"When the lights go down in the city..."

"....ooh, I want to be thereeeee in myyy ci-ty..."

I was having childhood flashbacks as I sat in the dark atop the Hollywood hills high above the Greek theatre listening to the 80's power balladeers, Journey, roll through their hits of yesteryear. It was all on a partially cheezy whim that we all we trekked up the dirt hiking trail to sneak a free concert in. Luckily, a friend just happens to live a short walk away from the venue and was having a little get together. Well, one thing led to another and the next thing you know, a bunch of us are caravaning up the street, drinks in hand acting like a bunch of kids and jumping over the bushes of million dollar mansions before trying to traverse a dirt mountain in the dark. By the time we made it up, there were at least 7 other rather "interesting" (read:weird) people up in the trees, rocking and swaying in time. I swear it looked like a scene on the discovery channel - like I was watching chimps in the wild.

Of course we had to (painfully) sit through some of their newer tunes but it was all worth it when they delivered the three punch combination of Open Arms, followed by Faithfully, and topped with Don't Stop Believin'. I would have held up a lighter if I had one. All I could think of was those days of listening to my older sister playing those songs over and over in the late 70's/early 80's. I may not know the names of the songs but amazingly I found myself instinctually knowing a lot of the lyrics and singing along.

"Sooo here I am, with Ooo-pen arms. Ho-ping you'll see, what your love means to me..........Open arms"