)

September 16, 2013 -- Journey w/ Tower of Power (even wrote down a set list for an unwritten RRR!)

September 21, 2013 -- Gregg Rolie (from the 2nd row!)

October 26, 2013 -- Rick Springfield (woo hoo! girls night out!)

Most of those 2013 shows got iPhone pix uploaded to Facebook, but no real write ups. I'm hoping that I'll write more in 2014 and beyond now that I've got this alternate outlet for them. We'll see how I do. Might help if I buy tickets for that show in June...

July 22, 2012: Journey to Tahoe!

Lake Tahoe, NV
Harvey's Outdoor Arena

Fair warning, this is gonna get long and there's a lot of pre-concert (and pre-pre-concert) stuff to cover.

July 2012 and time for my one and only Journey concert for the year. Kind of weird after 8 years of multiple shows, that for the last 6 years I've been a one show a year person, but that's how things are now. That change has meant missing out on seeing a lot of friends and the epic pre-show get-togethers of time gone by, which is always what I loved most about my Journey journeys of 1998-2006. Fortunately, this one show was going to be the one to bring back some of that time. For starters, it meant traveling farther than an hour from my house and included a weekend in Tahoe! This should be great!

When I left work on Friday, I knew I REALLY needed this weekend away. It's been a particularly stressful time at my office the past 4-5 months, and it all caught up with me last week. I needed to get out of there in the worst way. So I was up bright and early Saturday morning, earlier than I even get up for work, loaded up the car and headed off to pick up Cheryl, Leslie, and Emerson for the four hour drive up to Tahoe. When we got underway, I told everyone "I've been stressed out this week, so we're going to listen to my de-stress play list on my iPod on the way up." Since the de-stress playlist is dubbed "Perry Era," no one minded much.

We made good time to Tahoe and got to the condo that Leslie had arranged for us by about 1:00. We hauled our luggage and a few groceries up the 104 steps (at 7,000+ feet no less!) and collapsed in the condo to wait for Darryl and Jenny to arrive before heading to lunch. By the time they got there and got settled, we were trying to figure out what time Jenn and Teresa would arrive and lunch became an early dinner and we headed off to Cabo Wabo to get something to eat and drink. We did kill some of the pre-dinner time by watching a 1980 Journey concert on the big screen TV.

We were joined for dinner by Matt and his wife Wendy, so once Jenn and Teresa arrived from the airport there were 10 of us for dinner and lots of talking and joking and catching up commenced. After dinner, we split up the group staying at the condo -- some to get groceries, some to head back to the condo. We tried to get Cheryl to join the grocery store outing, but she wanted to head back to the condo. This was a problem.

You see, back when the tickets for the show went on sale and everyone picked up their seats, I realized the concert would be a few days before a milestone birthday for Cheryl. I sent a note off to the gang and then Jenn and Teresa took the idea and went running with it. We would have a surprise party for Cheryl before the show. Now, after dinner, Cheryl wanted to go back to the condo. This meant riding with Jenn and Teresa who had gifts and supplies for the party in their car. They told Cheryl their car was parked in a bad spot, so they'd come pick her up rather than have her deal with the hassle of getting to the car. This gave them enough time to move things out of sight. When I returned to the condo from the grocery run, all of those things were put into my car, safely out of the way.

Sunday morning dawned and the 8 of us crammed into the condo got ready to start the day. Cheryl had booked a hotel room for herself for Sunday (which really worked out well for us) and Jenn and Teresa were going to crash with her on Sunday night. They packed up their car and headed off, Darryl, Jenny, and Leslie were headed to the "craft show," and Emerson and I would meet up with everyone at the shops. I don't know where Jenn and Teresa took Cheryl because Emerson and I never caught up with them. Meanwhile, the "craft show" was code for "picking up the balloons and birthday cake."

Around 12:30 Emerson and I headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe to meet up with Leslie and get things set up for the party. We were expecting 20 folks to join us for Cheryl's special day around 1:00, and the guest of honor was set to arrive around 1:15 and would be told that we'd run into the other folks for lunch. Since our tables were exposed to the casino and the surprise would be blown a good 100 feet before Cheryl reached us, we decided to start singing "Happy Birthday" as soon as she was in sight. It went over well, and Cheryl was truly surprised. Almost immediately thereafter, "Don't Stop Believin'" came up on the video screen for the Hard Rock and the 20 or so folks in the group let out a huge cheer.

It was a great pre-show party with friends from near and far. Sue and Marty in from the UK (and after an 8+ hour drive up from San Bernardino where they'd seen the boys the night before) with Barb and Val. Debbie and Renee came up just to help celebrate Cheryl's birthday and managed to snag a couple of tickets to the concert. Les and Barb joined the gang and somehow we lucked into Jon stopping in for a minute to say hello. After a couple hours of chatting and noshing, people began peeling off to get a little rest before the show. Debbie and Renee came back to the condo with us and we were later joined by Matt and Wendy and a couple of bottles of champagne. A good time was had by all.

