April 5, 2008: Jersey Boys -- Night Two

San Jose, CA
HP Pavilion

So, my busy concert week continued last night with Bruce Springsteen coming to town for his third show in six months on his current Magic tour. I'd caught his two shows in Oakland back in October and wasn't going to miss the return trip to San Jose this month. For the first time since the first time I saw Springsteen back in the early '90s, I actually had someone to go to the show with. Cheryl joined me for her first experience at the Church of the Boss.

There's been some crazy family stuff going on the last couple of days and I wasn't sure I'd make it to San Jose in time to meet Cheryl, but not only did I arrive in time, I was actually a little bit early so I could go off and grab myself a much needed margarita. Alas, I knocked it over when we got to our seats, spilling about $6.00 worth of my $9.00 drink all over the arena floor. Damn.

I knew from the shows in October that Bruce and the band wouldn't hit the stage at the stated 7:30 show time, but would come out closer to 8:00. It was about 8:20 by the time they actually took the stage, but as always it was worth the wait. Our seats were behind the stage, but dead center behind the stage. This gave a great view of not only the band (albeit from behind) but a great view of the crowd. You can see what kind of rush that can give a performer -- staring out at 20,000 people singing along with every note. I had warned Cheryl that sitting down would not be an option -- Bruce won't let you!

While not entirely true, as there were a couple of slower songs where the crowd with seats did sit, for the most part it was 2 hours and 15 minutes of standing up, singing along, and rocking out. In my not so humble opinion, no one on the planet puts on more consistently exciting, energetic, and flat out fantastic shows than Springsteen -- and that's with or without the E Street Band, though those shows are the peak performances. The man knows how to put on a rock show and you can see where those other Jersey boys I saw this week picked it up! I only wish I'd been able to see him back in the days of the 4 hour concerts. Hell, I suspect that even now, at 57 he could go that long. The man just has so much energy and obviously loves to perform.

With a catalog of songs like he has, I don't know how Bruce manages to pick out a set list, so it's a good thing that he's been changing it up a lot on the tour and never playing the same set two nights in a row. The set he played last night was different from either of the shows I saw in Oakland in October with only a handful of repeated tunes other than the new tracks from Magic. Like he did in October, he treated his new tunes as he did the older more familiar tunes and woe betide you if you didn't get up off your feet and sing along. The reception to the new songs was better this time than in October as the album has been out for a while (as opposed to 2 weeks) so more people have had a chance to hear it. Still the sing along on "Long Walk Home" (I think) wasn't quite the same as it was for "Badlands" or "Born to Run."

The band wasn't quite complete as Patti had gone home to be with the kids and Danny Frederici is still out recovering from cancer treatment. But Clarence Clemons, who's had both hips replaced, was much more mobile and like his usual self this time around than he was in October. He still sat down once and a while (and as a rule of thumb, if Clarence is sitting, it's okay to sit) but he seemed to be moving around much better than he was six months ago. Clarence is the secret weapon of the E Street Band, so it's good to see him in good health.

It's always impossible to pick a high point of a Springsteen show -- the whole show is a high point -- but a few standouts for me included playing "Trapped" which is a song I've loved for years that he performed on the Born in the USA tour and was only released on the We Are the World album for the longest time until he included it on 18 Tracks a few years ago. There was an online vote on KFOG for fans to pick a song for him to sing, which was next to impossible to choose from, but I'd picked "Trapped" and when the opening note hit I was on my feet cheering. There were several points in the show where Bruce would pull a sign out of the crowd and that's the song they played. Looking at the set list on his website, none of them were planned for the set, so the show was changed on the fly. Awesome!! It meant a couple of planned songs got dropped from the set, but it was all good -- his catalog is that deep and that incredible. The song that actually won the on-line vote was "Fire" which was a treat to hear (though I must admit I still have to work really hard to get the Pointer Sisters version out of my head especially the locally modified line "I'm driving in my car, I turn on KFRC.") During the encore, Bruce pulled a guy out of the audience who had written "Glory Days" on his forehead -- and then promptly launched into the song. And then followed that up with another USA track "Bobby Jean" which I've adored for over 20 years.

