June 4, 1999: More Tales from the 'Fest

Tinley Park, IL

New World Music Theater 

Prior to the start of the 1999 tour, a couple of folks from the Journey Digest organized "Journeyfest" which took place at the opening show of the tour in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park.  This is my post to the Digest about the weekend's events, which included a show by Kevin Chalfant, lead singer of The Storm. 

I can't believe it's over and I'm back home.

I know everyone's heard what a GREAT time we all had this past weekend... it was so sad to see it end.

Dan and Moni -- thanks once again for getting us all together. You put a lot of work into making a really terrific weekend for a whole slew of folks.

Jas -- yep, everyone signed your shirt... I helped Moni check folks in and that was part of my instructions to everyone as they walked on thru... "sign the t-shirts...one for Moni, one for the band, and one for Jas!" Wish you could have been there with us!

Carol -- I'm with ya girl! I can't think of a better bunch of ladies to ride to a biker bar with than the seven of us piled into Mary's van. Only next time, Mary doesn't have to drive, and I don't have to navigate!  (THE 294 to THE 290 to THE 90....see I can learn!) LOL!

Mary Ann -- next time I'm having YOU book my hotel room!

For the curious, no cans of whoop ass were opened, and -- hate to disappoint the Mikes, but no mud wrestling either! (Though I will admit I about fell over laughing when I passed a woman standing in line for food who was wearing a t-shirt with, I kid you not, a CAN OF WHOOP ASS on the back! I swear if I didn't think the woman would have thought I was totally insane, I would have snapped a picture!)

The show was amazing... and in the words of the other new song... we were "having a good time... such a good time" (catchy and very appropriate for the weekend!) Rocked from beginning to end, with people on their feet for nearly the whole show (why anyone sat down during the new songs is beyond me, but they did...)

I only have one complaint. I didn't realize that the word "Journeyfest" on the back of my t-shirt translated to "I'm a world renown expert on Journey, please ask me as many stupid questions as possible." I had SIX people ask me what happened to Steve Perry. Including a fellow who decided "Open Arms" was the appropriate time to pepper me with twenty questions about the last three years in Journey-land. (Where'd they find this guy? Was Tall Stories a cover band? What happened to Steve Smith? Who's on drums?) Fortunately, at the end of the show, all six of these unenlightened folks were converted, and the word "awesome" was uttered more than once. So a suggestion to you Dan, for any further t-shirts you sell, include a little note that reads "wearers of this shirt must be able to explain the current state of Journey in a hundred words or less and be able to refrain from thumping morons on the head."

To all the folks I met -- it was amazing to get to put some faces with the names. Wish I could have spent more time with some of you, and really wish I could have said good bye to the rest of you when it was all over. (And Pam, you're not nuts -- Convention 2000! the more the merrier!)* Journey fans are a GREAT bunch of people!

Set list:

Separate Ways
Stone in Love
Ask the Lonely
Having a Good Time (New)
Send Her My Love
Lights
Open Arms
Just the Same Way
Anytime
World Gone Wild (New)
Escape
Wheel in the Sky
Be Good to Yourself
Any Way You Want It
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

Encore #1: 

Don't Stop Believin'
Faithfully

Encore #2:

Only the Young
Chain Reaction

*2014 addendum: Pam you were nuts. After organizing all those JPPs, I was certifiable!

December 30-31, 1998: How I Spent My New Year's Eve

Sacramento, CA and Reno, NV
Memorial Auditorium and Reno Hilton

Steve Augeri and me after the San Francisco show Dec 29.

Okay folks, I'm sure you're all just dying to know how my New Year's Eve went. Well, you're gonna have to wait a minute, because I have TWO DAYS worth of stuff to tell ya! LOL!

December 30 -- this was the Sacramento show. I left home at 3:00 which would have given me plenty of time to get to Sacramento to meet up with Debbie S. and others for dinner at 6:00. Well, I forgot to grab the directions, so had to turn around and go back to my apartment (thank goodness I was only a few blocks away when I realized this.) Then I had to go drop off my rent check and get gas. Next thing I know I'm running about 20 minutes later than I had planned. So naturally, this is when I get stuck in traffic and it takes me an hour and a half to get TO the Bay Bridge (about a 15 mile drive). By the time I'm across the bridge it's 5:45 -- when I was supposed to be in Sacramento! I finally arrived in Sac at 7:00 -- highly stressed from the traffic and trying to read my map in the dark. Got to the Hard Rock and met up with Debbie and Katherine and the others. Had a glass of wine to settle my nerves and gobbled some Buffalo wings for dinner (I've been eating miserably lately!)

