White Lion has always been one of my favorite 80s Hair Metal bands, but they also carried a special place in my heart for a very unique reason. My best friend (who was also a big fan) passed away 25 years ago, and I had the distinct honor to come up with and read his eulogy at his funeral back then. As hard as it was to conceive performing this honorable act, I decided the night before to use the lyrics from one of White Lion's unheralded songs, "Farewell to You"as the basis for his eulogy. With some help from my buddies, who stood by my side as I read those emotional and unforgettable lyrics, I got through it. That song touched everyone of the 500 people who attended that funeral mass and listened to me euologize my departed friend with the words from that song.
Fast forward to the present (still a huge fan and listen to White Lion regularly) and being at Mike Tramp's show at the BPAC, it was an honor and a life-long dream to finally see Mike Tramp live. As much as I would have loved to see the rest of the original band, his show was nothing short of awesome, with him telling stories of the band between songs, and the band playing White Lion tunes to near perfection. It was incredibly intimate and the songs of White Lion still carry all of the great memories and emotions from our youth.
To wrap this up, and to my astonishment, the band closed the show by playing, "Farewell to You."I wasn't expecting that and it was an incredible surprise, and emotional for me, but a perfect way to end the show. The story even gets better as Mike told the audience he will be doing a "Meet & Greet"after the show in the lobby. My buddy and I waited on line to meet him, and when we did, I made sure I told him our story and that he should be very proud of his music and how much White Lion meant to my friends and me. Mike was a total class act and thanked us for sharing our story. There was truly a real human connection made at that moment.
Life works in mysterious ways and I believe fate brought us to the show that night to meet Mike Tramp and share our story. I have a feeling my buddy who passed away might've had something to do with this.