Cardiff International Arena 24/06/08- Review
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:41 pmThose familiar with Wales and its heritage often describe it as a hard place. It is a land known for rugged coal miners and even rougher rugby players, a people as tough as its folklore which is filled with fire breathing dragons and Celtic heroes.
If you are going to show up in town, you better be ready to prove that you are rough and raw enough to fit the mold- or at least bring along someone who can. And Journey brought one last night- in the form of its lead guitarist.
If you were to take someone who had never heard Journey live to its London Hammersmith show last week and ask them what stood out in their minds, it would be the performance of Arnel Pineda. However, the same person would likely deliver a vastly different verdict on the preceedings which took place in the Welsh capital - last night, undeniably, it was the Neal Schon show.
Early in the show we were treated to not only Neals’ talent on The Journey (Revelation) but also another stirring guitar solo. This very much set the tone for the remainder of the evening. Last night saw a Neal Schon much more animated, moving repeatedly off his normal stage left perch. Not only did he move more, there was a high level of interaction with the crowd, with Neal gesturing to the crowd throughout his guitar solo’s, even briefly interrupting his lengthened guitar bridge on Don’t Stop Believing to wave and encourage the crowd to life.
Neal was clearly leading last night, even becoming the set him self, a violet shirt matching the all pervasive violet lighting of the Revelation tour. If anyone was ever tempted to forget his presence, even for a moment, he was there to remind you of it, with yet another helping of guitar.
Neal was clearly happy, and so were the rest of the band. Jonathan Cain’s trade mark finger pointing and exuberant two footed leap off his rig near the end of the concert showed happiness (it certainly wasn’t an indication that he will be coming home and trying out to be to be America’s next Mary Lou Rhetton!) Midway through the concert one could see Ross, (who by the way is the only man on planet Earth these days who can tuck his t-shirt into his jeans and not look like a nerd ) and Neal exchanging words. With the caveat that I am not a professional lip reader I thought I saw Neal say, “crowds enjoying it!” and Ross say in return “massively”.
And indeed they did. The acoustics and atmosphere of Cardiff International Arena are not the greatest, nor do the spirits of rock legends lurk there the way they do in the Hammersmith Apollo. Its not always easy thrilling a crowd or sounding good here- but they did both. The only time the celebratory atmosphere was broken was with Deen Castronovo’s moving rendition of Mother, Father which hit the deepest string of hard rock melancholy, taking the concert to a completely different place.
Arnel for his part was clearly on form. Clearly the band were giving him more rest time than he had in Hammersmith. This is a good thing- there was a performance at the Wolverhampton Civic the night before, and no one should have to sing in that register for so long night after night.
With his constant enthusiasm, Arnel was a key ingredient to festive atmosphere, but tonight the man of the hour was Mr Neal Schon.
Set List (I m pretty sure I got it Right)
Never Walk Away
Separate Ways
The Journey (Revelation)
Only The Young
Neal Solo
Stone In Love
Keep On Runnin' (Deen vocals)
Ask The Lonely
Who's Crying Now
Change For The Better
Lights
After All These Years
Mother, Father (Deen vocals)
Cain Solo
Open Arms
Cain Harmonica/Neal Mandolin jam
Wheel In The Sky
Edge Of The Blade
Faithfully
Don't Stop Believin'
Escape
Any Way You Want It
If you are going to show up in town, you better be ready to prove that you are rough and raw enough to fit the mold- or at least bring along someone who can. And Journey brought one last night- in the form of its lead guitarist.
If you were to take someone who had never heard Journey live to its London Hammersmith show last week and ask them what stood out in their minds, it would be the performance of Arnel Pineda. However, the same person would likely deliver a vastly different verdict on the preceedings which took place in the Welsh capital - last night, undeniably, it was the Neal Schon show.
Early in the show we were treated to not only Neals’ talent on The Journey (Revelation) but also another stirring guitar solo. This very much set the tone for the remainder of the evening. Last night saw a Neal Schon much more animated, moving repeatedly off his normal stage left perch. Not only did he move more, there was a high level of interaction with the crowd, with Neal gesturing to the crowd throughout his guitar solo’s, even briefly interrupting his lengthened guitar bridge on Don’t Stop Believing to wave and encourage the crowd to life.
Neal was clearly leading last night, even becoming the set him self, a violet shirt matching the all pervasive violet lighting of the Revelation tour. If anyone was ever tempted to forget his presence, even for a moment, he was there to remind you of it, with yet another helping of guitar.
Neal was clearly happy, and so were the rest of the band. Jonathan Cain’s trade mark finger pointing and exuberant two footed leap off his rig near the end of the concert showed happiness (it certainly wasn’t an indication that he will be coming home and trying out to be to be America’s next Mary Lou Rhetton!) Midway through the concert one could see Ross, (who by the way is the only man on planet Earth these days who can tuck his t-shirt into his jeans and not look like a nerd ) and Neal exchanging words. With the caveat that I am not a professional lip reader I thought I saw Neal say, “crowds enjoying it!” and Ross say in return “massively”.
And indeed they did. The acoustics and atmosphere of Cardiff International Arena are not the greatest, nor do the spirits of rock legends lurk there the way they do in the Hammersmith Apollo. Its not always easy thrilling a crowd or sounding good here- but they did both. The only time the celebratory atmosphere was broken was with Deen Castronovo’s moving rendition of Mother, Father which hit the deepest string of hard rock melancholy, taking the concert to a completely different place.
Arnel for his part was clearly on form. Clearly the band were giving him more rest time than he had in Hammersmith. This is a good thing- there was a performance at the Wolverhampton Civic the night before, and no one should have to sing in that register for so long night after night.
With his constant enthusiasm, Arnel was a key ingredient to festive atmosphere, but tonight the man of the hour was Mr Neal Schon.
Set List (I m pretty sure I got it Right)
Never Walk Away
Separate Ways
The Journey (Revelation)
Only The Young
Neal Solo
Stone In Love
Keep On Runnin' (Deen vocals)
Ask The Lonely
Who's Crying Now
Change For The Better
Lights
After All These Years
Mother, Father (Deen vocals)
Cain Solo
Open Arms
Cain Harmonica/Neal Mandolin jam
Wheel In The Sky
Edge Of The Blade
Faithfully
Don't Stop Believin'
Escape
Any Way You Want It
How did the crowd seem to like the new songs?
