MR

Concert review: Sometimes the Journey memories are more important than the music

Posted by Steve Spears
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/80s/conte ... tant-music

I know. I know. It's not *really* Journey anymore without Steve Perry holding the microphone. I hear you, disgruntled fans. But the cruel reality is this: The rest of the boys in the band have soldiered on without our favorite frontman, and life goes on. So I make no apologies for finding myself again at a Journey concert -- the fourth of my lifetime -- on Friday at Tampa's 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheatre.

The simple truth is: I still love their music. I yearn for their sound. I adore the way a good Neal Schon guitar solo sends chills up and down my body. I crave the memories that are conjured up with each tune. And every year or so, I need a blast of this past live in person.

Friday's show in Tampa, though, surpassed even those high expectations. The band's setlist, which they've been changing up wildly on this tour, leaned heavily on the late '70s for a change, giving fans the rare chance to hear forgotten classics such as Majestic (the instrumental show opener that still gives me goosebumps), Feeling That Way, Just the Same Way and Anytime.

I'm not sure the rest of the crowd loved the trip back in time as much as I did, but most of these songs formed the basis of my first discoveries in music. And so it was that I found myself closing my eyes often as I stood toward the back of the reserved seating area, arms crossed as I watched the lighting show send swaths of color across my eyelids. With each pass, memories of driving my '82 Mustang through the streets of Clearwater at sunset streaked by. The recollection of playing the band's Captured tape at full volume with the windows down. My entire life was still in front of me, and I knew it well enough to drink in every little detail of those moments. I kept my eyes closed as long as I could, until only tears could pry them into the 21st century.

Eyes reluctantly opened again, I found myself staring not at Steve Perry at the Lakeland Civic Center on the Escape tour. But rather an eternally youthful Arnel Pineda, who seemed to realize it was his impossibly unfair duty to stir up the same feelings as his predecessor. Arnel worked his magic the best he could, reaching perhaps the biggest swelling of emotion from the crowd during Faithfully, the song that earned him a spot in the band when he was discovered performing it on Youtube.

And next to him during the rolling power ballad? Neal on guitar, with his eyes closed tightly as well. Just enjoying the muted flashes of lights and his own trip back through time, I'd like to imagine. Maybe that's the thing critics never could comprehend: Wth Journey, it's as much about the memories as it is the music.
.

I agree it is the memories.

I wish time machines existed just so I could go back and enjoy the bands that I never got to see live. Thankfully, I did get to see Journey on the Frontiers tour.

Rich the Frontiers Guy

Great review.. this pretty much sums up how many feel about the new incarnation of Journey. Of course we'd rather see Steve, but I mean whatever. Get over it already. Let Arnel do what he does and enjoy the music and the memories.

I do hope they keep Feeling That Way/Anytime on the set list for the rest of the month. Can't wait to hear those two together. Just The Same Way as well.

cammiecam wrote:Great review.. this pretty much sums up how many feel about the new incarnation of Journey. Of course we'd rather see Steve, but I mean whatever. Get over it already. Let Arnel do what he does and enjoy the music and the memories.

I do hope they keep Feeling That Way/Anytime on the set list for the rest of the month. Can't wait to hear those two together. Just The Same Way as well.

Please post a review.

I couldn't agree more. And just because I/we listen to Journey's music more often than the average fan doesn't for a second mean that the feelings and memories attached to their songs have become any less real and deep. Perhaps the most relevant and powerful times are when I'm at out in public like at the grocery store and a Journey song is playing overhead and I see/hear other people singing along with a smile on their faces. It reminds me how far-reaching and important their presence has been in rock-and-roll music.

Every song from each album (with the exception of Red 13 and Eclipse) has a memory attached which represents a time, a place, and a feeling of what was going on in my life at the particular time. And I'm thankful and most appreciative Arnel was discovered and hired to do what he does. His abilities allow my/our favorite band to continue performing those oh-so-important songs for those of us who accept the fact that a Perry-fronted Journey wasn't the end of the band's road. Arnel's task and what it represents is daunting and has drawn perhaps more controversy than any other event in rock music to date, but being the true professional he is, he has soldiered on despite the negative opinions of those who have chosen to share them via the Internet as well as in print media. And apparently those who feel the way I/we do make up a huge percentage of those with an opinion as evidenced by the numbers of ticket holders attending their shows. And we attend their shows for one reason: to be swept back in time revisiting those events in our lives which were responsible for the marks they left in our lives. And of course by marks I mean memories.

