Escape

[Monker]

Well, get to see Jason Kelty and Escape this weekend. So much looking forward to this. I did not know they were even scheduled until last Saturday. Very surprised they are here. There was only one other time that I knew they were in the state...and it was a bit of a drive so I passed.

It looks like they haven't lost anything over the last five years or so. Wish the audio was better on their YouTube's, but they still sound really good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2RV00q ... K.Thompson

And, Journey with Gregg should have ended Anytime like this...probably did not have practice time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXG02xW ... K.Thompson

[koberry]

Kelty is creepy. No one else on the stage is physically channeling classic-era members. Dude needs a haircut and wardrobe change

[Onestepper]

Kelty is creepy. No one else on the stage is physically channeling classic-era members. Dude needs a haircut and wardrobe change

One of the reasons I didn't go see them when they came to town. Not taking anything away from their talent or ability to tribute the band, but the Kelty thing pretending to be Perry is just bizarre. May have worked 10 or 20 years ago, but my goodness, let it go.

[Monker]

LOL...I'm sorry but this makes me laugh. Every Journey tribute band out there has a lead singer that dresses the part. Even Frontiers, who has a girl singing. She changes into various outfits, wearing tails and yellow leopard print shirts. Bands like Voyage (Hugo's band), Revolution, Resurrection all of them have a guy in a wig and tails. The only one who does not is Kevin Chalfant...but I don't view that as a "tribute band" but more as KC doing Journey music. So, critiquing that is a bit laughable to me.

I don't think Kelty is "trying to be Steve Perry". Hugo may be, though. In 1993 on the Journey mailing list, Kelty would talk and chat and frankly seemed to have more knowledge about Journey than most people on this forum. You could tell he was simply a huge fan. He stayed completely out of any arguing (which there was plenty) and just stayed to just talking about the music. Then all the Perry fans started saying how great Escape was and since Journey and Steve Perry were not around, Escape was the next best thing. I do not remember ANY critique towards him...just awe that he was so much like Perry. The guy was always really humble and never seemed to be doing it to gain fame or money...but just enjoyed finding a niche and having fun with something that people thought he was good at.

I don't know if he dressed up like that back in 1993 when Escape started...that was well before YouTube. But, IMO, Escape is just trying to give people an authentic 198x Journey experience. All these other bands, Hugo included, are following Escape's path...and I still don't think they are as good. Kelty just has "something" in his voice and performance that these other guys just don't.

[Journey/Survivor]

LOL...I'm sorry but this makes me laugh. Every Journey tribute band out there has a lead singer that dresses the part. Even Frontiers, who has a girl singing. She changes into various outfits, wearing tails and yellow leopard print shirts. Bands like Voyage (Hugo's band), Revolution, Resurrection all of them have a guy in a wig and tails. The only one who does not is Kevin Chalfant...but I don't view that as a "tribute band" but more as KC doing Journey music. So, critiquing that is a bit laughable to me.

I don't think Kelty is "trying to be Steve Perry". Hugo may be, though. In 1993 on the Journey mailing list, Kelty would talk and chat and frankly seemed to have more knowledge about Journey than most people on this forum. You could tell he was simply a huge fan. He stayed completely out of any arguing (which there was plenty) and just stayed to just talking about the music. Then all the Perry fans started saying how great Escape was and since Journey and Steve Perry were not around, Escape was the next best thing. I do not remember ANY critique towards him...just awe that he was so much like Perry. The guy was always really humble and never seemed to be doing it to gain fame or money...but just enjoyed finding a niche and having fun with something that people thought he was good at.

I don't know if he dressed up like that back in 1993 when Escape started...that was well before YouTube. But, IMO, Escape is just trying to give people an authentic 198x Journey experience. All these other bands, Hugo included, are following Escape's path...and I still don't think they are as good. Kelty just has "something" in his voice and performance that these other guys just don't.

Funny thing is that I probably saw Escape 25 times or more back in that 1993 to 1995 time period, and I can't specifically remember how Jason was dressing? I think that he was wearing tails already back then? But I can't say for sure?

Other than just thinking that they did a great job on the Journey songs and that Kelty sounded great, the only other thing that I remember was that they were using a pyrotechnic after the guitar solo in Line Of Fire in place of the shotgun blast.

