I know I’ve thrown back to this before. I can’t help it. It was such a spontaneous and wonderful moment. Five years ago, it looked like I wasn’t going to be able to meet one of my rock heroes, Tommy Shaw. Free-FM was presenting the band as part of a great line-up at Rock the Park, but no meet-and-greet was planned. The band had things to do. We got to meet and get photos with Toto and Grand Funk but Styx couldn’t make it happen.
Then it happened. As we waited backstage for Toto to assemble, along came Gowan. He’s been with Styx a long time and knows Derek, so they stopped and chatted a while. I turned to my colleague Jessica and said something like, “Oh man! I’ve met Gowan a hundred times. I love the guy but…it’s Tommy Shaw I’m hoping for”. I had no idea that he was a couple of paces away.
At the sight of him, I was rendered speechless. My vocal cords failed me. Jessica scooted up to him and asked if he had a minute for a fan. “Sure”, he said with a smile, and we had a lovely moment, holding hands. where I babbled about his first solo album and how much I’ve loved his music with Styx. He couldn’t have been nicer.
I don’t get star struck very often but this encounter was so unexpected and so important, I honestly thought I might faint! Fortunately, I swallowed my jitters and have no regrets about it. Thank you Tommy. You’re everything fourteen-year-old me hoped you would be!