The Epic Journey

The weekends are a blissful thing no matter what your week days are filled with. As soon as the clock hits 5:00 on Friday your mind turns to jelly. You let out a sweet sigh of relief as you realize the hardest decision you will have to make in the next 48 hours will be deciding if you want a tequila shot, a beer or both. Although college is now years behind you, it only takes two hours to slide back into the college mindset of cheap bars, questionable shots and bad decisions. A Friday night can lead you anywhere, but subconsciously you are always looking for that one thing that will make this mundane, ordinary Friday night a weekend to remember.
Anyone who has frequented a bar, been invited to a wedding, bat mitzvah, or organized event in the last 30 years has experienced it. Those first few hair raising, goose bump giving bars from the keyboard erupt out of the cheap, muffled speakers like a hot, fresh Krispy Kreme; the distinct keyboard riffs waft over the overcrowded room grabbing the attention of every drunk and beleaguered patron within the vicinity. You look over at your friends with a look of utter surprise and befuddlement. “Are they really playing this song? Can we be soo lucky as to experience the greatest song ever written? Tonight??”
A smile slowly slides over your face as reality sets in and those legendary lyrics creep from the speakers.

"Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world. She took the midnight train going aaaaaannnnneeeeeeewhere."

The lyrics pull at your heartstrings. The beat starts out slow and soft, an air of mystery that only a synthesized keyboard could produce. The first guitar riff makes its entrance.

"Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detrrrrrroooooooit. He took the midnight train going aaaaaaaannnnnneeeeewhere."

As you realize this song is here to stay your enthusiasm becomes more proclaimed. The guitar creeps back in again, quietly in the distance at first, and then slowly becoming louder and louder ending with the first crash of drums.
First it’s just your head bobbing along to the beat, but as you hear the lyrics, "For a smile they can share the night, it goes on and on and on and onnnnnnnn," you throw you head back and toss your hands in the air, and you immediately start jumping around like you’re at a Hannah Montana concert. As the drums grow louder and the chorus begins, you lose all control and you’re in your own world, screaming the lyrics at the top of your voice, stopping your jumping and hopping only to emphasize "Somewhere in the NIIIGGGGGGHHHHTTTTTTTTTTT".
As the song continues many emotions rush through your mind…..
“God I love my friends!”
“God I love this song!”
“God this night is awesome!”
“God, I am soo drunk, I can’t wait to eat something!”
As you jump wildly around in a circle trying to out-sing your friends you reminisce on the many nights before that ended with this song; the many memories and the countless bars, the close friendships which were sealed while throwing your arms around each other during "Don’t stop believing, hold on to that feeeeeeeaaaeeeeelllling!" It is the perfect way to end any night, and no matter how bad your night was, you’ll wake up the next morning telling your friends it was the best night ever. That’s just the effect of Journey, the most amazing power ballad rock band in history.
No matter who you are, where you are or how many times you’ve heard Don’t Stop Believing, the effect is the same and you react as if it were the last time you will ever hear this song. Your enthusiasm is only piqued due to the hours you just spent drinking the night away as it is almost inviolable to play any Journey songs before 1:00 am, so inevitably when this epic ballad is played you are rightfully a little tanked, resulting in the aforementioned reactions depicted above.
If this ritual is unkown to you, I have attached this handy video which can be used as a visual. Notice the guy in the foreground playing the air keyboard. It’s a classic.