[Monker]

Songs:

Only the Young
Ask the Lonely
When You Love a Woman
I'll Be Alright Without You
Girl Can't Help It
Be Good to Yourself
Oh, Sherry
Faithfully
Send Her My Love
Separate Ways
(piano solo)
Open Arms
Who's Cryin Now
Don't Stop Believin
Stone In Love
Lights
Any Way You Want It
Lovin Touchin Squeezin

Encore: Wheel In the Sky

Highlights:
After the soundtrack songs, they kept the songs in order of release from newest to oldest...through Escape. Infinity/Evolution/Departure were jumbled a bit. But, it was fun hearing them in that order.

Some of the songs had old-school intros, specifically Only the Young and Separate Ways. The piano solo I did not recognize. They were kinda fun to hear.

Kelty talking about LTS: It is the story of a man catching his woman cheating on him. The lyrics are about him catching her and how he felt, but he is eventually going to cheat on her, too....Nah, nah, nah. Just funny, cuz it does sum it up.

"When You Love a Woman" was very well done. Of course, Steve Perry never performed that in concert so Escape had to improvise what it would have looked like if Perry toured with TBF...I thought they did a respectful job and Kelty nailed this song.

Intro to DSB was fun...Kelty talking about how Journey never had a #1 song...that "Open Arms" (which they had already played) made it to #2. But, according to iTunes, DSB is the most downloaded, so that IS a #1 song. I have seen this in YT videos and he has done this bit a long time...But, it is fun to hear the crowd react to it.

"Oh, Sherry"...They played what seemed like a recording of the first bits of the video, with the horns and such, it was settle and in the background...but I heard it. Then they do the intro and Kelty comes up to the mic to do the first line. Instead, he says "Wait, hold on. I'm not sure we should do this song. It's NOT a Journey song. What do you all think?" Of course the crowd screams for it so he belts out the first line. Just another fun moment.

After LTS, I think it was the bass player says this is the time where we usually leave the stage and then come back for one more song...but there is really nowhere for us to go in this set up. So, do you want to hear one more song? Then he sees someone wearing a Frontiers shirt, points him out and says here are some interesting facts...Not only is it Escape's 30th anniversary, it is Journey's 50th anniversary...and it is the Frontiers album's 40th. Then Kelty tells the story of how they all got together originally as a cover band but they pointed to him and said he sounded like Perry so why not do a Journey cover band? Kelty answered and said, let me get this straight, you want me to sing an entire set of nothing but Steve Perry era Journey songs? Are you crazy? Then he looks around at the stage and the crowd, and says what he was implying, "and here we are 30yrs later." Then he says how much of an honor it is to be compared to Steve Perry. And, he reminds everybody that Journey comes from the 70's and 80's and are still going strong 50yrs later...that they are the catalyst for all this and without them, none of us would be here. I just thought that was really cool.

Anyway, it was a REALLY good concert. I wish they could have fit in a couple non-hit album tracks....especially Mother Father...they do such a good job with that. But, they are so good at what they do there really isn't much negative to say. I'm really glad I did not miss this...and I skipped Journey a couple months ago. I took my son who is 26 now...he really liked it too. He said, "It's funny, I'd rather see fake Journey than real Journey." Pretty much sums it up.

[Deb]

LOL...I'm sorry but this makes me laugh. Every Journey tribute band out there has a lead singer that dresses the part. Even Frontiers, who has a girl singing. She changes into various outfits, wearing tails and yellow leopard print shirts. Bands like Voyage (Hugo's band), Revolution, Resurrection all of them have a guy in a wig and tails. The only one who does not is Kevin Chalfant...but I don't view that as a "tribute band" but more as KC doing Journey music. So, critiquing that is a bit laughable to me.

.

Lol sorry but not all of them. In my opinion DSB is the best Journey tribute band. Juan doesn't dress up or try to look like Perry, which I dig. Vocal delivery wise I think he sounds/emotes the closest without sounding like a clone. I've seen them a couple times when down in Cali and was very impressed. Especially the couple of hidden gems thrown into the setlist you normally don't hear. And, major browny points from this Journey fan when they threw in a requested Still They Ride and did it justice.......my fave and a song I hadn't heard live since the 80s!!
JMHO.

https://youtu.be/qPPa_2j2jTg

[George_g888]

LOL...I'm sorry but this makes me laugh. Every Journey tribute band out there has a lead singer that dresses the part. Even Frontiers, who has a girl singing. She changes into various outfits, wearing tails and yellow leopard print shirts. Bands like Voyage (Hugo's band), Revolution, Resurrection all of them have a guy in a wig and tails. The only one who does not is Kevin Chalfant...but I don't view that as a "tribute band" but more as KC doing Journey music. So, critiquing that is a bit laughable to me.

