April 1983, Miami Baseball Stadium, Miami, Fla.
When I tell people I saw Journey back in the day, I withhold the other part — that on the same day I also saw Aerosmith. Depending on the person, I’ll tell them I saw Bryan Adams — a fresh-faced, just starting out Bryan Adams. And then there’s Sammy Hagar, whose career is not so easy to discern.
I was 14, and for the all-day show at Miami’s depressed baseball stadium (where a lackluster minor league team played for those who braved to come to this not so great part of town), I was out of my element. I went with my friend Karl and some others I don’t remember. I do remember lots of pot, and young women wearing not too much — even in April, Miami can be way too hot
I was there for Journey, as were most people (though there was a strong contingent there for Aerosmith). Escape (or E5C4P3 as I still call it) was one of those albums I loved from the start, and Frontiers, while not as dynamic, has enough to stir my teen heart. I dare say this was the height of Journey’s tour prowess — Escape sent the band into a new realm, but people really knew that when Frontiers came out. The band filled 80,000-seat stadiums during this tour.
Being 14 and wanting to experience the whole day, we were there a before the noon start to see Bryan Adams, of which I can offer few details. Cuts Like A Knife was the album he was touring on, the album (and song) which proved to be his breakout hits. “This Time” was also another bigger song on the album, and I’m sure he played it though I don’t recall. He did finish the set with “Cuts Like a Knife,” but I remember thinking he seemed so small on the big stage. Perhaps a less than capacity daytime crowd (it would creep over 30,000 by night’s end) didn’t help.
This was not a problem for Sammy Hagar, who always acted bigger than he was. He made the stage his personal jungle gym, climbing the scaffolding while singing with a head-mic. At one point he was a good 30 feet above the stage, playing a sort of noisy rock a 14-year-old boy loves. I went out and bought his album (Three-Lock Box) after the show, he left me wanting more.
Now Aerosmith is not a band I have really ever cared about, even after its great comeback in the late 1980s. On this day, it was a Joe Perry-less, Brad Whitford-less band with a Steven Tyler who was on something of some sort. And yet “Dream On” remained the best song played all day long (Journey included), maybe because great songs eclipse a band having an off-day. I think every time Tyler sings this song, he knows how great it is.
When Journey finally came on, the crowd (it was general admission), was in a frenzy. I have seen several arena bands in my lifetime (some I will get to on this writing journey of mine), but no band was ever better than Journey in this setting. Steve Perry’s voice belongs in a stadium filled with thousands and thousands of people.
I found the setlist, and it’s a damned greatest hits — “Wheel In The Sky,” “Send Her My Love,” “Open Arms,” “Faithfully,” “Who’s Crying Now,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Stone In Love,” “Keep On Runnin’,” “Lights,” “Any Way You Want It,” “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”. Not long after this show, the band would go on a hiatus it never really came back from, so I was fortunate to see this.
I would go on to see other shows of multiple bands in the following years, but nothing ever like this. And I never saw one of these bands after this day, because some live band memories need to stay like they were the first time you see them.
