Never Stop Believing

So, welcome to my first "unplanned" post.  All summer long, the city of Garden Grove, California has been putting on free concerts every Thursday, mostly by tribute bands.  A few Thursday's back, Abbey Road (just guess who they tribute, and if you can't figure it out, click here) performed at a Garden Grove park about six miles away from my house.  I really wanted to go, but they were SIX MILES away.  Ugh!  Too far.

Then, last night, the Journey tribute band Don't Stop Believing (DSB), played in the park JUST OUTSIDE MY FRONT DOOR, which also happened to coincide with a special volunteer appreciation event I was attending for my volunteer work with Meals on Wheels.  In fact, all volunteers received VIP seating for the concert after the appreciation dinner.  WELL... now that's more my style.  Walking distance (check), Dinner and Show (check), treated like a VIP (double check), Journey music (triple check).

I love Journey's music.  And who can possibly NOT love their classic song, "Don't Stop Believing", recently made even more popular by being the finale song of the last episode of The Sopranos and sung by the talented cast members of Glee (another obsession)?  And that's the song we just immediately think of when we think of Journey.  I forget that Journey is also responsible for such hits as "Open Arms", "Who's Crying Now", "Wheels in the Sky", "Faithfully", "Separate Ways" and my other personal favorite just behind "Don't Stop Believing"... "Any Way You Want It".

But this post isn't really about Journey, it's about their tribute band.  I have to say, I haven't seen many tribute bands, but from the moment I heard the first lyrics being sung out of Juan Del Castillo's mouth, I was FA-LOORED!  I couldn't believe (I know, but Michael, 'don't stop believing') how much he sounded like the unique Steve Perry.  And the other band members were fantastic, as well; drummer Scotty Kromos even had a drum solo that literally took my breath away.  So, for two hours, they played all of Journey's greatest hits flawlessly, but the strawberry on top was literally on my free funnel cake, which I could do another whole post about, alone.

So, that's it.  Last night was a real eye opening experience for me on many levels; regarding good cover bands, the fantastic music of Journey and maybe six miles is worth it.  Of course, the majority of my fascination with DSB could have just been from:  a) I had low expectations going in and,  b) they'll be the closest thing I'll ever get to seeing Journey live in concert, but I feel they are definitely worth checking out.  If you should be interested in learning more about them, their tour schedule or watching a video of their performance, you can check out their website here:  http://www.dsbband.com/

BTW, I did not know that Journey never had a #1 hit.  Preposterous!