This was a very hot and humid day in the South. I was sweating just sitting in my seat. I was thankful that my seat along with 3 other friends was shaded. I knew I was in the right place when I saw 10 fans in colorful spandex. The stage setup had a large extended walkway the length of the stage with a divider in it. This created 2 large square pits. The majority of the crowd was over fifty. My friend, Eric Woka, said “How does it feel to be the youngest guy here?” At 44 years old, he is not wrong. We had a good laugh. I was excited as the stadium filled up because I had not seen any of the bands and they were all three on my bucket list to see.
Steve Miller Band took the stage at 6 pm and played a 60-minute set. Their sound was phenomenal and they are a very tight-sounding band. Ladies were dancing from the first chord of Space Intro. They went straight into Fly Like An Eagle and then Steve broke out his famous harmonica with Serenade. They flew through the setlist with no talking since they had the shortest setlist. Next came Living In The U.S.A. followed by Abracadabra, Swingtown, Dance, Dance Dance, Take The Money And Run, and Jungle Love. Their audience was really hyped by now and they did not slow down with Rock’n Me. The audience engagement was on another level with this song. Next, they blasted Space Cowboy and the crowd went wild while Steve brought out a blue sparkle guitar that he used his slide on. They closed out the set with crowd favorites The Joker and Jet Airliner.
Journey took the sage at 7:30 pm and played a 90-minute set. People began filling in all night but now I see many fewer open seats. With Arnel Pineda singing at the age of 56, he was one of the youngest people on this tour. They kicked it off with Only The Young followed by a guitar solo. Next, they played the hits Stone In Love, Keep On Runnin’ and Escape. Neil sits at the piano and thanks the service men and women of the USA. As the first keys are hit everyone knows the song Faithfully and the crowd roars. They went straight into Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’ where the whole stadium did the wave to the “na na naaa na -na na na naaaaa nana” melody. Of course, they could not go into the next song without Neil’s piano solo. Up next was Open Arms, Line Of Fire, La Do Da, Dead Or Alive followed by another guitar solo. Without skipping a note they went Into Wheel In The Sky and everyone was on their feet. When Lights started most people got out their cell phones and waved the lights like we used to do with cigarette lights. They wrapped up their set with Separate Ways (Worlds Apart), Be Good To Yourself, Any Way You Want It, and Don’t Stop Believin’ which had everyone on their feet again. They had huge bubble machines that covered the front of the stage and the audience as they closed out.
Def Leppard took the stage at 9:30 pm and played a 90-minute set. The crowd was getting pumped and maybe a little inebriated as they played the audio and video for Gods Of War and the Pyromania Intro. The crowd had so much energy and knew every word. You can easily tell this band has been around for a long time and created loyal fans. They kicked it into high gear right from the start with Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) followed by Rocket, Foolin’, Armageddon It, Animal, and Love Bites. They had a different video for each song. The crowd was really into the new song, Just Like ‘73, and knew the lyrics. Then they played Comin’ Under Fire and Too Late For Love which brought out the cell phone lights again. They sped it up some with Die Hard The Hunter. My friend Jon DuMont and Glenn Alfonso have both seen Def Leppard 5 times and said they have never heard this song played live. Joe came to the front of the stage for an acoustic version of Two Steps Behind and then the other members joined him for an acoustic version of This Guitar and Bringin’ On The Heartbreak which went into the full-on rock version halfway through the song. They played Switch 625 followed by an awesome drum solo by Rick Allen who had a digital kick drum head. I noticed that he plays barefoot. Then came 2 more favorites, Pyromania and Photograph. They closed out the night with the classic Encore ”Surprise” playing Hysteria (with extended outro) and Pour Some Sugar On Me which made the crowd go freaking nuts. The stadium was deafening at the close of the show.
