"The Old Waldorf" (San Francisco, CA) 7-8-82

Check out the homemade John Waite T-shirt on the fan in the front. It says "JOHN WAITE IS GOING TO THE TOP" and was worn back then by now online fan KJPhillies@aol.com! KJ spotted this picture of himself on Net Waite and was kind enough to share with us the story of the shirt: This show was especially memorable because it was the first John Waite solo concert (or so we were told) and I had been crushed by the Babys breakup and "needed" this for therapy. In order to get front row seats, I had to buy dinner tickets, even though I was pretty sure this would not be a "fine" meal. Didn't care, front row for John Waite was as good as life got for a Babys fan in therapy.

I took things one step further. I went to the local printing shop in Alameda and brought in my old Baby's shirt, from the "On the Edge" tour. I had them put in bold black letters on the back of it "John Waite is going to the top." I picked it up the day before the show and was ready to go. "Going to the Top" was my favorite song from Ignition and I thought the shirt showed my true feelings.

The show was incredible, a combination of Ignition songs and classic Babys tunes. During the encore, I got a little crazy and ripped off the shirt and threw it to John. He was finishing up "Head First" and caught it in mid-air. He held on to it and finished the song and as he was leaving the stage he held it up for everyone to see. I thought I was pretty cool that night, knowing John Waite walked off stage with MY shirt.

The story doesn't end there- now it gets really strange. My younger brother, also a major John Waite fan, was out looking for old Babys albums in Berkeley when he came across a copy of Broken Heart. He opened it to check the quality when out slipped an interview with John Waite from a magazine called Entertainment Review. He read the article and it ended with the question "Anthing else happening in the future for John Waite?" and John's reply is "When I was at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco I saw this young kid wearing an old Baby's shirt from our last tour. On the back it read 'John Waite is going to the Top.' I couldn't agree more." This was written in August 1982 and my brother found it in an album 10 years later. Explain that!!! I still have the article.

Solo

San Francisco, CA
July 8, 1982
(VENUE: "The Old Waldorf")

Solo

San Francisco, CA July 8, 1982 (VENUE: "The Old Waldorf")

San Francisco, CA
July 8, 1982
(VENUE: "The Old Waldorf")