I left the show exhausted and renewed and wishing there was a second show to go to. Until the day he stops touring, I will never ever miss one of his shows if I can get a ticket. I'm hoping that's many many many years from now...

Set List:

Out in the Street
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Something in the Night
Magic
Trapped
Reason to Believe
Prove It All Night
She's the One
Livin' in the Future
The Promised Land
Fire
Incident on 57th Street
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

Encore:
Detroit Medley
Born to Run
Glory Days
Bobby Jean
American Land

April 2, 2008: Jersey Boys -- Night One

San Jose, CA
HP Pavilion

So, as my 2008 concert season commences and I've hit a brief busy stretch of shows and knowing it will be another 6 months until I will have an RRR for Journey, thought I'd share with y'all...

We'll begin with an admission... I came late to Bon Jovi fandom. I'll admit it -- I couldn't get past the hair. I thought they looked ridiculous (something, time has proved, I was right on) and all I could see was Jon and Richie with perm rods in their hair. As anyone who has ever gotten a perm can attest -- you look ridiculous sitting under a hair dryer with perm rods in your hair. And these were "tough guy" rockers, well you get the picture... It wasn't that I didn't find the songs catchy and entertaining, I just couldn't take them seriously. It wasn't until Keep The Faith came out (and they'd cut their hair and gotten rid of the perms and ridiculous clothing) that I actually purchased a Bon Jovi CD. Still, they were just a band that was in the collection of many many others, and I wasn't particularly dying to see them live. A few years ago now -- I'm guessing about 2000 when Crush came out -- they came through town on tour. I'd picked up the CD and liked it and Cheryl and I had one of those "I'll go if you wanna go" conversations and picked up a couple of tickets. WOW. We were sold -- great great show -- and since that time, I've caught this band of Jersey boys every time they've passed through town.

Leap forward in time to last Wednesday night in San Jose. I had dinner with Darla and Emerson and then headed over to the arena to meet Cheryl. We were all eager to arrive on time to catch Daughtry opening. While I'm not one who watches American Idol and Daughtry doesn't get played on the primary station I listen to, I'd heard a couple of songs and enjoyed them so I was curious. Loud rock and roll -- good for the soul. My familiarity with the songs being so minimal, I just sat back and took it in. For the first time in a very long time I was watching an opening band who will be around beyond next month and based on the fact that the arena was over half filled when they started and nearly full by the time they finished, I'm sure lots of other people felt the same way. While I'm not sure I'm going to run out and pick up the CD, I enjoyed the set.

So on to our headline act. When Lost Highway came out last summer, not only did I pick it up, but I had pre-ordered it so I could get it in my hot little hands the day it came out. Oh no -- Bon Jovi's gone country.... Yeah, right. I fell in love with the CD instantly -- it's the same themes with different instrumentation, softer acoustic instruments and a pedal steel. I was curious to see how the new tunes would fit in with their usually raucous set. Some songs worked better than others. "I Love This Town," for example, was a song I was sure would fit in fine, but they didn't kick it into full gear as I thought they might. It still sounded fantastic live, but it needed a bit more oomph to it I thought. (Though I did have to laugh as the video screens flashed through the logos of the various sports teams -- only Jon Bon Jovi would think to include the San Jose Sabercats, the local Arena Football team. They don't get a whole lot of attention.) But "Whole Lot of Leavin'" and "You Want to Make a Memory" worked well with some of the more familiar ballads, and "We Got It Goin' On" was just meant to be sung in front of 20,000 people (which excuses some of the seriously lame lyrics -- I mean "bangin' and sangin' like the Rolling Stones" -- really?) Like some other Jersey boys I saw last night (Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, stay tuned) Bon Jovi aren't afraid to throw in newer tunes among the old standards and SELL them to the audience so that the crowd stays on their feet and rocks out with the new music, even if they aren't as familiar with it as "Livin' on a Prayer."

