Gregs Interview

I didn't think I was going to return to the US of A quite so soon but nevertheless I found myself once more on a Qantas 747 winging my way, first
stop LAX and onto a "second time in a life-time trip".
Next stop was Santa Ana CA and the Galaxy Theatre. I had made arrangements to meet the man with the golden left arm, Scott Imbach and his lovely wife.
Diane at the Courthouse by Marriott, which turned out to be about a half a mile from the Galaxy.
We hit the Theatre, which was set just off Sth Harbor Blvd round the back of an office block just before 7pm, as we had dinner reservations which
included a seat virtually right up front.
The Galaxy Theatre from out front was nothing special, just a rectangular building with trees planted along the front and a marquee over the stairs.
Inside was another matter, it was very dark, subdued lighting with an entry foyer and a staircase leading up to the left into the main theatre. It
appeared to be quite old, with a bar at the back and the seating arrangements, mostly booths, were set in a semi-circular fashion. It all
looked very quaint and it had a great atmosphere about it, like one of those old theatre's from the turn of the century.
John was set to come on around 9pm so they had a couple of bands on beforehand. I can't remember the second band's name but the first band "
White Lies" were great. The singer (who resembled JW in looks in a way) had a great voice and funnily enough, after discussing the matter with Scott &
Diane, just how much he sounded like John, he confessed between songs to loving John's music. You could tell his song writing was influenced by Mr
Waite, in fact the whole feel to his singing, writing, music and arrangements to me, felt like that they were straight out of John's book.
Maybe they should hook up and write together....

Well around 9:15pm, with no announcement, JW's band stroll on stage and John follows (dressed in black) with that bobbing type walk he has. At least
I thought it was John, it was the hair!! Last time I saw him he had the No Brakes/Missing You cut (i remember he referred to it in an interview in 1987
as "i look like a car thief !!") , well you've all seen it now, I thought it looked pretty cool, something like he was out of the English year
1600-1700'.
Well straight away with no messing about, he turns to the band, counts them in and launches into "Back on My Feet Again". To me, at this point in time,
it was sort of surreal, as it was only a few hours since I had landed and here I was in Santa Ana California USA watching & hearing John Waite again
belting his way through this Babys song, it just felt real weird.The crowd, of about, 300, got right into it from the start creating a
really good atmosphere and John seemed to sense it cause he was really animated and was firing on all cylinders (maybe it was the Becks he was
drinking).

The set consisted of, In order:

Back on My Feet Again

Change

When I See You Smile

Act of Love

Downtown

Missing You

Whenever She Comes Around

Show Me How to Love You

Suicide Life

When You Were Mine

How Did I Get by Without You

Isn't it Time

Midnight Rendezvous

Head First

Roadhouse Blues

All I Want for Christmas

Greg

During Change (i think) John's mic went dead and frantically tried another nearby but that was off as well so he had to resort to the guitarist mic.
They did fix that ....eventually. It didn't seem to bother John as he was in great spirits. At one point during the concert John went looking for his drink, stage right, he picked up a glass of something clear, had a sniff,shook his head and made a bit of a face, then found his Becks beer and took a swig. The crowd had a bit of a laugh with him.
Being only my second ever JW concert I hadn't heard Suicide life or Show Me How to Love You live. He did these wonderfully, and got big, big applause.
When he introduced When You Were Mine he said "this song was from my last album which about 5 people bought" . A few people, as well as me, yelled out, "I bought it!!". <g>
His band was the same lineup except that the drummer, Jonathan Dressel was absent and another guy took his place. I can't remember his name but he was pretty good.
Well after nearly 2 hrs the concert finished with the Christmas song and John wished us all a merry christmas. God Head was on the set list next but he never played it.
Well we and the crowd sat down after giving John a worthy round of applause and at this stage Brian & Lisa Soule and Adriane (all who I had met earlier) came over to our table for a bit of a talk. Brian's wife Lisa had the original set-list in her hand it was slightly ripped and wet from Johns' water trick. Brian graciously offered it to this auzzie boy (hope Lisa wasn't upset) as a momento. Thank you again Brian & Lisa for that, consider it treasured.
The M & G came next which was held back stage (on the stage) which was cool.Steve was there as well handing out set-lists and as usual he was real pleasant and helpful to us. We finally got the call by one of the .com ladies and Scott, Diane, Adriane and myself and another couple (this guy had a handful of JW, Baby's LP's and was looking forward to meeting John) walked down a small corridor and then veered right and up behind the stage.
Chris Anstein saw Scott and ushered him & Diane (and Adriane & myself <g>)
over to him. Scott & Chris got to talking and not long after that we all got to meet John. I put out my hand and said, "hi John remember me Greg from Sydney....?" before I could get Australia out , he said, "yeah Greg, of course man how ya doing?". I'm assuming he did remember me but if he didn't,
he still made me feel real special anyway. I said how great the concert was and he thanked me for coming all this way and asked if I was coming to Vegas. I said, I was staying a couple of days with Scott & Diane and then making the trek to Vegas. I brought along No Brakes CD for him to sign,which he did with "To Greg, Best mate, JW". We got some pics and then I stepped aside for him to grab hold of Diane !!. Adriane was recognised by John again cause she had her circa 1984 No brakes t shirt on and got some pics and things autographed, she was overjoyed.
After all this, Chris & Scott were back to talking again (i think business) and I just stood back and watched John interact with the other fans when it was their time to meet. Again he was really relaxed and jovial.
Well apart from Adriane & I finding split drum sticks on the stage and souveneering them, we finally left the Galaxy. What a night !! We headed out of the car park in Scotts Lexus driven by Diane and as we passed the sign at the front gate advertising "John Waite Dec 1" I passed my camera to Scott
for him to get a pic of it, after 3 go's at it due to Scott's very poor navigational skills, he got the pic !!.
.

