Boston on Tour . . . Sweet!

Yesterday, Tahni and I are driving down the road listening to classic rock—the flavor of the day—when a Boston tune comes on the radio . . . “Peace of Mind.”

To set the scene, Tahni is driving and I am singing the song out in my best falsetto and mimicking all the guitar licks . . .

Now you're climbin' to the top of the company ladder
Hope it doesn't take too long
Can'tcha see there'll come a day when it won't matter
Come a day when you'll be gone
I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind

. . . when I say, "hmmm. We should do this tune at Westwinds for fun some time. But of course, I don’t know who will sing the high harmonies with me unless I pick a girl—which I don’t want to do because it’s that duel guy harmony that is so Boston and so party rock. You know, I suck, I could never do this tune without dropping the key."

I say to Tahni, “raise a glass to Brad Delp” (former lead singer of Boston who died in March of 2007). “What a rock voice!”

“There’s only one other guy with that a high a voice who I can think of and that is Michael Sweet of Stryper. Come to think of it, Stryper brought back the harmonized guitar leads Boston was so well known for."

The conversation then goes on with me talking geeky guitar tone techie crap while my wife politely nods. I then tell her all about Boston's Tom Scholz --how he is such a genius and how he invented the Rockman guitar amp and how I recorded through one for fun. She remembered me having one.

Yada, yada, yada.

Then, the radio guy says Boston is on tour this summer.

“What?”

“How can they do that?” (picture me yelling at the radio)

“Without Brad Delp? No way!” (throwing my hands in the air)

“I’m not seeing them!” (shrugging shoulders)

“That’s like The Stones without Jagger!”

Then, today, out of curiosity, I go to the Boston site to see who in the world could possibly take over for Delp on this tour.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!

None other than Michael Sweet of Stryper fame!

Sidenote : : : I lived and breathed Stryper as a teenager. Sure, make fun of me all you want. Those Stryper boys played a special role in forming my spirituality, my outlook, my hope for the church, and my hope for Christian music. My mom and dad's pastor belittled me and called me a fairy for listening to them. He told me they used their guitars as phallic symbols and couldn't possibly love God. He just made me want to listen more. I love Stryper.

This is CRAZY! I can’t wait to go see Boston now. June 15th at DTE in Detroit. I’m there. Anyone with me?

Earlier in March, members of Stryper played with members of Boston onstage at the Phoenix Rising concert where over $175,000 was raised for the Station Family Fund-the organization that benefits victims and victims’ families affected by the '03 nightclub fire that took the lives of 100 music fans and severely injured 200 other people during a show by “Great White.”

Here’s a clip of Michael singing “Peace of Mind” at the tribute concert back in August before he was asked to join the tour.



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