MR

Anyone go to the show in Tampa? How was it?

No, but this from the other Fla show. Did not care for the term "3rd string quarterback" but basically a good review


http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... 11023/1075

A two-hour drive to watch a pair of bands that refuse to burn out — or fade
away — proved well worth it Monday in West Palm Beach, where Journey and Def
Leppard rocked a crowd of about 8,000 fans at the Sound Advice Amphitheatre.

Fans in Southwest Florida can embark on another two-hour drive today and catch the pair of bands at 7:30 p.m. at the Ford Amphitheatre in Tampa. Tickets range from $25 to $75 and can be purchased at the gate or at ticketmaster.com.

Each band played a 90-minute set list Monday, and each band stuck to trademark hits.

Journey fans take note: The five-piece band had to resort to its third-string singer.

Steve Perry left Journey several years ago. Steve Augeri, who sounds as if someone cloned Perry's vocal chords, has been battling a chronic throat infection.

So Jeff Scott Soto, 40, took the stage with the exuberance of a teenager. He waved to the crowd. He flipped his microphone from hand to hand. And he did what every good third-string quarterback does: He didn't mess up.

And that allowed Journey's lead guitarist, Neal Schon, to shine. Schon played every solo better than it sounds on the radio. He clearly stood out as the best of the guitarists onstage, and remains one of the most underrated of his era.

Drummer Deen Castronovo helped — he sang two songs — and Journey seemed to
improve with each song.

Songs on Journey's set list included: "Faithfully," "Ask the Lonely," "Don't Stop Believin'," and the obligatory power-ballad "Open Arms."

Then Journey closed with a personal favorite, "Separate Ways, Worlds Apart," before returning with the encore of "Lovin' , Touchin', Squeezin'."

After a 30-minute break, Def Leppard stormed the stage. It took the five-man British band four songs to really get rolling.

After "Hell Raiser" (a cover on their new release of 1970s cover songs, Yeah!), "Make Love Like a Man," and "Promises" — good songs but not Def Leppard's greatest — were out of the way, Def Leppard broke out many of their hits from the albums Pyromania and Hysteria.

Bassist Rick Savage performed a gritty solo as an introduction to "Rock On," a cover of the David Essex classic and perhaps the best song on the new CD. One-armed drummer Rick Allen — he lost his left arm in a car accident in the 1980s — seems quite used to the foot-pedaled drum kit.

Guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell and vocalist Joe Elliott sounded as good as ever.

Journey and Def Leppard may be getting older, but they can still run circles around any of today's bands.

"And that allowed Journey's lead guitarist, Neal Schon, to shine. Schon played every solo better than it sounds on the radio. He clearly stood out as the best of the guitarists onstage, and remains one of the most underrated of his era."

But not by his colleague guitarists, he's well respected by them as they all know he's one of the best amongst them.

I saw a couple people bitching about not getting LTS as an encore. I mean cripes, do they have to CLONE each performance, too, to satisfy the Kool-aid crowd? The sooner they move on from the song that Perry wrote about his own love life, the sooner they will get their lead singer out of that box. It's hard enough to stomach show after show of greatest hits, let alone the same encore. For the band that would be like being force fed the same food every night.

Show was fine. Neal had the upperhand and NIG would be proud. DSB was the crowd fav and couldn't hear JSS sing a word of it once they started it.

Good show. Lots of different ages there and was surprised at the younger kids that were enjoying the older classic songs. (younger kids as in late teens early 20's).

Did Jonathan manage to smile or was he still scowling?

I read that remark somewhere within the last day or two regarding Jon Cain. I've seen Journey every year since 1998 and this concert was the first time that I can remember that the only time Jon spoke was to tell the crowd that Steve Augeri was out with an illness and that Jeff Scott Soto was filling in for him. He never said another word. Whether he was scowling or not, I couldn't tell. He usually spoke a little bit more throughout the concerts that I have attended prior to this one.

Kind of interesting... Neal seems ecstatic and Jon is "glum".

Liz22562 wrote:I read that remark somewhere within the last day or two regarding Jon Cain. I've seen Journey every year since 1998 and this concert was the first time that I can remember that the only time Jon spoke was to tell the crowd that Steve Augeri was out with an illness and that Jeff Scott Soto was filling in for him. He never said another word. Whether he was scowling or not, I couldn't tell. He usually spoke a little bit more throughout the concerts that I have attended prior to this one.

I got the impression any high Neal was on last night was because the crowd roared anytime he did anything that was remotely akin to him doing a solo. He didn't move back and forth across the stage - pretty much stayed on his side and moved forward and center a little bit more when he did have his solo moments. It was definitely a Neal Schon night.

~Peace to all~