We head over to the show where we've got about 12th row seats over on the far aisle (Neal's side, again.) When we walk in we see signs that say the show is being filmed! Okay, so my mission in life now is to get a copy of that film. If the show wasn't sold out, it was pretty darn close. Loud raucous crowd. Another amazing show.

I spent the night at Debbie's and the next day we trek on up to Reno. After Debbie drops me off at my hotel, I catch a quick nap while listening to one of the local radio stations doing a "Best Albums Ever" countdown. Escape came up around number 20, naturally, this was just as I was leaving my room because Debbie's husband was picking me up.

When I got to the Hilton, I immediately ran into Kevin, which was quite fortunate since we'd forgotten to make plans to meet up and I had his ticket! (D'oh!) We grabbed some dinner (the first actual meal I'd had in days) and started to the pavilion around 9:15 or so.

We met up with Debbie and her kids and went inside about 9:45. Third row, seat 3. Oh yeah. Saved the best for last. Awesome seats. We wound up sitting right behind the couple from San Jose that I had met in Grand Rapids! Perfect -- they'd be standing so I could too! Plus I could tell them to move right or left if I was trying to take a picture!

The show started around 10:15 and was just awesome. At one point I look over at Debbie, who is sitting a row in front of me and a few seats over, and her daughter has a VIP badge on! Cool for her!

Towards the end of the show, the aisle started getting crowded with people coming up to the stage (security had been clearing the aisles pretty well up to that point) which made my view a bit more obscured. So naturally I went into the aisle and finally wound up standing on a chair for the last 20 minutes of the show. (I never do stuff like that!) They finished the main set about 11:55 and instead of going off-stage as they normally do, they stayed on stage and asked what time it was. After they determined that there were 5 more minutes until midnight, they launched into "Can't Tame the Lion," which I hadn't heard since Detroit/Grand Rapids! When that ended, the various wives/girlfriends/kids came on stage with glasses of champagne. We did the countdown thang, balloons dropped, confetti spilled. They played "Auld Lang Syne" and everyone sang along. They finished up with "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully" -- bringing some of the road crew up on stage at the end for a round of applause for them too.

After the show Debbie managed to sweet talk the security guy
to let all of us backstage with her and her daughter (who had the VIP pass).
I got my picture with Jonathan finally.

We hung around the casino for a while later and kept seeing various folks around -- Neal's step-dad Les came by a few times. Saw Neal talking with his mom and Les a little later and as we were leaving, saw Jonathan carrying his daughter over his shoulder to the elevator to (presumably) put her to bed. (There is a part of me that finds it very scary that I actually know what the family members of my favorite band look like!)

It's been an incredible few days. Well worth this flu I've gotten! LOL! (Heck, I'm actually feeling a WHOLE lot better right now!)

Set Lists:

SACRAMENTO:

Separate Ways
Girl Can't Help It
Lights
Of a Lifetime/Jon solo
Who's Crying Now
I'll Be Alright Without You
Open Arms
Love Theme from Spartacus
Fillmore Boogie
Just the Same Way
Anytime
Escape
Wheel in the Sky
Be Good to Yourself
Any Way You Want It
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

Encore:

Don't Stop Believin'
Faithfully
Ask the Lonely

RENO:

Separate Ways
Only the Young
Stone In Love
Remember Me
Girl Can't Help It
Lights
Of a Lifetime/Jon solo
Who's Crying Now
I'll Be Alright Without You
Open Arms
Love Theme from Spartacus
Filmore Boogie
Just the Same Way
Anytime
Escape
Wheel in the Sky
Be Good to Yourself
Any Way You Want It
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'
Can't Tame the Lion
Auld Lang Syne

Don't Stop Believin'
Faithfully

Viewing 1998 from 2014

January 22, 2014

As I've been pulling out these old tales of my early Journey adventures from back in 1998, I've had a big smile on my face remembering those times. All of those events are burned on my memory so clearly that even now, nearly 16 years after they occurred, I can remember the look, feel, and emotion of it all. 1998 was a huge year for me and kicked off a decade of amazing times and the start of many dear friendships.  

