JOURNEY, BRAS, PANTIES: IT'S A CONCERT MEMORY OVERLOAD

The Canadian singer surprised me when he stopped in the middle of the song. This was my first rock concert — I was 14 — so I didn’t know any better. Maybe this is commonplace.

He bent down and picked up the latest in what had been many bras tossed on stage and draped it, with the others, over his microphone stand.

As a teenage boy from small-town Kansas, the prospect that there were girls out in the crowd who were now braless was unbelievable and beyond cool.

Then he said these words, which are indelibly printed on my brain: “Enough with the bras, girls, let’s see some panties.”

Sure enough, a few panties went flying on the stage.

Whoa! Sensory overload. And that was only the opening act.
Bryan Adams then finished his set and ended with “Straight from the Heart,” a sappy ‘80s pop ballad that was the first song I really recognized — I didn’t know who he was at the time.

Then came Journey, the main act. This was the tour supporting the Bay Area band’s album (I know even using the word “album” dates me) “Frontiers,” which was the follow up to the hugely successful “Escape.”

On Escape were songs like “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Open Arms,” influential songs to me because they were staples at all the make-out parties I attended.
When I heard that Journey would be playing Red Rocks with Def Leppard this August, I was reminded of that first concert at the Kansas Coliseum in Wichita, Kan.
Bras, panties and my favorite make-out songs — moments like those you don’t forget.