A couple of highlights -- the intro to "Blaze of Glory" was a verse of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" which is probably one of my all time favorite Dylan classics. That song got even better when Chris Daughtry came out to share the vocals. Awesome. And when they played "Welcome to Wherever You Are" my heart just stopped. You ever have one of those times when things are just going really wrong and you hear a song that snags you and puts you in a mindset that this too will pass? Well, "Welcome" is one that caught me at the right time in the midst of a hellish stretch a couple years ago and I fell in love with the song, so hearing it Wednesday night was a highlight for me for sure.

After Richie's recent arrest on DUI, I had expected there to be some on-stage tension apparent, but if there's anything going on behind the scenes it didn't show up on stage. Richie got to take lead on "I'll Be There For You" and sounded fabulous. He probably has the better voice than Jon, but Jon's got the star power. You just can't not follow him where ever he is on stage or in the crowd. (Yes, for the second tour in a row, he popped out on one side of the arena and sang a couple of songs out in the audience. And yes, for the second tour in a row I was on the OPPOSITE side of the arena, though this year in the section directly across from where he appeared. Ah, if only.....) And one of the things I enjoy about the show is that Jon KNOWS he's got that star power and knows we know that so plays it up even more.

A few last things to mention -- the stage set up. It was a very cool stage and is open all around so that there is some seating behind the stage. Those seats are moderately obscured by the video screens, but the screens move and expand and contract and are really pretty incredible. The back part of the stage has a screen built into it and it raises and lowers... it's a very cool set up. I'll be able to tell ya what those seats are like next week after Darla and I go back and sit there. Hell, they're only twenty bucks and I can't really complain about having to look at Jon's ass all night...

Set List:

Lost Highway
Born To Be My Baby
You Give Love a Bad Name
Complicated
Runaway
I Love This Town
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
Blaze of Glory -- w/ Daughtry - Knockin' on Heaven's Door Intro
Welcome To Wherever You Are
Whole Lot of Leavin'
Some Day I'll Be Saturday Night
We Got It Goin' On
It's My Life
Bad Medicine w/ Shout
I'll Be There For You - Richie Vox
(You Want To) Make a Memory
Bed of Roses
Who Says You Can't Go Home
Have a Nice Day
Keep the Faith
Livin' on a Prayer

Encore:
Last Man Standing
Wanted Dead or Alive

Evolution and Departure -- Looking Back at 2005 Through 2007

November 26, 2014

As has been the case from the minute I started copying these old tales from the bowels of my computer and putting them all together in this blog, I re-read all of the stories and events as they transpired more or less in chronological order (not to mention getting side tracked with old emails, news articles, and god knows what else.) Going from the highest of highs in January 2005 with Journey receiving their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, through the chaos that surrounded the band in 2006, and ultimately to 2007 which saw no Journey tour for the first time since 2000 and left the band with out a lead singer for the second time in a year. That was a complete roller coaster of events, and I've yet to get to all that transpired in 2008 (a year burned so vividly in my brain that I can't forget it no matter how much I wish I could.) It was odd to relive many of those emotions again in 2014.

The thing I remember most about 2006 is feeling burned out by Journey. Having helped organize 4 fan conventions of growing magnitude over the course of 5 years and planning yet another for that year was finally catching up with me. It seemed that all of my free time was being consumed by Journey and I was in need of a break. Journey started their tour in Europe that year, and when they started talking about the tour, I thought about flying half way around the world to catch them. As it turned out, the dates the tour started conflicted with some family commitments, but having started thinking about spending my summer vacation in the UK and Ireland, I decided I needed a vacation more than another Journey concert and arrived in London a week after Journey had come through.

Another objective of my three week vacation was to unplug from the Internet. Other than a couple of emails to my mother letting her know where I was heading and a few others to friends I was meeting on my travels, I pretty much avoided everything. Visiting with a few of my Journey buddies (though unfortunately not all) did get me some gossip and tales, but for the most part I was out of the loop when the US leg of the tour began and Steve Augeri had to drop out of the tour and all the chaos and craziness that surrounded that began. When I returned to the States, I caught up somewhat with what had happened while I was out of the country, but was so tired of the chronic bickering and battling that I eased out some what. I was beginning to understand what Steve Perry meant about re-entering the earth's atmosphere without heat shields. I was in Journey over load.

