Tower Theater
Upper Darby (Philadelphia), PA
Saturday, October 25, 1997
Section Orchestra Right Center, Row AA, Seat 101
$50.00
Happy Birthday Jon!!
Not only is this the tenth anniversary of seeing Yes on Jon Anderson's birthday, it is also the twentieth anniversary of my first ever concert. I wrote about the Heart concert here, one of my first blog entries.
This day was one of my least favorite activities - the Big Group Dinner. It always takes too long to get seated and order and get on with it with so many people. And I always seem to be the one half listening in to the conversations around me, without being able to take part. I strain to hear what people are saying, and I wanted more alone time with my boyfriend! I feel like all I get to do is smalltalk and some concert anecdotes rather than really getting to know anyone better. I was anxious to get to the show on time, and the preliminary plan scared me. We were to meet at the Philly Rock on Delaware Avenue only two hours before the show was supposed to start. I raised the point that there would be a Million Women Marching between the restaurant and the Tower Theater. The organizers changed the restaurant to one on City Line Avenue. Especially after barely making it on time the night before, I was relieved.
Dian picked us up, and I met Dave and Pat from Texas for the first time. Outside at the Tower, someone had an oversized birthday card for Jon and was asking everyone to sign it. It must have been someone I knew, because he just gave me the card to hand to Jon when I told him I was sitting front row center.
Before the show started, WMMR DJ and long-time Yes supporter Ed Sciaky came out on stage. He told us it was Jon Anderson's birthday, as if anyone didn't know. He wanted us to all sing Happy Birthday to Jon after Soon. Igor was in on the surprise and would start playing it along with us. It was a nice moment, moment, moment.
My seats really were incredible and worth camping out for. Sure, we weren't in the real front row. But there was a big aisle right in front of us, giving us a lot of space after the cramped orchestra pit seats. We were close enough to get a lot of eye contact with the band, but far enough back to really get the effect of the lights and stage show. And nobody's head was in my way. Jon kept making eye contact and gestures with both of us for the whole show. It made me feel special. The highlights of this show were visual more than musical. It's like we were in the perfect seats to enjoy the lighting effects during Heart of the Sunrise and Revealing Science of God.
This was the first show where I got to stage rush - when the fans move up and congregate around the stage for the encore. I was already in the front row of the orchestra section, on the center aisle, but I had the giant birthday card. I walked forward into the pit. There was a security guy sitting in the front center facing the audience. I walked right up to him and stood there to hand the card to Jon. Jon took it from me. Everyone was standing and dancing at this point. The guard didn't say anything, so I just stayed there for the two songs of the encore. It was wonderful!
This is an odd review from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Afterwards, the whole big group went out for a midnight snack. Roy was leaving the next morning; he had a family event he didn't want to miss that night. We sat at a table by ourselves, so we had some private time. But we had gotten a ride from someone and were stuck there until we got a ride home. It's nice to be around other fans, and I've made some really good friends that way, but I didn't want it to interfere with my time with Roy.
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