Before he took the stage, Gary moved about the back of the club with his hometown friends and family, including Pat Badger and Mike Mangini, both formerly of Extreme. It was amazing that so few people even knew Gary was there, after all he wasn't orignally advertised to be there. Of course that all changed after he took the stage.

Pat Badger emerged to take the stage for bass and lead vocals, accompanied by Mick Maldonaldo and Matt Thorsen on guitars, the BRO chorus on backup vocals, and Nigel Matthews on drums. Pat performed an interesting version of the Beatles' classic ‘Getting Better All the Time’ (Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band). When Pat finished rocking out that tune, he came to the mic and said, "It's time for the singer to take the stage!"

Emerging from the left side of the stage and decked in shades, came Gary; replacing the famous black bell bottoms with green cargo pants, and t-shirt, and a Quadrophenia green jacket instead of his Van Halen blazer, pair of black Oakleys on.

After a brief ovation, Mick and Matt struck Pete Townsend's opening chord to ‘The Punk Meets The Godfather’ and the magic continued. Gary danced around the stage for awhile, before jumping into the opening lyric, "you declared you would be three inches taller" and then the back and forth with the BRO chorus began.

He did the piece true justice, with Pat adding fantastic backup vocals. The two of them looked great up there, together again. Could it get any closer to being Extreme?  Well, there was a pleasant response to that last question. Following ‘The Punk Meets The Godfather’, Nigel Matthews left the drum set, and Mick came to the front to tell the crowd another of Gary's friends, and BRO supporter, was in town: Mr Mike Mangini. Gary walked around making sure everyone was ready, and making sure this last minute band had it together. Seconds later, with his back to the crowd, he belted out "Can ya see the real me? can ya? can ya?" and then the real rocking began!!!!!! Gary, Pat, and Mike rocked together, with Gary moving about the stage, in classic form.

After it was done, Gary and the boys received a standing ovation, and I can tell you at least some fans were crying (honestly) because it was so good. It was nice to see the lead singer of one of the biggest bands in the world has not forgotten his roots. Gary is a class act, and VH is lucky to have such a great guy.

After the show, I spoke with Gary briefly about the tour, and he seemed bit disappointed that "We were just getting going, with 22 shows under our belt, and then boom," (referring the the cancellations on the European leg). He's very anxious to continue the tour on July 1, and commented that Alex will be fine, so let's all let out a giant sigh of relief. Look for some set list additions from III and some varying up of the old tunes - we're in for a real treat! "And I promise you, it will only get crazier from here!"

How did Pat get involved with the show? Did he approach you, or was it vice versa?
We ran into Pat at the Fleet Center Van Halen show. He had been interested in doing something with BRO for awhile and was into the concept of the Night. The show was collaborative and Pat chose to do some stuff from Sgt Pepper's and Quadrophenia.

When did Gary and Mike get involved? Was it a planned "reunion", or more of a spontaneous thing?
Pretty much a spontaneous thing. Pat (and all of us) really wanted to do ‘The Real Me’. Of course we thought of Gary, who we knew would be into it, singing it. Gary had some scheduling stuff to work out in order to be able to be in Boston that night so it was really only about a week before the show that we knew it would happen. We purposefully kept his involvement pretty low-key because the night was a celebration of many different BRO members’ favorite "rock opera" selections, an ensemble piece, and Gary just wanted to be part of that. Mike just happened to be in town, showed up for the dress rehearsal, and blasted through ‘The Real Me’ (BRO company member Nigel Matthews drummed for ‘Punk’ and the ‘Getting Better/Sgt Pepper's Reprise’ medley).

What was it like working with the three of them together? I'll bet it was fun, in that they would've enjoyed being together again.
It was great. They had a blast and it was obvious that they were really psyched to be on stage together again.

I know Gary performed excerpts from Quadrophenia. Which parts were they?
Gary performed ‘The Punk Meets the Godfather’ and ‘The Real Me’.

The Who is one of many bands who Gary's voice and stage persona would adapt to very well. In fact, there's no question about how good the performance would've been. To your mind, what was the best aspect of it? And how did Gary bring his own interpretation to the song(s)?
Gary showed up in full Mod regalia, looking a bit like a young Roger Daltrey, and positively ripped the place apart with his energy. Gary's voice is perfect for the material, it's always been a favorite of his, but his vocal stylings are his own.

Gary mentioned to me in New Zealand that he couldn't wait to work with BRO again. So is JCS on the horizon for him soon? And is there a chance that Pat and Mike could be involved in any future BRO productions?
Not really sure about JCS. We always talk about it. BRO has been focusing on some other works but plans to revisit JCS probably in April 2000. Since Gary and Mike are on the west coast most of the time, or on tour, finding the time to be in a full staged show is more problematic. Pat had a great time and we really hope to work with him again soon.