We pulled off another successful JPP, though a vastly lower threshold of excitement than we'd had in 2005. By the end of 2006, Steve Augeri was officially out and Jeff Scott Soto was named his replacement. I was less than thrilled and decided I was done with my road tripping around the country for Journey shows. It was an expensive hobby and after seeing four shows with Jeff on lead, it wasn't working for me and not worth the time and expense.

That Jeff was let go six months later -- announced literally the day after "Don't Stop Believin'" closed out the finale of The Sopranos, an event that gave Journey HUGE exposure -- added to the burn out. With no Journey tour that year and a reunited Police, I took my traveling to them and spent a lot of time on their message boards. The Police fans were so happy and excited that their band had reunited when everyone on the planet had expected hell to freeze over before that happened, I soaked up all their positive energy. While the Police weren't "my" band, I had been a fan for years and I totally understood the feeling those fans had. I know I talked about it with several of them, including likening it to the ill fated Journey reunion with Steve Perry in 1996. I loved that feeling.

So I spent 2007 mostly seeing bands I'd never seen before (or hadn't seen in over 20 years) and wrote up a few reports for friends along the way. My status as a Journey "super fan" started to fade then, and has continued to do so ever since. Oh, I'm still a fan of the band and will continue to see them when they play in a reasonable proximity to home, but the days of cross-country travel and fan conventions are long behind me now. I do miss getting to see the many friends I made between 1998 and 2006 and try to keep up with as many as I can and every once and a while I think "maybe I should try to put together a JPP Family Reunion one of these years." No big fancy get together, no recording studio tours, no receptions with the band, no group seating at the concert. Nothing like that, just a nice, simple family picnic. Bring your blanket and something to share and hang out and chat about old times and new.

Perhaps I'll do that one year (if I can get what's left of "the band" back together.) For now, I can look back at a really fun time of my life and think, yeah, it was totally worth it all.

October 25-26, 2007: The Magic of Springsteen

Oakland, CA
Oracle Arena

Had a great end of the week this week, taking in both of the shows Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band put on here in Oakland Thursday and Friday nights. For openers, I have this to say...

BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE!!!

Anyone who's ever seen a Springsteen show knows that they are always high energy, great time, rock and roll shows. This past week was no different with two incredible nights. The Friday night show went on sale first and I got a ticket the minute the show went on sale and was a little disappointed that the best seat I could get was a seat to the side of the stage, so when the Thursday night show was added about 2 weeks ago I said "gotta try again!" Best I could do for THAT show was BEHIND the stage. Well, hell. Fortunately, what I thought would be a disappointment seat-wise, turned out to be anything but.

Thursday night I raced to BART from work, but even if traffic had been breezy smooth, work to the Millbrae BART station plus the ride to the Coliseum station is still a 2 hour trek! UGH, no time for dinner and please oh please oh please don't have a line for will call or I'm gonna be wiped out before the show even starts! Fortunately got through will call in record time so grabbed something to eat inside and went to take my seat. Lesson one -- Row 27 behind the stage is NOT a bad seat -- the rows start at about number 15. Turned out that my seat was dead center of the row right behind the stage AND was the last row in the section with wall behind me so I could stand and dance all I wanted with no one throwing things behind me! Woo hoo! (Of course, I had forgotten that Bruce really doesn't allow sitting at his shows and makes sure everyone is standing up!) So 7:30 comes and goes and of course the show doesn't start when the ticket said it would. 8:00 comes and goes and the two seats to my left and four seats to my right are still totally empty. Could it be that I've got a huge chunk of space all to my self at a near-sell out show?! Yep, it could be -- I had a ton of room to dance and bop around all night long.

8:15 Bruce and the band came out in total darkness and then kicked straight in to "Radio Nowhere" from his new CD Magic. If you've not heard it yet, it's just a kick ass rock song and great opener. The show rolled on from there and I had a great view of the band, the stage, and the CROWD. Kinda felt like a rock star myself looking out at what the guys on stage were seeing. Naturally, the crowd goes wild. If you've never been to a Springsteen concert, you really don't know what you're missing. I was up and dancing from the first note and barely sat all night long. There was a group of people a ways down the row from me and one of the guys kept coming over to dance and high five at different parts of the show. There's just that much energy going on.

