SPAC CONCERT

[yak]

I went to An Evening with Journey, Saturday night at SPAC. I'm not going to bring the review here, simply because the broad who wrote it and I had to be at two different concerts! Her review did not jive one iota with what I saw. She termed it as a "safe, family-friendly concert that was a nice way to relax." It was a ROCK CONCERT, lady! So I guess there is something wrong with a clean, fun, awesome concert? WHAT? This dame had reviewed 50 Cent also, and talked about the weed, the all the bad stuff she saw, so she now says she thinks Journey was a "nice relaxing evening?" What is it exactly that she's looking for? She has no credibility as far as I'm concerned.

The concert was awesome! There was nothing disappointing about it. There were all ages there...from young teens to people maybe, say 50ish. The songs were mixed up nicely. It was basically the same concert they played the night before in NJ that GaffGuitars wrote about.

We got our CDS, and the guys handing them out couldn't have been nicer. Also got to sign the HOF petition, if we wanted to. Got a free Journey button for doing that.

The venue was packed. The lawn was packed. Over 12,000 people were there. (thanks Dean, since I wouldn't have a direct count, since the reviewer didn't bother with that small fact). If this broad knows so much about every section, I'd like to know how she got around, because that wouldn't have been so easy. If she was traipsing around, she would have had to watch her step everywhere she walked, which meant she couldn't possibly be listening to and watching the concert. She claimed people "were sitting and looked bored."

Don't know where Barbie was sitting, of course she couldn't have been sitting and gotten a good glimpse of 12,000+ people as she claims, but I saw people getting excited about the music. I saw people enjoying the early stuff. I saw people enjoying and clapping loudly for the new stuff. The crowd loved Arrival. The crowd was receptive to Steve, who did an awesome job fronting the band. He was amazing, singing most of the songs.

You have to realize the stamina these guys must have, in order to be on stage for three hours.

They started out with the old stuff ...Played Nickel and Dime, Of a Lifetime, Mystery Mountain. There were concertgoers who loved hearing those songs again.

They played "The Place in Your Heart" and Steve announced it as their new single.

They played Higher Place, and the crowd loved it. Also Where Were You, Only The Young, and Stone In Love.

They played The Place in Your Heart, Faith In The Heartland, Every Generation, and Out Of Harms Way

Neal played The Star Spangled Banner, which was a major crowd pleaser. Neal was awesome on The Star Spangled Banner. Neal is awesome on anything.

Dean sang Still They Ride; he has an incredible voice.

I'm sure I left stuff out, so if anybody else was there, please add comments.

One last note......NOT to be misinterpreted by 'some'........I listened to the crowd of people I didn't know, while I waited in line, and the general consensus was that Perry was amazing, BUT "this guy" (Augeri) is really good. Meaning to me, by the gate total of over 12,000, that sure, they liked (past tense) Perry, but they are STILL coming to Journey concerts.......and they genuinely LIKE Steve Augeri.

Generations is incredible. The more I hear it, the more I want to.

BTW, Dean, what did your friend at SPAC have to say about the concert?

[Eric]

I was 3rd row pit at the SPAC on Saturday night. It is an incredible venue and it was an incredible show. I was on the lawn and beer garden for much of the first set, and many people were milling around not paying attention until they heard Feeling the Way. The girl behind me in the beer line asked when Journey was coming on and the guy behind her said not soon enough. When I explained it was them doing early material the guy rolled his eyes. I did think that all-in-all the crowd was receptive to the material though.

I was very excited to hear Place in Your Heart. It sounded great live.

The band was in top form for "Where were you".

Higher Place was a special treat, although me and maybe 20 others gave it any response. This song is so good it pisses me off it isn't HUGE.

Keep on Runnin was a surpise, but not the shocker Still they Ride was. Castronovo is simply amazing, there is nothing else to say. For one night, perhaps I have to give the star to him over Schon - not that Schon didn't put on a show.

The crowd was indeed huge, and that makes the lack of a review in the Albany paper that much more hysterical. The Saratoga paper did review it at least - and it was a fine review, nothing wrong with calling the night family friendly, although that does invoke the wrong image in my opinion.