Some time ago I purchased a ticket to see Journey live. Being one of my favourite bands (period) I have been looking forward to it for quite some time. Myself and my good friend Clark set off yesterday afternoon from our home town knowing that about £40 and just over three hours later, we’d be aquainting ourselves with the ‘fair city’; itself playing host to the ultimate ambassadors of a lost decade of music. I truely can’t fault the gig at all. The music was as I expected, the crowd and the atmosphere were better than I expected and I left brandishing a piece of merchandise well deserving of a place in my cupboard.

Truth be told the concert itself didn’t generate anything other than awe. The journey (excuse the pun) itself, however, as you would expect to find when two good friends spend two days in each others company.

These are just a few of my favourites.

Clark (to his detriment in my eyes) is a teenager. Like any teenager, I expected him to act like… well, like a teenager. He did not fail to dissappoint. In a vein rivalled only by someone like Paris Hilton, his excessive use of the word “hot” never failed to grab my attention. By the time we had reached our first major stop, the word had already become canonical for the trip. This being the case, I informed him that I’d be keeping track of the number of times he used the word “hot” in the course of our two day excursion. The mind boggles… Final count: 68.

As we walked along the banks of the Liffey, our eyes were drawn to a rather awesome building on the opposite side. We could really only hypothesise as to who or indeed what the four figures standing atop it’s roof represented. Given that the one on the left appeared to be a statue of Hermes and the one on the right, a statue of Poseidon I suggested that one of the two central figues, both of which appeared to be female, could be Aphrodite. Clark, however, thought I said something completeley different. This moment of confusion unraveled itself into a full blown discussion regarding the etymology of the word ‘hermaphrodite.’ As it turns out, we weren’t far wrong…

On our way back from the Journey gig, we were discussing music in general; 80’s bands in particular. This provoked Clark to suggest that “you won’t find a band cleaner than Journey.” This momentarily confused me. In fact, until he elaborated, I was unsure as to whether he was making a supposition based on Journeys innocent themes and ‘clean cut’ attitude or simply stating his observations on Neal Schon’s sense personal hygiene.

Armed with Journey merchandise, we returned to our place of accomodation to enjoy a sit down on one of their many confortable sofa’s, a nibble at some confectionary we had purchased on our way back and a nice cool drink. Clark kicked back and enjoyed a sip of his drink and a bite of his Daim bar. Letting out a sigh of satisfaction, Clark proclaimed “Man… It doesn’t get any better than this.” Thinking of many things which I believed could indeed enhance the pleasure of that particular moment, I retorted; “I don’t know about that.” At that precise moment, with a sense of coincidental timing that you truely would have had to have been there to fully appreciate, a rather attractive young lady entered the room. Clark turned and looked at me. I slid nonchalantly down into the sofa, smiled and noted; ”I think I’ve made my point.”

Journey’s newest studio album ‘Revelation’ is in shops at the minute and it comes with top reccomendation from me. A definate 5 star must have for any fans of 80’s tunes.

‘Till next time,

Jim

James - "Dude, check out this album I've been listening to. 'Dying for a heart' by this girl called Krystal Meyers"

Clark - "Wow, yea I'm loving that! This is great driving music! "

James - "What, this song?"

Clark - "Yea, why?"

James - "Its called 'Collide.'"

Clark - *Laughs*

Lynyrd Skynyrd's legend is grounded in a plane crash that occurred on October 20, 1977, three days after the release of their album "Street Survivors". A chartered Convair 240, N55VM, carrying the band between shows from Greenville, South Carolina to LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana crashed near a forest in McComb, Mississippi. The crash killed singer/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. Other band members were injured, some very seriously. Drummer Artimus Pyle crawled out of the plane wreckage with several broken ribs, but was ambulatory, as were road crew members Kenneth Peden Jr. and Mark Frank.

Allen Collins suffered two cracked vertebrae in his neck, and both Collins and Leon Wilkeson nearly had arms amputated as a result of crash injuries. Wilkeson suffered severe internal injuries, including a punctured lung, and had most of his teeth knocked out. Gary Rossington broke both his arms and both his legs in the crash, and took many months to recuperate. Leslie Hawkins sustained a concussion, broke her neck in three places and had severe facial lacerations. Mysteriously, security manager Gene Odom was seriously burned on his arm and face in the crash, which involved no explosion or fire since the plane was out of fuel. Victims were taken to the hospital in McComb, Mississippi by ambulances and other vehicles. Road crew member Steve Lawler, who suffered severe contusions and facial lacerations, was taken to the hospital in a pickup with a camper top.

Ronnie Van Zant often told those closest to him he would never live to see 30 and he wanted to die with his boots on. He died three months short of his 30th birthday.

Steve Gaines : "This is like a start of what I want to do. This is the beginning. I hope that I can be good enough to keep on going... This is all I ever dreamed about, you know? Just doing this." October 17, 1977 interview, the day Street Survivors was released. He was killed three days later by the plane crash.