A JOURNEY (see what I did there?) of Epic Proportions

I don’t want you guys to think I’m all emo or something -- even though I do wear a lot of black eyeliner and frequently sweep my bangs out of my eyes. And feelings, I have so many of them. So to counteract the last post about the worst days of my life, I wanted to post about one of the best weekends of all time in the history of the universe.

On July 30, 2011, I attended an event that was the perfect storm of friends, beer, magic, Honda Pilots,  unicorns, rainbows, and bands from the 70s culminating in the most glorious night. This event was the Journey/Foreigner concert. What follows is one of the most epic tales ever told.

The whole Journey/Foreigner gang

The day started by congregating at Olivia and Drew’s apartment. Olivia whipped up some delicious alcoholic smoothies providing us with the essential nutrients and vitamins needed for the adventure ahead. It was soon time to pile into the Honda Pilot that Carson borrowed from his mom so that we could all drive to Tinley Park together. Yes, we were riding in style. I had prepared an All Foreigner/Journey iPod mix for the road trip that quickly got us pumped for what lie ahead.

As we neared the venue, we decided to grab a bite to eat. I quickly shot down White Castle (seriously, who eats White Castle sober??) and we pulled into Culvers. Actually we pulled into the "exit only" lane of Culvers because Mike's excitement for the concert resulted in a complete disregard for the rules of the road. Maybe it was the energy I gained from my butter burger, maybe it’s because I had heard Hot Blooded no less than 80 times that week, but it was in the Culver’s parking lot that I bestowed to everyone what would become our anthem for the evening: The Honda Pilot Song. You really can’t capture the magic of this song by typing it out (I’d be happy to sing it to you in person!) but basically it goes to Foreigner’s Hot Blooded and you just throw in the words “Honda Pilot” as many times as possible.

We arrived at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, and cracked open the cooler of delicious Coors Light. Considering beers are $11 a piece inside, we wanted to have a few under our belts before heading in. We were soon informed by the 17 year old security guards that we were not allowed to tailgate. However, they apparently had no problem with us sitting inside the car and drinking. Fine by us, the interior of the Honda Pilot is luxurious. Vicki provided us with a delightful game of Liquor Grab Bag where we all got to pull an airplane bottle of liquor from a bag and drink whatever we pulled. A little after 6pm we were feeling good and it was time to venture into the venue.

We headed to the lawn area and claimed a great spot to throw down our blankets. As we waited for the show to begin, we realized we had entered the greatest people watching experience of our lives. Between the scantily clad cougars, security guard with an extraordinary ponytail, tannest women who ever lived, and the ultimate headbanger, it was endless entertainment.

That hair looked amazing as he headbanged throughout the night.

And then it was time to rock! Night Ranger kicked things off with a song we surprisingly kind of knew other than Sister Christian. Night Ranger did have a challenge filling their 15 minute time slot and had to resort to playing a Damn Yankees song to take up some time. Of course they ended things with a bang and just absolutely nailed Sister Christian.  ¯ ...MOTORIN’... ¯ 

Now it was time to get our game faces on. We had been waiting with great anticipation since the tickets were purchased in April.  We were about to see Foreigner and Journey live!!  I can’t say enough good things about Foreigner. I’m a bigger Journey fan, but I’ll admit that Foreigner rocked slightly harder. They listened to our request to play the Honda Pilot song which brought a lot of joy to us.  They ended with an unbelievable, life changing performance of Juke Box Hero that rocked our faces off.

Rocking so hard.

Journey mistakenly played a couple songs from their new album, but overall the set was phenomenal and I’m surprised that any of us had a voice left after screaming lyrics to song after song. Of course I love me some Steve Perry, but Pineda did not disappoint -- that adorable little Filipino killed it. We had thoroughly rocked and the lights went down. But was that the end? No! As Carson put it, “Journey rocked so hard they exploded into a supernova at the end of the set... Then came back as humans and played an encore.”  Journey ended with the upbeat crowd-pleaser Any Way You Want It, and it was exactly the way we wanted it.

Journey explosion.

 The concert was everything I had hoped for and more. We piled back into the Honda Pilot and started our trek back to Olivia and Drew’s. Carson had previously set ground rules for the person who sat shotgun and Drew did not let us down managing to moon multiple limos on the way home. Upon getting home, Olivia, being the amazing hostess that she is, provided us with hummus, pizza rolls, and perogies. It was a delicious feast of drunk treats that was a perfect end to the evening.

Because this was one of the best weekends of all time, the awesomeness didn’t end Saturday night. I’ll admit we were all a little worried about what Sunday would bring. Where did we go from here? What was there to look forward to anymore? But our concerns were quickly put to rest. There was reason to go on!  We all awoke to the majestic scene of a blond angel (aka Carson) bequeathing unto us Dunkin Donuts Coffee, donut holes, eggs, and an extremely excessive amount of bacon. The weekend is definitely going down as one of the best ever.

Don’t stop believin’.

Honda Pilot 4 life.