Back down the hill for the concert where we all scattered a bit as we had different seating options, some opted for the 4 or 5 star packages while others took the less pricey seats. I was sitting by myself, but not far from Matt and Wendy and Debbie and Renee. Loverboy was up first and they went through their 30 minute set fairly well. I can't say I was ever much of a Loverboy fan and though I recognized most of the set, none of it was particularly inspiring.

Pat Benetar came out next, and put on a great show. Way back when I wanted to be Pat Benetar, that tough chick who didn't take anything from anybody. I was up on my feet singing and dancing along through the whole set. Once she was finished, I went off to visit with folks and was watching the sky carefully. Dark clouds were building up and there was a gusting wind coming -- were we in for a mountain storm? Then I noticed there was some smoke in the air -- must be a fire near by.

Now it was time for Journey to take the stage. We'd gotten some advance info on the set list from the folks who'd been to San Bernardino the night before, so I was interested in how it would all play out. The guys came out to some introductory music and then launched into "Majestic," something I've never heard live before, so that was a fantastic way to start it. Launching into "Never Walk Away" next was an interesting choice, but probably a wise one as the crowd was too pumped up with the start of the show to sit down and it has a good energy that everyone stayed on their feet.

There were a lot of different thoughts running through my head during the show and memories upon memories came flooding back about the last 15 or so years and all the adventures in Journeyland. I couldn't get in to "Faith in the Heartland" -- I just have a hard time hearing someone other than Steve Augeri singing it, which I know is REALLY weird since I haven't had any problem with other people singing the songs Steve Perry made famous. I think the difference lies in having met and gotten to know Steve A. a little bit over time where as the closest interaction I've ever had with Steve Perry is nearly walking into him at a SF Giants game in 2010!

That leads me to the next moment -- "Lights" -- since that 2010 World Series season for the San Francisco Giants, they've instituted a sing along in the 8th inning. If the Giants are losing or tied, it's DSB, but if they're winning it's "Lights" so now two of my favorite pastimes are joined very closely. Now when the sing along begins, they helpfully put the lyrics up on the score board and eventually it gets to "Air Guitar Solo." Naturally, that's what popped in my head when the band launched into the song about my hometown.

It was the final third of the show that really got to me though. First "Escape" came up and on the video screens behind the band came that album cover. I'm sure I said something like this last year, but seeing that cover hit me really hard. That album was such an important part of my teenage years and to this day gets me through both the highs and lows of life. The stress of the last few months caught up with me too and I burst into tears. Seriously? "Escape" is not a song that moves me to tears, but there I was crying. "Open Arms" was up next and gave me moment to recollect myself, but there were still memories flooding back of all the things that I had experienced because of and with this band over the last 15 or so years. "Separate Ways" came up next and, bam, I'm crying again. Now I'm thinking of all the friends I've made and the good times we've had, but especially of the ones that have drifted away through the vagaries of time and space. I make a mental note to send off a couple of emails to people I haven't talked to in a while, just to check in and see how things are going. And I'm appreciating the fun weekend that I've been spending with my friends, but I'm also really missing one. The whole weekend I had been thinking that Darla really should be there and enjoying the party and that she's not really isn't fair. On top of it, she would have had a milestone birthday this year too and that we didn't get to have a great big bash just stinks.

"Be Good to Yourself" was next and this has long been one of my personal anthems. I kept crying right through this one too, but with a smile on my face. Gotta remember to take care of me every once and a while. This weekend was part of it, my vacation next week will be more. The guys closed up with "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'." Of course they did. I'd been remembering lots of good times with Darla -- all nighters watching Journey videos, scrambling around putting the JPP events together, just hanging out and talking. So, naturally, they end the main set with Darla's favorite song. More crying. Yet I'm laughing at myself too. It was just one of those nights.

I pulled myself together for the encore of "Any Way You Want It" and "Don't Stop Believin'." The gang all met up briefly after the show and we said our goodbyes. As always, it went much too fast and not nearly enough time to talk to everyone as much as I'd have liked too -- especially Sue and Marty who I hadn't seen in 6 years since they graciously let me stay with them for a few days while traveling through England.

Driving home from work tonight, with my "de-stress" playlist on full bore in the car, "Why Can't This Night Go on Forever" came on and that's what I felt this weekend, and every other weekend adventure with the crazy Journey buddies. Time flies much too fast.

Set list:

Majestic
Never Walk Away
Ask the Lonely
Chain Reaction
Only the Young
Faith in the Heartland
Faithfully
-Neal solo-
Stone in Love
Edge of the Blade
Lights
City of Hope
Wheel in the Sky
Escape
-Jon solo-
Open Arms
Separate Ways
Be Good to Yourself
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

Encore:
Any Way You Want It
Don't Stop Believin'

October 15, 2011: Long Time No Journey

Mountain View, CA
Shoreline Amphitheater

Better late than never right?

