Journey, Foreigner and Night Ranger

Shorty and I as a hot mess at Journey, she's my fun size bestie.

“All I need is a pair of roller skates and someone to make out with ” Lola

“I’m like a teenage girl singing into her hair brush all over again”  Shorty

Last weekend my newest bestie Shorty and I had our 3rd date.   We have known each other  since the night of my 39th Birthday VIP Vodka Party, well over a year ago.     We started our friendship with mutual TMI across a dinner table full of other mommies.    A few months later after The Husband moved out and another MNO was planned she informed me. “I am going and I am picking you up and driving you there and buying you a drink” .   It still stands as one of the best gestures of compassion and goodwill shown to me by people not already in the inner circle during my almost divorce.     It was also a much needed night for me and a bonding moment in our friendship.   Shorty and I aren’t really the same per se, we share a lot of the same qualities and like a lot of the same things, but we are also very different.  Shorty and I aren’t  so different as to be different sides of the same coin.  We are more like the side of the coin we each wish to have point of view and insight and perspective from.   We always seem to be picking each others brains for another point of view.   I really enjoy spending time with her.  I’ve seen her plenty of times since that first night. But as far as girl dates go we’ve only had 3.  And The first two were plenty nice, martinis, shopping, sushi, girl talk.  But that concert last Saturday night was AWESOME.

Another summer Saturday night in the Midwest USA, it was hot but the breeze on the hill of the lawn was cool and strong.   There were drunken  hot Airforce men to entertain us in line and girls we met to revel in the eye candy with.     We had Rock Star Club VIP passes, so we could wait in a much shorter line to pee in air conditioning.  Shorty forgot her ID in her  car but the new laws got us wristbands with our tickets to the VIP club with no carding!   Sweet in and out the rest of the night with no wait.   Shorty is a little younger than me and I swear I’ve asked her how old she is like 4 times.  I promise to remember from now on.     She is younger than me but old enough to know most of these songs is how old she is!   I wanted to come to this concert and  started asking everyone I know if they’d go with me. I thought maybe Shorty was taking one for the team but turns out she is right there with me on the 80’s Rock.    These bands are my youth, I remember listening to Foreigner on the record player during indoor recess in the 5th Grade.   I’ve taken countless spins around the skating rink on roller skates to these songs.   I’ve  made out with boys to the slow 80’s rock ballads from Junior High on.   I’ve heard these songs while riding in…cars… with dates and groups and besties.  I haven’t really been a listener recently. Instead of prepping for this concert like I have for others,  I just showed up in a comfy outfit and a blanket with Shorty and waited for the magic to happen.

The weather was perfect.  We ditched both the Air Force eye candy  and the girls we met in line in favor of getting situated in our preferred spot and then all settled at the VIP bar.   As luck would have it we  hooked up with our new girl friends and they and all their friends hung out with us for the whole concert.   I must tell you that any 80’s Rock concert on the lawn of this outdoor venue is made better by larger group participation.   We sort of banded together in one big but separate group and had a blast.  BOY did the magic happen. The new singer for Journey is so stinking good.  His voice is the perfect match for the music.   All three bands put forth a light show  and delivered song after song with all the energy and mayhem we were hoping for.  The very very best thing about concerts at this venue are when it gets dark right as the headliner band is coming on.    The feel of all that open space and sound and sky and lights and screaming is SUCH a different experience than the tiny hot sweaty club of  the AK3 shows The Husband and I attended earlier that same week.   There really just isn’t anything like it. Except maybe that feeling at a really large festival, I hope to test this theory out at Cochella next spring with the SIL.    We danced, we sang, we thrashed, we swayed.  We worked ourselves into the hot mess of summer time rocking our cares away all night long.  We waited in  the parking lot for 45 minutes afterwards, and event that didn’t dampen the magic of the night, the music and the new friends we made and left behind on the lawn.

Journey Set List

Up next on the Lola’s crazy summer of concerts is Train and Maroon 5 at the State Fair!! Followed  a few days later by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow with the BGC crew.   It has been and continues to be a rocking summer.