Well via a lovely 2 day stay with Scott & Diane (graciously showing me US style hospitality)I arrived in Las Vegas on the Monday 4th via a 5 hour
drive.
As I drove down Las Vegas Blvd, I could see in the distance the Mandalay Bay Hotel glittering gold in the late afternoon sun. It looked pretty
impressive, so I stopped and got some pics and also waited for the advertising sign to finally flash the upcoming events at the HOB's. John's
"Shade Tree Womens Shelter" finally came up in flashing neon.I had made previous arrangements to meet up with Kim (misskim) and Cindy
(cyn0807). Couldn't find Cindy but did meet up with Kim (and here friend Pam) over at the MGM which was hosting a pre-Billboard Music Awards party.
After watching an hour or so of muso-people (whom I never heard of) walk by I decided to go back to the Mandalay Bay and met up with Kim & Pam later for
late dinner.
The next morning I had made arrangements to meet Cindy & Kim at breakfast. I got there first and was ushered to a table. After 1/2 a coffee, the girls
hadn't turned up so I thought I'd go and look for them. Cindy showed just as I walked up, hugs were exchanged and I met Cindy's friend Tina.
We were about to go back in but we spotted Kim and a few other ladies (Doreen, Pam, Colleen) talking to, of all people, Mr Waite. So of course,
with breakfast forgotten for the moment, we got over there !!! John was chatting away to the girls and we sidled up and said our hello's. He was
sporting a pair of spectacles, jeans, sports jacket and a Notre Dam T shirt underneath. Apparently he was out for a walk and then outside for some air.
Obviously being in a Casino we were standing next to slot machines and a bell (like a fight/boxing type bell) went of with a "ding", John, quick as a
flash, looks up to the ceiling as if acknowledging the bell, puts up his fists and stands in a fighting pose and decides he wants to take Kim on, Kim
says "you wanna take me on !!!" and puts her fists up....talk about laugh !
The bell went off a few more times after that and each time John put his fists up and goes into the boxing stance. He was having a good time.
I took an opportunity to say to John that he seemed fired up the other night at Santa Ana. Now it might have been Kim still talking <g> but he gestured
like he couldn't hear me and said pardon? I repeated what I said and again he asked what I said....he said he couldn't understand me !! At this stage
the girls were having a good 'ol laugh at my embarrassment and I said to John, "John I'm Australian mate, it's almost like I'm from England and you
can't understand me ?" He said something along the lines of that he couldn't pick up the accent and that he hadn't heard Australian's talk that much
(obviously been around Americans too long ).
He finally said that he was feeling relaxed and was happy with the Santa Ana show. He seemed suprised when I said that he was on stage for just on 2
hours. He also said that he was looking forward to tonight and that I should come to the sound check at 5...cool or what ! (in hindsight I should have
asked how do I get in cause when I got there later the gates/doors were locked and had to settle for the monitor version with the TV outside the
gates (it was good though, hay Doreen & Ron ?!!)
Well talk about a good start to the day. Later that evening Scott, Diane,Adriane and myself headed off to the House of Blues. We picked up our
tickets at the door courtesy of Cindy & Kim who had organised them and we headed on downstairs to the venue and meet up with the others. Our tables
were right up front. Prior to John coming on, we waded through a auction of John's art which was interesting as he seemed to have a fascination with
dogs !!
John came on around the 9pm mark and once again counted in the band for Back on My Feet Again. He was dressed, (yes good guess !!) in black suit and his
hair was still the same <g> and was supported by a bit of stubble. The crowd numbered around the 300 mark and were all appreciative of his music.