5/5/00 - Opening Night

From the moment we walked into the Dessert Sky Amphitheater dressing room area it was clear that opening night was going to be good. Neal Doughty from REO was hanging out with Keith, and the two of them had traded some wireless transmitter connections, thus bonding forever;-)

Inside Dave and Bruce were in the hallway, and I could see that I was not the only one having a hard time containing my excitement about the first show. Again, the analogy of the first day of the school year was brought up. It seemed truer now than the last time I mentioned it. All we needed was a school bell.

Franky, Jamo, Mark and the rest of the Survivor dudes were minutes away from starting their set when I walked into their dressing room. They were cool, confident and ready for the challenge. Frank and I had a good laugh at our mutually short new hairdos. About that time Kevin showed up and we had even more laughs as we realized that with all the short hair, we were now getting a good education in the "Goop" you have to have to make it work! It was pretty funny hearing the individual versions from all three of us who decided we really don't know much about it at all. Thank God for the girls...

Before you knew it, Brian Hitt, Neal Doughty, Larry Valens and I were on the stage behind the monitor mixer cheering Survivor on. The crowd was huge for them which we took as a good sign for the entire evening. It was very reminiscent of a time when Frank asked me to sing on their album in 1990 and I got to witness their magic in the studio. He and Jamo and Mark have a real thing that happens when they work together.

Before you knew it, it was REO's turn. By this time the place was packed and we could hear the crowd's roar all the way into our dressing room. The were claiming the stage and there was no doubt that REO was there to rock. What a great, flawless opening night they had. I could tell as they exited the stage that it was good for them. There is no mistaking that after show vibe after a great performance. We could hear it through the dressing room walls.

Then it was our turn. After all the advance work was behind us, the actual show was a breeze. We were ready. Over 9,000 fans had showed up to make our opening night yet another unforgettable page in our ongoing history.

It was fun to finally see the new stage, the new scenery all working in reality the way we had see in on paper. The time continuum was severely distorted, because what felt like a few breaths' worth went by and we were back in the dressing room and it was over. No melt downs, no serious mistakes, no tales of near calamity. Perhaps our finest opening night ever.

In the aftermath, Glen and I were laughing at how we were so amped up that even in the first song we kept telling ourselves "Pull back!" But it was not possible. We had to give in and let it go, peddle to the metal, full tilt bozo for the entire set. And next thing we knew we were taking our bow. Now, after an all night bus ride, we are in our suite at the Mandalay Bay, waiting for room service.

Thank you for making it an outstanding night!