It was 1986. The ROR tour was winding down. I wanted to see the last
show, wherever it was. It was supposed to be in Hawaii, and we (Cyndy &
I) saw a couple of great shows there. But then they decided to end the
tour in Alaska, so we packed up our parkas and off we went.
The venue (Sullivan Arena) wasn't very big and was kinda old. The band
didn't want to hall their stage et. al. over there, so they played on
the venue stage which wasn't very high off the floor (about 3 feet) and
it had stairs leading to the floor on each side. It was kinda nostalgic.
The last night the band played a bunch of tunes they don't usually play
(Stand By Me, Kansas City, can't remember them all) and it was a wild
show. We were standing on the floor off Jonathan's side of the stage.
They had this whimpy little security guard at the baracade and he was
all that was between the fans and backstage. During one of the numbers,
Neal decided he was going to run down the stairs and out in front of the
stage on the floor. He came down his side of the stage, went all the way
across the front of the stage, playing all the while, then came up
Jonathan's side.
Needless-to-say, when he got to our side, everyone in the seats tried to
grab him and the security guard got mashed. It was me, Cyndy and some
Journey crew trying to help push everyone back. All I remember was
getting thumped on the heat several times, arms and hands everywhere,
and looking up and seeing Neal laughing at us. As soon as things calmed
down, Steve decided to run down the stairs and out into the crowd. I
thought Journey's head of security was going to have a heart attack.
Everything ended up well, but it was quite exciting for awhile.
I think it was also at this show that the band pulled one on Steve when
he was doing the intro to "Oh Sherrie." Remember how he would come out
wearing his "Oh Sherrie" hat as he began that song? Well he came out
with the hat, but didn't realize that behind him the rest of the band
members were also wearing the same hat. The crowd was laughing and he
couldn't figure out why and he turns around and sees the guys wearing
those hats. He was doubled over laughing.
During "Faithfully" (the encore), the entire road crew came up on stage
and lined up behind the band, singing along. Two of the guys on the crew
ran up and gave Steve a double wet-willy as he was trying to sing. He
was laughing so hard he could hardly sing.
So, Anchorage was a blast and I'm really glad I was able to go and see
the last show.
Can't remember what city we were in, but it was about midway through the
ROR tour. The opening band had finished and Journey was going on soon.
We were standing backstage behind the curtain and Steve was dancing
around and warming up. He parted the curtain and looked out at the crowd
as he did many nights. The house lights were up and he spotted this
little boy (who looked to be around 7 years old) standing there in the
side seats with his mom. The kid looked sooooo excited.
Steve asked me to take a security guard out there and escort the kid and
his mom backstage for a minute. We went out and I talked to the mom and
explained what was up. We took them backstage and the little guy had
eyes the size of saucers. Steve was kneeling down talking to him for
awhile and then he gave him an autographed photo. He asked the boy's mom
if they had ear plugs and she said no, so he went and got some for them.
Security took them back to their seats and then the show started. Steve
sang the first song to their side of the stage and the kid (and probably
his mom) was in heaven.