.

Lol sorry but not all of them. In my opinion DSB is the best Journey tribute band. Juan doesn't dress up or try to look like Perry, which I dig. Vocal delivery wise I think he sounds/emotes the closest without sounding like a clone. I've seen them a couple times when down in Cali and was very impressed. Especially the couple of hidden gems thrown into the setlist you normally don't hear. And, major browny points from this Journey fan when they threw in a requested Still They Ride and did it justice.......my fave and a song I hadn't heard live since the 80s!!
JMHO.

https://youtu.be/qPPa_2j2jTg

The guitarist in the video you linked looks like a spitting image of Miles Schon.

[Deb]

LOL...I'm sorry but this makes me laugh. Every Journey tribute band out there has a lead singer that dresses the part. Even Frontiers, who has a girl singing. She changes into various outfits, wearing tails and yellow leopard print shirts. Bands like Voyage (Hugo's band), Revolution, Resurrection all of them have a guy in a wig and tails. The only one who does not is Kevin Chalfant...but I don't view that as a "tribute band" but more as KC doing Journey music. So, critiquing that is a bit laughable to me.

.

Lol sorry but not all of them. In my opinion DSB is the best Journey tribute band. Juan doesn't dress up or try to look like Perry, which I dig. Vocal delivery wise I think he sounds/emotes the closest without sounding like a clone. I've seen them a couple times when down in Cali and was very impressed. Especially the couple of hidden gems thrown into the setlist you normally don't hear. And, major browny points from this Journey fan when they threw in a requested Still They Ride and did it justice.......my fave and a song I hadn't heard live since the 80s!!
JMHO.

https://youtu.be/qPPa_2j2jTg

The guitarist in the video you linked looks like a spitting image of Miles Schon.

Lol, had to google Miles......but yes he really does......especially that clip around the 1:20 mark!

[NoMoreTails]

From what I've seen on their twitter and on youtube, Miles played with them around 2019-2021, and was great. He definitely does the best Neal I've heard. Everything I saw only referred to him as Miles, no last name, of course he goes by Schon on everything else he does. I definitely would have gone to see them with him, but I think they only played in California, maybe Arizona. For me, it's more important that the band and particularly the guitarist sound like Journey/Neal. I don't need the cringe Perry impersonations of some of the tribute singers. From what I heard I thought Juan did a good job.

[JourneyHard]

Kelty talking about LTS: It is the story of a man catching his woman cheating on him. The lyrics are about him catching her and how he felt, but he is eventually going to cheat on her, too....Nah, nah, nah. Just funny, cuz it does sum it up.

No. Perry doesn't cheat on her. Some other guy cheats on her!

It seems like it was a good concert from what you say and Kelty has a good stage presence and could talk well with the audience.

[Monker]

It seems like it was a good concert from what you say and Kelty has a good stage presence and could talk well with the audience.

I think that's why I think Escape is just different. It doesn't feel like a Journey "tribute" concert, where they are trying to "be" Journey or Jason is trying to "be" Steve Perry. It's more of a Journey "fan" concert. It's because Jason IS one of "us". So, when he goes and does his intro to "Oh, Sherry", he KNOWS some people don't like Perry solo songs in a "Journey" concert, even back in 1986...and he KNOWS people like me know that. So, it brings it to another level. When he tells the audience that they are only doing "Steve Perry era" Journey and he hopes everybody is OK with that, he knows it's good for a sarcastic dig at people like me who would not mind hearing "Higher Place" or some other post Perry songs. When he talks about listening to the vinyl of Infinity for the first time and the first song he heard was "Patiently"...he KNOWS people like me are thinking, "OMG, is he going to sing Patiently...?" and then he goes on and says, "...I listen to side A and flip the album over, cuz that's what you had to do in those days...and the first song on side B is..." and then he bursts out "Wheel In the Sky...." just like the MTV Escape concert. He KNOWS that people pick up on those things, and he tells those stories from a FAN perspective...as we ALL had our own first experience of listening to the greatness of Infinity. Everything seems to circle around sharing his fandom with us and us sharing our fandom with him. It's a connection between the audience and Jason that is OBVIOUSLY there. He could sit down with anybody on this forum and have a deep conversation about Journey...and in a way, that's what an Escape concert is.

As for DSB, I'm not going to argue that. If that's what you like, it's what you like. Nothing to complain about there. I've never heard of them, probably because they are mainly on the west coast. But, I would greatly encourage anybody to see Escape if they have a chance.