But let me start with the day. Yesterday we didn't get to finish our list with 'must sees' so we went out to finish what we started. Of course we had to see Beverly Hills, so we did. Crazy TOTO fans as we are, we also had to see the house where little Luke grew up and played his first notes, Barnaby's where he went to hang, the Steakhouse and The Baked Potato.

Next stop was the Mulholland overlook, an amazing view over Universal and Studio City, we did some shopping at Rodeo Drive, well, OK, just window shopping ... ;-) .

The Farmer's Market was our next target and Grove too, we do NOT recommend the milkshakes at the Grove though. And now it was time to get covered in some TOTO fun. We had a pre-gig meet up at a hotel near the venue, LOTS of crazy women, normal men and an enormous amount of laughs and giggles. When it was time to line up for the VIP experience we went to the venue and were ready for a night of great music. Little did I know the night would become even more special than I expected. When we were set in front of the stage, ready to see the sound check and ask questions, my friend Kathleen took the first oportunity to ask the band if her friend from The Netherlands (yupz ... that's me) could sing with them. OH MY GOODNESS ... they let me get up indeed and I sang with my musical hero's. This had been a dream for so long and now I was there ... on the same stage ... making music together. Believe me, it's been 24 hours and I'm still high on cloud 9!!! Joe hugged me when I was done and said I did a great job. Still can't believe it!
After the soundcheck we had a meet&greet, Steve P. also complimented me on the singing and Luke called me 'singer girl'. I couldn't stop smiling. The gig was great too, lots of energy, just one thing that is really hard for me as a European fan ... WHY ON EARTH DO THEY HAVE ASSIGNED SEATS AT GIGS IN THE USA??? Not even a choice to stand! But hey ... that doesn't change the fact that it is still amazing to see the guys on stage.

We wanted to let the fun continue a little longer and headed to the original Tommy's for an after gig snack, by the time we went back to the hotel we were BEAT. But to end the way I started ... OH WHAT A NIGHT!!!