During the summer each time I made plans to go on a roadtrip to an interesting part of the country, I tried to get my hubby to join me on my adventure. I know he is not interested in the concerts, but he enjoys history and seeing new places. But our schedules never seemed to mesh. Finally things clicked when I proposed a weekend in California so he made us arrangements to travel to San Jose and Sacramento together.
We took a Friday evening flight that got us into San Francisco close to midnight. And since we are frequent travelers, we got my flight with frequent flyer miles and our room in San Jose for free! The San Francisco airport was confusing as heck even to us experienced travelers - very poor signage - so I was extra glad that I had company. Jim wanted to go straight to San Jose (about a half hour away) rather than staying in San Francisco our first night, It was a straight shot once we got out of the airport so we did just fine, although by the time we got into our hotel room we were definitely feeling the fact that it was 3 am Iowa time!
Saturday morning we visited San Jose’s technology museum. It was interesting but primarily designed as a hands-on museum for kids. We played a little (I got a robotic arm to spell my name (see photo above) and spent a lot of time in the medical technology area. We went to their IMAX Theatre and saw a pretty cool movie on tornadoes and “Tornado Alley” (which includes Iowa). It was a beautiful day and we strolled the mile or so to the HP Pavilion to try to pick up my backstage pass (previous post) but were told we’d have to come back just before showtime. So we had late lunch at McCormick and Schmick’s (love my seafood!) including a yummy appetizer called a Crab Tower (above).
Jimmy dropped me at the arena at the appointed time and after a bit of nervous waiting I had a wonderful backstage experience. I know Keith has said he tried to finish the BSEs in time for his opening act (Jake Owen in this case), but we must have run a little long because Jake was on his third song when I entered the arena on the floor level where the BSE had taken place. I did not have a floor seat however, since I hadn’t planned on a California trip at Christmas presale time. My San Jose seat was in the 20th row of the risers on the left side of the stage. I made my way to that corner of the floor but found there was no access to the nearby staircases. Luckily a security person was nice enough to open a gate right by the stage to let me into the risers so I didn’t have to backtrack. As I climbed the first few stairs I noticed empty right of the aisle seats in almost all the lower rows. I didn’t know if they belonged to folks who hadn’t arrived yet or not, but decided to grab one to enjoy the remainder of Jake’s set (or until I got chased out of the seat). Well apparently those seats had not been sold and I was able to stay there all evening! I had a great side view of the stage just a few feet above Keith’s left side platform.
Here is Jake’s sexy Don’t Think I Can’t Love You (including a hug for a lucky fan) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjvAhrO4LnM
This show was the first time I have seen Brian since his hair cut. Now it is more “cherub-length” rather than bad-boy-biker length! : ) Danny, on the other hand, seems to be comfortable enough now to be more flirtatious and teasing when he is up on a platform or playing stagefront.
Keith read quite a few signs tonight and then settled on one that said something about it being a girl’s 16th birthday. Keith invited her up on stage and, for whatever reason, she seemed quite hesitant to go up initially. She did eventually come up - still rather slowly and uncertainly - Keith came down and led her up by the hand (see photo above). Maybe she was hesitant because her birthday was still about a week away, but she got some nice birthday hugs to remember. As she headed back to her seat Keith sang a few bars of Sam Cooke’s “She was only 16, only 16 - but I loved her so....” (that was just the first of a couple tidbits I didn’t catch on camera that night : (
Long Hot Summer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCxNX-rstW8
Jeans On http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24tkLF67EbI
Georgia Woods http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QONK1EgdIM
Til Summer Comes Around solo on the moving walkway http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNdfuTXEbs0 Mmmmm
Keith really got into his little Boondocks excerpt and his clapping an rhythmic moves at the end of that reminded me a little of that little clapping ‘dance’ he did last tour. What song did that follow? I Told You So or something else? I’ll have to look back at that tour.
The second brief special tidbit I missed catching on camera- as Keith strolled out for Silly Love Song and Making Memories he plucked out a bit of Dionne Warwick’s “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” Obviously we all DID find our way to San Jose! : )
The 2 gals Keith picked for the Kiss a Girl Sing Off did not know the words (or were too drunk to remember them) - Keith collapsed to the floor in dismay after the first one sang and got lost after the first 5 words. She was nice enough be be concerned and offer him a hand getting back up. The fellow Keith picked did a good job (altho a little flat). Since the gals did so poorly Keith looked for “a little redemption” by inviting another gal up and she, thankfully, did know the song. But the audience loved the local San Jose guy so he was the winner for the night.
Kiss a Girl Sing Off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5ZNEMljkA0
I and another experienced fan near me both got quite excited when one of Keith’s staff carried the “You Look Good in My Shirt” microphone right up our stairway. Would Keith come to our aisle??? But no - that just must have been the easiest stairway for them to use, since we were right next to the stage - but then they headed over to the very last stairway on the left side for the actual performance.
Being in the risers my closest views of Keith were during his left platform songs:
Sweet Thing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSINFVilDv4
and the final Better Life, where I sometimes felt like he was singing right to me:
Better Life http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87gf_eGX_hQ
My real sweetie pie (Jim) was nice enough to come to the arena before the concert ended so that he could get a good spot next to the curb to pick me up. Since he was so close we missed the worst of the post-concert traffic. Thanks Jimmy!
In the morning after breakfast we headed towards Sacramento for part 2 of our adventure.
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