REVIEW: Journey, Benatar made Tyson crowd believe in rock

[tater1977]

REVIEW: Journey, Benatar made Tyson crowd believe in rock again

http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/ ... 50ea8.html

21 hours ago • Laura Johnson ljohnson@siouxcityjournal


SIOUX CITY | Not that anyone stopped believing they would, but Tuesday night Journey finally made it to Sioux City after postponing the concert due to illness last year.

Herding into the Tyson Events Center at the beginning of the evening like a hoard of lemmings, music fans could hear the sultry 1980s sounds of Loverboy in the distance. The excitement for the concert to come was entirely palpable, especially from those waiting in the beer line.

Once inside the packed arena, the lesser known tunes rolled into the mega hits like “Turn Me Loose” and “Working for the Weekend.” And even though the Canadian band’s set (which was only a quick 35 minutes) wasn’t being played on the weekend, they made it work -- successfully setting the tone for the rocking to come.

Pat Benatar began and the whole building reverberated. She was louder and badder than the previous act with just a three-piece band behind her massive set of pipes. After a quick mic check, her voice came roaring through with the smoldering “All Fired Up.”

Her husband/guitar and piano player/co-songwriter, Spider, tried to impress too but had none of the staying power that Benatar’s voice deserves. At 60, she still sounds essentially the same, albeit a bit smokier, and filled the entirety of the space with no problems. No doubt she moves around a lot more slowly on stage than she once did. But she was the first to admit her age.

“This is the part of the show that we sit down ’cuz we’re old,” she said before going into a ballad.

The hits were plentiful as she went through “Promises,” “We Belong” and “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.”

“We’re happy we finally got to play this show!” Benatar said.

The audience, cheering loudly in response, reciprocated the sentiment. The screaming continued at the end of the set with calls for an encore. And she delivered, ending uproariously with a medley of “Heartbreaker” and Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”

The stage changed again and Journey emerged. The guitar warmth spread from the stage as the arena rock sound began.

“We got here, yes?” lead singer Arnel Pineda asked the crowd.

A little pitchy and karaoke sounding at times, the noticeably younger frontman (only joining the band in 2007) came into his own as “Anyway You Want It” started in. From there, the band, as bands always seem to want to do, went into some newer written stuff like “City of Hope,” which wasn’t awful.

But make no mistake; it was the “Star-Spangled Banner,” played by lead guitarist Neal Schon (one of the remaining original members) that stole the show. Sure, it wasn’t played with teeth or anything, but sometimes (especially, with all the Beyonce’ madness) we forget about the brilliance of the song itself.

The well-known songs poured out with the likes of “Stone in Love,” and the beautiful slow songs “Faithfully,” and “Open Arms,” which Pineda hit.

Keyboardist Jonathan Cain proved Journey is known for its piano sound with a little virtuoso interlude. And, rightfully so, it was “Don’t Stop Believin’” that took the place down and caused the audience to go nuts, even if it did have some reverberation problems.

Overall, it was Journey (and Benatar) that reminded Sioux City to never stop believing.

[kmjrr]

It was a great show. 1:45 in length, Journey changed it up a bit. Jon had a different piano solo, Deen sang a few songs, and Arnel was full of energy. One of the best if not the best I have been to. Best part of course was turning to see my son singing along.