Chicago Newspaper Review

[Saint John]

When it came to classic rock band Journey, the question used to be, "Who's even left in the band?"

Now it's, "Who is that guy?"

Arnel Pineda is the new little dynamo fronting Journey, who headlined in concert Friday at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park .

Small in stature but huge on lungpower, Pineda is breathing new life into the band that's had Steve Augeri and Jeff Scott Soto on lead vocals since the legendary Steve Perry's departure more than a decade ago.

Guitarist Neal Schon discovered Pineda on YouTube singing Journey's "Faithfully" with his band the Zoo. The 41-year-old, formerly homeless Filipino was flown to the states and hired after three days of auditions and then six songs in one day at the studio.

In June, Journey - original members Schon and bassist Ross Valory with Pineda, drummer Deen Castronovo and longtime keyboardist Jonathan Cain, of Chicago - released its first album with Pineda, "Revelation." The double-CD of new and old material packaged with a concert DVD debuted at No. 5 on Billboard.

Now the band's rebirth accelerates with a concert tour drawing new fans, notably throngs of Filipinos proud of their homeland talent.

Whenever Pineda ran to the far sides of the Tinley Park stage - and it was often - fans rushed down the aisles for a chance to touch his hand as if he were a legend.

With nonstop energy, high kicks off the drum riser and oh-so-high notes throughout nearly 20 songs, Pineda is far from a diamond in the rough. Newly discovered yet already polished at showmanship, he proved more than capable of leading Journey into its golden years.

Schon, who opened the 90-minute set with "The Star-Spangled Banner" and continued to impress with pickin,' or Cain, with his versatility on keyboards, guitar and backing and lead vocals, could've easily hogged the spotlight. But all five members of Journey just seem to gel.

The new songs "Never Walk Away," "Change for the Better" and "After All These Years" were mixed in with the favs "Stone in Love," "Separate Ways," "Lights," "Open Arms," "Don't Stop Believin'," "Faithfully," "Wheel in the Sky" and "Any Way You Want It" before an encore of the band's first Top 20 hit "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'."

Pineda runs and kicks, but Heart's Ann Wilson kicks it out with just her incredibly powerful pipes. She has the voice to shoot shivers up and down your skin, and did so again and again, sometimes with just the first few words of a song, such as with "Quite some time" from "Straight On."

She sings so high and heartfelt you almost want to cry, particularly when she was accompanied only by her sister Nancy Wilson on guitar and pigtailed keyboardist Debbie Shair on "Alone."

Nancy Wilson deserves praise, too, for her sweet lead vocals on "These Dreams" and the way she physically gets into playing guitar and mandolin, pounding out bits of "Mistral Wind" before breaking into the encore of "Crazy on You."

Opening with "Wild Child" from the 1990 album "Brigade" and "Magic Man," the Wilsons and their 4-piece band also paid homage to The Who and Led Zeppelin during the hour-long set with a raucous version of "Love Reign O'er Me" and an amiable cover of the already tame "Going to California ."

Heart, who will release a studio album in 2009, also gave fans "Barracuda" with no mention of the cease-and-desist request sent to Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who used the song in her campaign without band permission.

While the shed was packed from the pavilion to all the way back on the drenched lawn for Journey, the crowd was still slowly filtering in from Friday-night and rain-related traffic backups on Harlem Avenue and Interstate 80 when Rockford natives Cheap Trick opened at 7 p.m. with "That '70s Show" theme song.

While Journey's had members come and go over the decades, Cheap Trick's staying power can be credited toward, of course, its talent but also its constant original lineup of vocalist and guitarist Robin Zander, guitarist Rick Nielsen, drummer Bun E. Carlos and bassist Tom Petersson.

Sporting a straw cowboy hat that shadowed his fuller face, Zander aimed his microphone at a boy in the front row who shrugged, seemingly at a loss for words. But plenty of fans sang along to "I Want You to Want Me," "If You Want My Love" and "Surrender."

They sat for "The Flame," that sappy song you think you're sick of but then are glad to hear again anyway even if it was your prom theme. Journey's Cain stepped in to play keyboards on "The Flame" and the encore of "Dream Police," the latter also with Journey's Castronovo pitching in vocals.

[(Crazy)Dulce Lady]

nice. thanks.

[Tito]

What newspaper?

[Saint John]

What newspaper?

http://www.southtownstar.com/entertainm ... urney.ar...

[jourmapac]

thanks bro!!