I got the phone call on a Monday.
LCG: "Dude! You have to skip school next Wednesday!"
Me: "Why?"
LCG: "Journey!"
Me: "Shut up!"
LCG: "I wouldn't tell you to skip school for any old thing. We are totally going to Journey!"
Now, LCG and I saw Journey last summer, July 2001, because they came to town right after he started his Journey phase, and I cannot turn down a rock concert. As it turned out, we were the biggest Journey fans in the world and we didn't even know! We went into the show thinking that we knew a few Journey songs. Well, we knew the entire set list, except for the new stuff from the new album. But the stuff we knew? All hits.
We never had grasped just how much of a hit machine Journey was until that show. We had the best time ever at the basketball arena in the nosebleed seats with Journey. So, when Journey booked a show on incredibly short notice, there was no doubt about whether or not we would be there. Not only were they coming to town on barely a week's notice, they were booked for their first-ever club date. Of course I was skipping school! I can say without exaggeration that the best time either of us had at a concert in the past year was the Journey show at the arena. Until, of course, we saw Journey at the club.
By the way, people scoffed both last year and this year when they heard that we had seen Journey without Steve Perry, and people scoffed even harder when they found out that we love Steve Augeri. (Steve Augeri a.k.a. The New Singer a.k.a. That Guy Who Isn't Steve Perry.) Hey! Give Steve Augeri a break. He has a great voice and can hit all of the Steve Perry notes. If you close your eyes, you may think it is Steve Perry. Actually, you may think that he is Steve Perry with your eyes open. LCG likes to tell people, "It's Steve Perry with a perm!"
We were the first people to arrive at the club show. Meaning we were the ones who spent the evening pressed up against the barricade, five feet away from Journey. But first we stood there for an hour and a half before the show started, studying the set list.
LCG: "It's all hits!"
Me: "All hits!"
Technically, we were not the first people to arrive, but we were the first people to get inside. We went in the back door of the club, and were greeted by the Journey set time posted on the stage door. It said: Journey 8:30 to 10:44. Two hours and fourteen minutes of pure hits! We ran inside to the floor and checked out the barricade. It was practically flush with the stage. We would be so very, very close to Journey. Even though doors were not for another 1/2 hour, we leaned up against the barricade, prepared to stay there all night no matter what. (Which we did.) I think some of the crowd was a little disappointed when they came in and two dorks in their twenties were already standing front and center, but we befriended them and everyone was cool.
There was an opening act. Boo! The opening act was one instrumental song (I guess that's okay...) by a trio comprised of Neal Schon's kid, Deen Castronovo's kid, and a surly roadie. (Fine. It's okay.) Deen's kid had on a Mudvayne shirt, causing LCG to holler, "Forget Mudvayne! Get a Slayer shirt!" as they exited the stage. Mudvayne really isn't very cool.
And then came Journey. Holy crap! It's Journey! And we are really close to them! The stage got awfully cramped once Journey loaded it up as much of their arena gear as they could fit, and as a result, they were really, really close to us. Their gear pushed them right up to the edge of the stage! We were at the edge of the stage! And Steve Augeri and I were wearing the same pants! Different pattern, identical cut. Except mine were buttoned.
Anyway, they started the show with a new song. But the second song? Separate Ways! Yeeeeeah! Yes! Yes! This was not technically a surprise, because we had been gawking like hillbillies at the set list for an hour and a half. But that doesn't make the song rock less, does it? No! LCG played air keyboards with much enthusiasm, possibly even with gusto, and then we started rocking like the Butabi brothers. No, really. In unison we rocked. The only time we stopped doing that was when we were pumping our fists like Journey did in the Separate Ways video. Oh, and when we had to bend backwards to do the David Coverdale pose when we sang the last line of the chorus, which was coming out, "How! We touched! And went oooouuurrrr sep-rate waaaaays."
The next several songs were spent rocking Butabi style. We had found our groove, and that groove was making us look like jackasses in front of Journey. But we were having the best time that anyone had ever had at a Journey show. Ever. Because after Separate Ways came Ask The Lonely, then Neal Schon's version of the Star Spangled Banner, then Stone In Love, Only The Young, Send Her My Love, and Lights. All hits.
During Lights, of course, LCG and I swayed and lit lighters and just generally made complete asses of ourselves. We were fully stone in love with Journey. And then came Open Arms and there was bonus swaying for us. Then we got I'll Be Alright Without You and we got to rock some more.