So glad you posted Spears' review here. He's one of the biggest Journey fans on the planet who just happens to host a weekly Internet radio show that's heard by potentially millions of people worldwide. He has done much to promote the band as well as to promote the Arnel-fronted band.

For those who aren't familiar with Steve Spears, he is the host/webmaster of the very cool and extremely well-done site Stuck in the 80's. He has made it his job to keep up on everything happening with just about every band that was around in the 80's as well as revisiting fads, trends, movies, products, etc. that helped make that decade what it was. Additionally, he has all of his interviews archived in MP3 format available for download - and he has interviewed an impressive list of music's biggest names including Steve Perry and Ross Valory!

Check out his site sometime - it's bound to bring back some fond memories and will most assuredly cause you to ask, "What were we thinking back then?!"
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/80s/

JRNYMAN wrote:I couldn't agree more. And just because I/we listen to Journey's music more often than the average fan doesn't for a second mean that the feelings and memories attached to their songs have become any less real and deep. Perhaps the most relevant and powerful times are when I'm at out in public like at the grocery store and a Journey song is playing overhead and I see/hear other people singing along with a smile on their faces. It reminds me how far-reaching and important their presence has been in rock-and-roll music.

Every song from each album (with the exception of Red 13 and Eclipse) has a memory attached which represents a time, a place, and a feeling of what was going on in my life at the particular time. And I'm thankful and most appreciative Arnel was discovered and hired to do what he does. His abilities allow my/our favorite band to continue performing those oh-so-important songs for those of us who accept the fact that a Perry-fronted Journey wasn't the end of the band's road. Arnel's task and what it represents is daunting and has drawn perhaps more controversy than any other event in rock music to date, but being the true professional he is, he has soldiered on despite the negative opinions of those who have chosen to share them via the Internet as well as in print media. And apparently those who feel the way I/we do make up a huge percentage of those with an opinion as evidenced by the numbers of ticket holders attending their shows. And we attend their shows for one reason: to be swept back in time revisiting those events in our lives which were responsible for the marks they left in our lives. And of course by marks I mean memories.

So glad you posted Spears' review here. He's one of the biggest Journey fans on the planet who just happens to host a weekly Internet radio show that's heard by potentially millions of people worldwide. He has done much to promote the band as well as to promote the Arnel-fronted band.

For those who aren't familiar with Steve Spears, he is the host/webmaster of the very cool and extremely well-done site Stuck in the 80's. He has made it his job to keep up on everything happening with just about every band that was around in the 80's as well as revisiting fads, trends, movies, products, etc. that helped make that decade what it was. Additionally, he has all of his interviews archived in MP3 format available for download - and he has interviewed an impressive list of music's biggest names including Steve Perry and Ross Valory!

Check out his site sometime - it's bound to bring back some fond memories and will most assuredly cause you to ask, "What were we thinking back then?!"
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/80s/

Love Spearsy...He will or has taken a new job down there in Florida...but hopefully
he will return to do a guest podcast there...

tater1977 wrote:

JRNYMAN wrote:I couldn't agree more. And just because I/we listen to Journey's music more often than the average fan doesn't for a second mean that the feelings and memories attached to their songs have become any less real and deep. Perhaps the most relevant and powerful times are when I'm at out in public like at the grocery store and a Journey song is playing overhead and I see/hear other people singing along with a smile on their faces. It reminds me how far-reaching and important their presence has been in rock-and-roll music.

Every song from each album (with the exception of Red 13 and Eclipse) has a memory attached which represents a time, a place, and a feeling of what was going on in my life at the particular time. And I'm thankful and most appreciative Arnel was discovered and hired to do what he does. His abilities allow my/our favorite band to continue performing those oh-so-important songs for those of us who accept the fact that a Perry-fronted Journey wasn't the end of the band's road. Arnel's task and what it represents is daunting and has drawn perhaps more controversy than any other event in rock music to date, but being the true professional he is, he has soldiered on despite the negative opinions of those who have chosen to share them via the Internet as well as in print media. And apparently those who feel the way I/we do make up a huge percentage of those with an opinion as evidenced by the numbers of ticket holders attending their shows. And we attend their shows for one reason: to be swept back in time revisiting those events in our lives which were responsible for the marks they left in our lives. And of course by marks I mean memories.