In 1998, I had no idea that it was just the beginning of what would become a massive roller coaster ride and an adventure of a life time. I probably wouldn't have believed it if anyone had told me about what was to come. Friends and family who knew me prior to these events can attest -- jumping on a plane to travel 2,000 miles to attend a concert by myself and then later driving up and down California to take in 6 shows in two weeks was a radical departure from my usual self. Heck, I barely mentioned any of these events to my co-workers at the time because they were so out of the ordinary for me and even I thought I was a little nuts. Things changed dramatically for me after that year. (I still think I was a little nuts and I know my old friends and family think I was a lot nuts!)

Still, with all the things that happened after 1998, I have consistently said that one show of Jon's at his church in Petaluma would have been enough. Since that night in March, I've seen Journey nearly 70 times in places all over the US (plus Canada and the Carribean Ocean), met all the significant members of the band save two (Steve Perry and Arnel Pineda), organized five fan conventions, and met hundreds of fans from around the world. Even with all of that, the feeling I carried around with me for days after that show in Petaluma was amazing and would have been enough. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade all the adventures I had over those 10 years for anything in the world, but that night will live forever in my memory as nothing short of magical.

October 10-11, 1998: An Amazing Weekend!

Detroit and Grand Rapids, MI
Palace at Auburn Hills and Van Andel Arena

Well all, I made it back from Michigan in one piece and definitely in a super terrific mood. I had such an unbelievable weekend. This is likely to get pretty long, so you’ve been warned!

Some quick background (for those of you who’ve heard my sob story, skip to the next section!) -- This was my first Journey concert experience. Having overprotective parents, I couldn’t go to concerts until I was 17, which meant the only tour I had a shot at seeing was Raised on Radio. When Raised on Radio came out I was in a short-lived “I’ve out-grown Journey” phase (hanging head in shame) so when my cousin invited me to the opening show at Mountain Aire in Calavaras County in August, 1986, I turned her down because I just didn’t feel like going “all that way” to see ‘em play. (It’s about a 3 hour drive from home.) A few weeks later, I actually bought Raised on Radio (after much nagging from my cousin) and went “oh-yeah—I love this band!” So December ‘86 rolls around, and Journey is coming home to play at the Cow Palace. Terrific! I can go with my cousin for her birthday. One problem—she’s going to Guam for Christmas and leaves the day before the show! Since there is no way my parents would let me go to the Cow Palace alone (much less drive me there since I couldn’t drive at the time) and none of my friends are fans, I don’t go. So, Christmas break ends and I go back to school and I run into one of my friends who tells me that another friend of ours had won tickets and the two of them went to see Journey. I literally slammed my books down at her feet and yelled at her “You’re kidding me!”. Spent a good five minutes cussing my friend who had won the tickets up and down. So, later in the day, I’m relaying this story to another (casual) friend, and she says to me “Oh my boyfriend and I went—and we had an extra ticket”. BANG BANG BANG. So, the years roll by and I finish college, get a job, move out and grow up (more or less) when one day I’m scanning Forbes magazine for my boss, and see that Journey has a new album coming out. I about flipped my lid, a new album! and after 10 years another chance to see ‘em on tour! Well, we all know how that went. So when I got a chance earlier this year to see Neal perform with a reggae band one night, and Jon perform a benefit for his church the next night, I figured that was as close as I was gonna get to ever seeing Journey live and in person. Then an amazing thing happens—there’s a new singer, and rumors of shows. But my lousy luck continues—Journey does a free show an hour away from my house and I can’t go because I’m taking my first vacation in 4 years and will be in Paris that night! All this drove me completely over the edge, and led me to doing something that if anyone had said I’d do I’d have told them they had lost their minds—getting on a plane and flying across the country to see my first Journey concert.

I won’t bore you with all the details of getting myself to Detroit, but I will say that when I sat down at the gate to wait for my flight I put on my Walkman and tuned in KSAN only to find them playing “Wheel in the Sky”. Oh yeah, this was gonna be a good trip!

So I made it to Auburn Hills in one piece, and after catching a nap and getting my bearings, I went over to the Holiday Inn to meet up with the other fans. Gotta say good job to Dan who organized it. It was great to meet all sorts of fellow Journey fans (Big Hi to everyone!) and I’m glad to report that no one was a psychopath, which was a huge concern of my mother’s when I told her about this trip! (I’m 30 years old and she’s STILL overprotective! LOL!)