At some point during our unstoppable bout of enthusiasm, Ross Valory winked at me, and I was mortified. He was wearing slacks. Slacks! And some sort of mock turtleneck. His outfit just didn't rock very much. Why couldn't Neal Schon be winking at me? Neal Schon had on faded jeans and a denim vest. Now that is a look! As I mentioned before, Steve Augeri and I were wearing the same pants, but he was barefoot. Ew. I was eye level with bare feet, but I overlooked it for the sake of rock.
Being all smushed up against the stage all close to Journey made us notice something. Neal Schon is really good. Really good. We must be too busy playing air keyboards when we listen to the records to notice how much Neal Schon rocks. He was, according to LCG, tearing shit up, and that close, we could see how complex his parts really are.
Then they had to do the dreaded "take it down a notch" part of the show, that involved them sitting on stools and doing some acoustic numbers, so I took some time out to smoke about forty cigarettes. Or three, whatever. Usually I would have sucked down at least ten that far into a rock show, but I was so crammed up against so many people that I managed to have some manners for a brief spell. But I got bored during the acoustic part, and since no one was rocking, the odds of accidentally burning someone else were low, so I went for it.
Of course, then I had the taste for it and smoked happily through the rest of the show, which picked the pace up with Don't Stop Believin'. Then it dropped back down with Faithfully. Oh, my goodness. Journey is forever LCG's, faithfully. Oh, did he belt that one out. Then Neal got another solo, then Wheel In The Sky. Yes! Yeeeeahh! Rock!
The encore, which as far as I am concerned should be Separate Ways, was Any Way You Want It and Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'. Never have LCG and I belted out so much rock as during Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'. So much na-na, na na na, NA na-na na-na goodness. The lights went down and LCG said, "I don't care, we're going backstage." He grabbed my hand and we barreled through the crowd and in through the backstage door, and almost ran smack into our main man, Steve Augeri. (By the way, if the set list seemed short to you, it's because for the sake of space, I only covered the mega hits, and left out the regular hits.)
He was toweling off his much soggy curly hair and his face lit up when he saw us. "You guys were right up front!" said he. LCG started to explain to him just how Journey rocks and then Steve Augeri turned to me and said, "And you were up front smoking." (Guilty look from me.) Oops. As it turns out, my smoke was bothering Journey. Oops.
I was informed it was because not only do they live in California, where no one is allowed to smoke ever, they never play clubs. So a couple of cigarettes is enough to throw them off. I looked guilty some more and then the crabby roadie dude from the opening act came round to holler at us for being back there. We said our pleasant good-byes to Steve Augeri and left the backstage area.
And then we got wind that they were doing a private meet and greet upstairs. We decided that we must be invited, and went there directly. And there was Journey, milling about. LCG had lost his mind for Journey hours ago, and was now on a mission to get his shirt signed by all members of the band. Of course, when Steve Augeri spied us, he came over to have a chat. He apologized to me for picking on me about my smoking, and I was informed that, "You can smoke in my presence any time." Hee-hee! He then became LCG's meet and greet chaperone. Steve Augeri hauled LCG around to all the members of Journey to make sure he got his shirt signed.
I was mostly tired at that point, and instead of running around greeting Journey, I plopped myself down in a chair. From my seat, I was able to look across the room and see Ross Valory sitting comfortably on a bench, with a girl much younger than him on either side. Ew! (Okay, they were probably in their late twenties to early thirties, but still. Don't make me remind you about the slacks and mock turtleneck.)
LCG got all of his signatures, and it was time to leave. Our full rich day was over. Almost. On the way out, we ran into Castronovo's kid and Schon's kid. "Get a Slayer shirt!" said LCG. "Yeah, I heard you," said Deen's kid. Ha! And then LCG asked me if I had informed Neal Schon just how much he rocks. Um, no, I hadn't. He grabbed by the arm and dragged me over to Neal Schon, who looked at me and promptly said, "Oh, you were the one smoking." Man. I got another, "Don't feel bad, it's just that I live in California," talk from another member of Journey. Did I even get a chance to tell him that he rocked? I don't remember. Once forty percent of your favorite live act gives you a Surgeon General Type Warning, that's really the thing you remember most. Well, that and the fact that Journey rocks.