So glad you posted Spears' review here. He's one of the biggest Journey fans on the planet who just happens to host a weekly Internet radio show that's heard by potentially millions of people worldwide. He has done much to promote the band as well as to promote the Arnel-fronted band.

For those who aren't familiar with Steve Spears, he is the host/webmaster of the very cool and extremely well-done site Stuck in the 80's. He has made it his job to keep up on everything happening with just about every band that was around in the 80's as well as revisiting fads, trends, movies, products, etc. that helped make that decade what it was. Additionally, he has all of his interviews archived in MP3 format available for download - and he has interviewed an impressive list of music's biggest names including Steve Perry and Ross Valory!

Check out his site sometime - it's bound to bring back some fond memories and will most assuredly cause you to ask, "What were we thinking back then?!"
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/80s/

Love Spearsy...He will or has taken a new job down there in Florida...but hopefully
he will return to do a guest podcast there...

Oh man... that sucks! Spearsy (Yup, that's what he goes by...) set the bar for 80's sites. I love his take on the decade and the topics he has chosen to do entire shows about. Especially admired how nirvana-esque his interview was with Perry. You'd think he'd had a conversation with God himself when listening to the show which featured that interview. His whole lead-up to the interview and the enormous respect and reverence he showed was remarkable. Hope the site and the podcast remains as good as Spears made it to be over the years.

Oh for fucks sake....memories?

Let me ask you....you guys love your mothers, right?



Have you ever walked into you parents bedroom at age 9, only to find your Mother with some strange man balls deep into her...and the man has heroin track marks up and down his arms and legs....with pools of vomit on either side of her?

Not saying that this is being drawn from personal experience, but seriously folks....that's a *great* analogy when you start talking about "Memories" and Arnel in the same fucking sentence. Seriously, I might have to run off to the dumper just to let lose tonight's sicilian pizza, just by reading this rubbish...holy fuck. Memories be damned. They're tarnished, people. The *only* way I can revist Journey without getting nauseous, is if I am:
a) piss drunk
b) watching a video recorded from 87-83
c) meditate for 2-4 hours, purging Arnel, that dirty skank Salahi and pictures of Neal's junk in his bathroom from my mind.

and trust me, item c is rarely successful.....

strangegrey wrote:Have you ever walked into you parents bedroom at age 9, only to find your Mother with some strange man balls deep into her...and the man has heroin track marks up and down his arms and legs....with pools of vomit on either side of her?

Not saying that this is being drawn from personal experience,

Of course not. Did it happen to a "friend" of yours?

strangegrey wrote:Oh for fucks sake....memories?

Let me ask you....you guys love your mothers, right?



Have you ever walked into you parents bedroom at age 9, only to find your Mother with some strange man balls deep into her...and the man has heroin track marks up and down his arms and legs....with pools of vomit on either side of her?

Not saying that this is being drawn from personal experience, but seriously folks....that's a *great* analogy when you start talking about "Memories" and Arnel in the same fucking sentence. Seriously, I might have to run off to the dumper just to let lose tonight's sicilian pizza, just by reading this rubbish...holy fuck. Memories be damned. They're tarnished, people. The *only* way I can revist Journey without getting nauseous, is if I am:
a) piss drunk
b) watching a video recorded from 87-83
c) meditate for 2-4 hours, purging Arnel, that dirty skank Salahi and pictures of Neal's junk in his bathroom from my mind.

and trust me, item c is rarely successful.....

You are one fucked up mother fucking motherfucker who like a bit of puke, heroin and balls deepness on the side!

strangegrey wrote:Oh for fucks sake....memories?

Let me ask you....you guys love your mothers, right?



Have you ever walked into you parents bedroom at age 9, only to find your Mother with some strange man balls deep into her...and the man has heroin track marks up and down his arms and legs....with pools of vomit on either side of her?

Not saying that this is being drawn from personal experience, but seriously folks....that's a *great* analogy when you start talking about "Memories" and Arnel in the same fucking sentence. Seriously, I might have to run off to the dumper just to let lose tonight's sicilian pizza, just by reading this rubbish...holy fuck. Memories be damned. They're tarnished, people. The *only* way I can revist Journey without getting nauseous, is if I am:
a) piss drunk
b) watching a video recorded from 87-83
c) meditate for 2-4 hours, purging Arnel, that dirty skank Salahi and pictures of Neal's junk in his bathroom from my mind.

and trust me, item c is rarely successful.....

Frank, you dried up, bitter old fuck... shut the fuck up.

LOL