Thursday night's set list was filled with new material -- 9 of the 12 songs on Magic were played, plus a song off Patti Scialfa's new CD. That made 10 of the 20+ songs totally new and reasonably unfamiliar to the audience and while the band played the hell out of them with enough energy to keep the crowd with them, the energy of the crowd wasn't the level of previous shows I'd seen. The album's only been out for three weeks (wasn't Bruce nice to give me a present for my birthday?) and I've played the hell out of it since I got it and I probably know about 75% of the words to 75% of the songs. Most other people in the crowd knew far less. That didn't stop him from having the crowd sing back on "Girls in Summer Clothes" during the encore. And ya know, I loved it. Too many established performers don't believe enough in their new material and/or their fans to really go out and sell it to them on stage, which considering that's how so many legendary acts got famous in the first place. If you've got it, play it, believe in it, work the crowd so they're into it.

The crowd Thursday night did get into the new material, though not like they did with the old familiar favorites where they would sing along and drown out Bruce at points. The show closed out with a rousing version of "Badlands" which had all 20,000 people singing along at the top of their lungs and, to my mind, has one of the greatest lines in rock history -- "For the ones who had a notion/A notion deep inside/That it ain't no sin/To be glad you're alive" and the crowd WAS so alive.

Of course, no Springsteen show is over until you hear "Born to Run" and that was the third song of the 5-song encore (following "Thunder Road" which the audience ALMOST took over on, but lost the lyric somewhere in the first verse). With full house lights on and everyone singing along I could watch that every night. He closed out the night with "Dancing in the Dark" (ironically with the full house lights still on) and an Irish jig of a tune he wrote as part of his Seeger Sessions work "American Land" which was just great fun. Headed back to BART for the hour ride home and got ready to do it all again on Friday night and had a nice bookend moment to my night as "Born to Run" was the last tune played on my iPod as I pulled into the Millbrae station.

I wasn't nearly as harried getting to the show on Friday as I had been the night before and when I got to my side-view seat, I was again pleasantly surprised. Close to the stage, on the aisle of a 3-seat row. I chatted with the couple sitting next to me before the show started and it was the wife's first time at a Springsteen show and she was so excited it was incredible. I told her that the show the night before had been fantastic and she'd really enjoy it but she'd have to calm down a little since the band wouldn't take the stage until 8:15.

Once again Bruce and band came out and kicked off with "Radio Nowhere" and followed it up with one of my all time favorite tunes "No Surrender" from the Born in the USA album. I love love love that song and my night was completely made by then. The set list on Friday was significantly different than Thursday night -- only 6 new songs and no Patti song. According to his official website, they debuted three songs on Friday night -- "Two Hearts", "Racing in the Street", and "Working on the Highway." Every one of them played to perfection. Making that change in the set put even more energy into the sell-out crowd and people were on their feet most of the night dancing and singing along.

The energy level on Friday night was definitely higher than Thursday, and the response to the new songs was stronger, especially for the moving rocker "Last to Die" and the catchy "Living in the Future". It's pretty incredible when you look down the set lists for this tour (which can be found here*) and you see the catalog of songs performed. Between the radio hits and the concert anthems, there's just not a weak point anywhere in this show, no songs where you think "okay, I'm a bit tired of this one, move along please."

I was talking to one of my co-workers before heading out to the shows this week and he was telling me how he doesn't particularly enjoy concerts as they seldom live up to his expectations. Having seen Springsteen about 6 times now -- both with and with out the E Street Band -- I can say I have never been disappointed, usually it's beyond my expectations. I also recognized that one thing I take away from most any concert I attend is that two hours (or more) of stress free, live in the moment, let the music wash over you joy. Makes it worth every penny of the over priced concert tickets (though I will say at $93 before fees, Springsteen is pretty reasonable considering what he could charge) and hassles of transportation.

Finally, if you've never seen Springsteen, what the hell are you waiting for? Go. Now. I promise you will have a great time.

*The original link went to Bruce's official website which will post set lists for the shows, but it appears they've pulled anything before 2009, so that goes to the fan-zine Backstreets which pulls reports from fans.