Chula Vista (San Diego) 10/7

[San Diego Gary]

After all I've read recently, I was almost dreading this concert.
I did not get to see much of Night Ranger, but what I saw and heard seemed fine.
Foreigner just plain kicked ass! I thought they were great!
Then came Journey. As an ex-guitar player (ex mainly because I wasn't very good), I always gravitate towards guitar players. Neal used to be THE reason I went to see Journey. But as time went on, I grew increasingly tired of his constant shredding, and, evidently along with many others here, longed for the old days. So when I started hearing about him getting even worse, I thought this might be my last Journey show.
But although it certainly wasn't the best Journey show I've seen, I was pleasantly surprised it was nowhere near as bad as I expected. Either people have been exaggerating, or Neal has finally gotten a clue. You can still go get a beer during COH or WITS and not miss anything memorable, but other than that, my wife (who is NOT a huge guitar fan) and I both agreed he contained himself fairly well.
AP still over-dramatized some songs with his own twist, and JC's intro to Open Arms might have been a little too much.
BTW, if they cut most of the extended shredding in COH and WITS, I think they could easily add at least one more song (AIP?)
One other note. We were sitting maybe 1/3 of the way back in the crowd, and didn't notice any sound issues at all.
Overall, maybe a 7 out of 10 for Journey's performance.
Hopefully, there'll be a lot of happy people in Vegas tomorrow night. (But then, how could they not be, they're in Vegas!)

[Saint John]

Thanks for the review, Gary. I think one of the more persistent problems is the way they end songs. The crowd wants that sudden, crescendo ending, but the guys keep playing and playing, and by the time they're done the crowd is all clapped/screamed out. How was that last night? I really liked the way they were suddenly ending DSB awhile back with the final and abrupt "Don't Stop," allowing the crowd to go nuts all at once, rather than clapping and cheering through an extra 45 seconds of orgical nonsense.

The bottom line is this ... people are there for Journey music and Journey music only. There are enough guitar solos within the songs to satiate the concert goer's appetite. Well over 99% of the crowd would rather they cut the solo intros and outros and play more songs. This tour package is such that this is a GH tour, and it's simply out of place. Had they been on a bill with the Scorpions or playing in Europe or South America, it would go over better. These songs are the soundtracks to peoples' lives, and they want to hear them as they remember them. Period. End of discussion. Well, I guess a rare exception is the extended and meatier version of Open Arms, but that's great because the guitar work isn't a manic shred-fest and the crowd is treated to singing the chorus one more time, making it brilliant. But for the overwhelming majority of the time, the altered and extended solos are very unwanted.

[San Diego Gary]

The endings were what I was really concerned about after what I had read here. But with the exception of COH, which took forever to end, and WITS, which had so much crap going on in the middle I pretty much forgot what song we were listening to, they behaved themselves pretty well. Not really the cresendo with the abrupt finish you're talking about, but not stretched out with endless shredding as I feared either.
I might give them another chance. Something I was afraid I wouldn't say going in.
Now whether it's a change, or they were just saving it up for tonight remains to be seen.

[MrOctober44]

Please tell me Jonathan didn't break out the mouth harp in the middle of WITS. When I saw them at Irvine and he broke in it was a real buzzkill.

[San Diego Gary]

Please tell me Jonathan didn't break out the mouth harp in the middle of WITS. When I saw them at Irvine and he broke in it was a real buzzkill.

He sure did.

[San Diego Gary]

Two guys I work with took their wives to Vegas for the 10/8 show. One woman I work with went to the 10/7 Chula Vista show with her husband. They ALL said the same thing. Too much shredding during Journey, and Foreigner kicked ass! As far as I know, none of these people are loons for either band. Just looking for an entertaining evening.