This past Saturday I took in my one and only Journey show of the year. So different from the way things were a few years ago when my minimum Journey concerts per year was 4. But things change and we move on and I took in just my third show since Arnel joined the band.

In all honesty, I think I was looking more forward to seeing Night Ranger and Foreigner than I was to Journey. The new album has failed to capture me at all. The songs aren't bad, but there's nothing that jumped out at me and made me say "wow, I love this!" which has almost always been a normal response for me. So, both albums featuring Arnel sit on the shelf (Revelation more for too many bad memories associated with it than for the tunes, some of which I do like.)

The thing that I've missed most since I cut back my Journey touring is seeing the many friends I made over the 8 years I spent dashing from one end of the country to another (and even a couple of other countries!) So I was glad to spend some time before the show began with friends for dinner. I met up with Frank, Cheryl, Karyn and Joe, and Jebber (Jim) in all the way from the UK, plus a few of Frank's friends whose names I've forgotten and hung out over some tasty sandwiches and chatted before heading out to the show. Once arriving we met up with Emerson, Leslie, Debbie, and Scott and then found Hope when we got inside. It was great to see Debbie and Scott at the show -- they were two of the first folks I met way back in '98 when this whole crazy scene began and it was so nice to catch up a little bit. (Now if Kevin had joined us then it would have been a total '98 reunion!) Debbie brought her son along and the last time I'd seen him he was in elementary school and stood about waist high to me -- he's 20 now and much taller! Where did the time go?

I was actually sitting with Scott and we got really good seats about 7 rows from the stage near the center aisle. Debbie, Leslie, Cheryl, and Emerson had all bought 4-star seats for a nice amount more than we paid and were more or less in the same spot we were, just more center stage. I forgot to ask just what they got for that extra $$$!!! We made it inside with a few minutes to spare before Night Ranger hit the stage about 10 minutes early. A fun but too short set followed. I really wished they'd played longer.

Set change and Foreigner took the stage. Or I should say the best Foreigner tribute band I've ever seen took the stage. I knew going in that Mick Jones was the only original member left in the band, but not even he was there Saturday night! They were good, but still, no original band members??!! I wondered how many folks there knew what they were seeing. Kelly Hansen, the new singer, was quite good and climbed out in to the audience a couple of times -- once stopping almost dead in front of Leslie and Cheryl. I know Leslie enjoyed that!

On to the Journey set. I loved the stage set up -- very slick and headline material. Was surprised to see Arnel had cut his hair (you can tell how much I've been following the band lately that I hadn't noticed that on the CD sleeve!) He definitely looked more "rock star" than the previous two times I've seen him. I would have had a great view of the stage all night if not for the guy in front of me who felt that every moment of the show was a Kodak moment and had his camera up for large chunks of the show. I like that you no longer have to come up with creative ways to smuggle a camera in to shows these days, but when you had to be discreet about photography you didn't have to deal with obstructed views. Anyway, this meant I didn't see much of Arnel between the combination of his shortness and MY shortness and CameraMan. Saw a lot of Ross and Deen. Ross looked much better than the last couple of times I've seen him, so that was good. Still hate Deen's hair. Jon and Neal were mostly obscured by either my seat angle (Neal) or CameraMan (Jon.) Kinda defeats the point of having a "good" seat doesn't it?

The set list was mostly the "dirty dozen" with only one new tune thrown in. Cheryl told me they had done more earlier in the tour. I know that story well, but honestly, unlike years past I wasn't too disappointed. There were no huge highlights for me, though when they played "Escape," with the eponymous album cover flashing on the screens behind the stage, I couldn't help but think how much I love that album, even 30 years later. A lot of the magic of a Journey show has gone out of it for me, but there is always the music I've known and loved for the better part of my life and it will never go away. So Saturday I reflected more about all the joy and friendships I have made since that fateful day 15 years ago when Trial By Fire was released (yes Journey fans, can you believe it we are just days away from the 15th anniversary of the failed reunion that started it all?) and I discovered the amazing online community of fellow Journey freaks. Wouldn't trade that for anything.

OH! How could I forget! There was a "highlight" of sorts. I knew from friends reports that Neal had taken to giving away guitars at some shows. Saturday was no different. Though instead of the guitar going to a kid as has been the case most nights, this guitar went to someone entirely different. I didn't actually notice when Neal went up the wings during one of his solos (and I honestly can't remember which song -- "Wheel in the Sky" maybe?) until Scott nudged me to look over. There, eagerly awaiting Neal, was his new girlfriend. For those of you buried under a rock, Michaele Salahi, notorious White House crasher/reality show "star" has run off from her husband and hooked up with Neal. So there she stood and Neal hands her the guitar and we got to witness an overly enthusiastic PDA. YUCK! Can't unsee that no matter how much I'd like to. Oh the foolishness.

As always, the night ended much too soon and we all said our goodbyes and headed home. Until the next time...