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by Carol Olsen
It's something that happens every year, even if the band is not on tour. It happens all over the U.S., probably all over the world. A group of friends, some who may never have met face to face, decide to get together to celebrate their favorite music and the people who make it. It's not a ritual peculiar to Journey fans, but we enjoy taking part and making it happen with our own special style.
My personal experience with the phenomenon ranges from small casual get-togethers of two or three at someone's home watching videos, listening to bootlegs and sharing stories and memorabilia, to a planned convention of fifty in San Francisco with Bay and City tours, Journey Karaoke, dinners formal and informal, souvenirs and a heck of a lot of other fun Journey-land stuff, with all kinds of variations in between.
Why do we do this? In the case of small local gatherings, its often a good excuse to get out of the house and for a few hours, talk to people with whom you have something in common, something other than work or school or children. For those fans who have only found understanding of their fanaticism on the Internet, it affords an opportunity to connect with people who (finally, with a big sigh of relief) understand. They know what it is about that blistering Schon solo that makes your whole body sit up and take notice, just like you. They hear the piano intro to When You Love A Woman and can name that tune in three notes, just like you. They know Cookie Duster is not some kind of kitchen utensil. They get it.
When it comes to going further on up the road, when you get in the car for that road trip or make those plane reservations because the band is on tour, then you enter into another level of communing with like minds and kindred spirits. What is the insanity that takes over the brain, causing it to whip out the credit card and buy that concert ticket for a show halfway across the country or the world? You can try to explain it away as a vacation or going to pay a visit to some old friends or to get to see another part of the world, but that is only a part of the whole. This band live is an experience meant to be shared. Meeting someone face to face that you have corresponded with, perhaps for years, about the music you both love, then going to hear that same music performed in person by the men who created it brings a feeling that there are few words to describe. Sharing a live concert with a person who knows all the lyrics, who has to be up on their feet dancing the whole show, someone who knows exactly what that certain song means to you, fills the heart. Now besides all that mushy stuff, it's just plain fun.
Tour season is on its way, for the fans in Japan it will be very soon. Why not take advantage of it this year? Talk to each other, send that letter or group e-mail and arrange to meet for a pre-show drink or dinner for fifteen or thirty. Bring your cameras, your stories of concerts past or your excitement for a first live Journey show. If for some reason, it is not possible for you to get to a show, find a few souls who are in the same boat and get together yourselves anyway. Make the connection and be in a gathering of fans. It's an experience you will never forget. Maybe this summer, I will see you there.
Copyright © 1994-2006 Dan Stacy, Journey Digest, JourneyDigest.com
No portion of this article may be reprinted without express written permission from the author and JourneyDigest.com