After dinner, everyone goes their separate ways (no pun intended) to go to the Palace for the show. I get to show, and find my seat...2 rows up from the floor, one section away from the stage on Neal’s side. Not bad. Then I look over and see Moni, Dan Stacy, Steve and his son—sitting on the floor right in front of me! Wow. I swap seats with Steve’s son so he can see better in my more elevated seat. While we’re chatting, we see Ross come out to say hi to some family he had in the audience.

Then the show started. I’m sure by now other folks have posted the set list and comments (I haven’t had time to read my digests yet), so I’ll just say it was terrific! I think I liked the Trial by Fire songs better than the rest, but probably only because there are no other live performances to compare them to and they aren’t quite as embedded in my heart and soul as the earlier material. “Castles Burning,” a song I couldn’t stand on CD, was fantastic live. A couple of songs didn’t work for me (“Faithfully” and “Ask the Lonely” come to mind) but the song I thought would be the hardest to hear (“Lights”) which I didn’t like on the copy I have of the Marin show brought tears to my eyes and didn’t totally break my heart. That song is home to me and getting to hear it live, was truly special. I loved Jon on “Anytime” and “Just the Same Way”, and unfortunately just as “Open Arms” began, there was a bit of a ruckus a few seat in front of me that distracted me and ruined that moment. My ears were ringing by the end of show, and there seemed to be some audio problems during the encores (Augeri voice wore out? mike go out? my ears totally shot?) so last bit was rather muffled, which may have contributed to “Faithfully” and “Ask the Lonely” not feeling right.

Thanks Moni!

The next day I had a very nice drive to Grand Rapids (Michigan looks very pretty in the autumn!). I get to my hotel, check in, get my bearings, and grab some lunch and a nap. I met up with Moni and Dan Stacy, Mary and Dave, and couple from San Jose who’s names I’ve forgotten (oops! -- sorry guys!) Moni (my hero) has after show passes and invites me along (thank you thank you thank you). I think this was the better show overall, though I wished they hadn’t cut out the two Rolie songs that Jon sang. I had a slightly better seat (about as far back, but more towards the center). It was a bit odd though with people sitting down during some of the rockers (great view for me since I’m all of 5’ 2” and have to peer between heads a lot of the time, but how they could be sitting???). Everyone around me sat down around the time they did the two instrumentals and (if my brain isn’t totally short circuiting) “Remember Me” (plus for some of the TBF songs). “Lights” brought tears to my eyes again, which really is high praise for Augeri from me. This time when they played “Open Arms” the bozos behind me start a REALLY loud conversation which was annoying! This time everything sounds a lot clearer towards the end of the show since I’d picked up some ear plugs on my way to Grand Rapids. (Anyone going to up coming shows—get ‘em. I never thought I would use ear plugs, but god did it help!)

Me and Deen. This picture always cracks me up.

After show, I hook up with Moni, et. al. again (lucky bums had front row seats!) and go off to meet the band. It was terrific! I got to talk to everyone except Jon who ducked out early because he wasn’t feeling well (not too disappointing since I've met him twice this year already, but would have liked to get a photo this time and add his signature to my shirt!). I got pictures with everyone else (I think—I can’t remember if I got one with Augeri or not and for some reason I didn’t get him to sign my t-shirt—I think I was in a little bit of shock. It was fantastic getting to talk to all of them for however brief a time it was.

Me and Ross.

When I got back to my hotel room, I sat there in a daze for a while. Could not believe the weekend I had just experienced. Completely unforgettable. I couldn’t get to sleep for the longest time because every time I started to drift off my eyes would pop open and I’d say “Oh my god, I’ve finally seen Journey and I met the whole band!” I don’t have my pictures yet due to traveling, but I’ve got a couple errands to run for work in a bit and will be stopping at the one hour photo shop in the process!

Me and Neal.

It took forever to get home due to bad weather in Detroit, but the delays allowed me some time to think. I’ve loved Journey for 18 years—since I was 12 years old (okay, with one notable lapse in judgement) -- but 15 years ago I was no where near as fanatical about them as I am now. 15 years ago, this was “just” a band that shone a little light in a dark time of my life. 15 years ago, it was “just” the music that kept me focused. I had other concerns in my life to deal with than to obsess over “some band.”

I think my complete renewed devotion to this band over the last two or so years comes around to a tired cliche—you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

Journey’s music is something that has always been a part of my life, and it always will be and I’m not going to be taking it for granted any more. I really missed having this band around for 10 years, and I’m so glad they haven’t gone away again. Some people will say “yeah, but it’s not the same anymore” but when is anything in life ever the same? To paraphrase another timeless classic—you can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.