Journey - Sheffield Motorpoint Arena (28/05/2013) - Review

[Rockingbear]

J O U R N E Y

Sheffield Motorpoint Arena - Monday 20th May 2013

Following Whitesnake, Journey were always going to have a difficult task maintaining the crowd’s attention. There was, however, never a doubt about the set list as every one of the 15 songs played are certified classics.

The sound, though not perfect, was a vast improvement on that heard on the AOR tour two years ago when it was far too loud. This evening all the instruments could be clearly heard including Arnel Pineda’s vocals that are a close match to the great Steve Perry. Arnel spent the whole evening jumping around like a jack-in-box which was juxtaposed to the rest of the band who allowed the music to do the talking.

The band hit the ground running with the magnificent “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” but did not have the same impact as Thunder or Whitesnake.

A great lighting show augmented the songs and the and kept up the momentum with two consecutive soundtrack songs from the eighties: “Ask The Lonely” from “Tow Of A Kind” and “Only The Young” from 1985’s “Vision Quest”.

Neal Schon then played a great improvised version of the National Anthem with the Flag of the Union being displayed on the back-drop screens. This lead into the first of six tracks, “Stone In Love” taken from one of my all-time favourite albums, 1981’s “Escape”. It was clear that the crowd knew all the songs but they remained largely unresponsive to Arnel’s requests to clap along; as mentioned he has the voice but, unfortunately, not the stage craft of the great lead singers.

Deen Castronovo has been the drummer in Journey for 15 years and took lead vocals on “Keep On Runnin’”; it was noticeable the drum sound was a little hollow on this song and I would have, personally preferred a rendition of “Mother Father” from the same album.

Arnel, looking like demon-child David Platt from Coronation Street, returned to resume lead vocal duties on “Edge Of The Blade”, a classic from 1983’s “Frontiers” album.

With a backdrop of my favourite city San Francisco, “Lights” slowed things down as did the awesome power ballad “Open Arms”. Arnel was allowed to demonstrate his great vocals and though he can cleverly mimic Steve Perry, he does not quite have his range and control and more importantly stage presence.

Probably the only surprise of the evening, well for me, was the inclusion of “Dead Or Alive” from the phenomenal “Escape”. The title-track of the aforementioned album followed.

The “For Tomorrow” section of “Wheel In The Sky” was met with a much muted crowd reaction although there were a few of us singing our hearts out to every song!

The newest song of Journey’s set was “Be Good To Yourself” from 1986’s “Raised On Radio” that my wife was singing to herself all the way home!

I felt shivers down my spine as Jonathan Cain played the keyboard intro to one of my all-time favourite ballads “Faithfully”.

There had been a few people leaving throughout Journey’s set, including a couple sat besides us who looked bored out of their tiny minds, but not as many that I had read reported from previous and subsequent gigs. It was obvious that lots of this evening’s concert goers were waiting for one song only, karaoke classic, “Don’t Stop Believin’”!

Final song of the evening was “Any Way You Want It” that has gained even greater notoriety since its inclusion in the stage show and movie “Rock Of Ages”.

I might have been in the minority, but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole of Journey’s set. I prefer not to rank the bands in any kind of order but just say they were all equally as good, in my humble opinion. Probably the only improvement that could have been made was for Journey to play before Whitesnake. In all, a great evening’s entertainment and absolute fantastic value for money!

Set-list:-

1 Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) - Frontiers (1983)
2 Ask the Lonely - Two Of A Kind soundtrack (1983)
3 Only the Young - Vision Quest soundtrack (1985)
4 Stone in Love - Escape (1981)
5 Keep on Runnin' - Escape (1981)
6 Edge of the Blade - Frontiers (1983)
7 Lights - Infinity (1978)
8 Open Arms - Escape (1981)
9 Dead or Alive - Escape (1981)
10 Escape - Escape (1981)
11 Wheel in the Sky - Infinity (1978)
12 Be Good to Yourself - Raised On Radio (1986)
13 Faithfully - Frontiers (1983)
14 Don't Stop Believin' - Escape (1981)
15 Any Way You Want It - Departure (1980)

[The_Noble_Cause]

This band should hang it up. In a new interview, Neal even admits that the band rarely rehearses or jams together (which we already knew). Deen is in Oregon. Cain is in Nashville. Schon is in CA. This is totally a money grab. Neal should get some balls and write some new Journey tunes with Jack Blades.

[scarab]

and beg JSS to come back...

[Don]

and beg JSS to come back...

At this stage of the game, Journey will make far more money with Arnel then they will with JSS. People want a Steve Perry sound a like and Pineda delivers that. These guys already got their second wind because of Glee and the Wal-Mart deal. They've sold APs story hard to the media; to change that now, especially with Arnel's movie about to go to retail, will sink them.
Live nation is already near the end with them. With a different singer, they'll end up playing bars because there is no upside for promoters now like there was with the popularity from Glee and Pineda's story.

[musicfan17]

"The oldest song of the set was 'Be Good To Yourself""??? Really, obviously as casual fan of the band if you though that was their oldest song.....

[annie89509]

"The oldest song of the set was 'Be Good To Yourself""??? Really, obviously as casual fan of the band if you though that was their oldest song.....

By oldest, I think he meant newest.
Really dumbfounded... no variety in these setlists... at all.

[Rockingbear]

I certainly did mean newest reference "Be Good To Yourself" (n.b. see set-list details below the review). “Thanks Annie!”

Even though I would have preferred Jeff Scott Soto or even Steve Augeri to remain with the band, I agree that they definitely want a Steve Perry sound-a-like. I also know that they are probably just in it these days for the money but that is the same with many bands. Here in the UK we never saw Journey throughout the eighties and nineties so I am quite happy that they are finally returning, regularly to our shores. Journey are not big enough to headline Arenas here in the UK by themselves but that said, I have really enjoyed the last two tours being a fan of Styx, Foreigner, Thunder and Whitesnake. The AOR Tour was definitely a better fit, IMHO.

Foreigner's Kelly Hansen gave a perfect performance on how to deliver the band's past classics whilst maintaining his own identity. I personally thought that Arnel is improving with time, however, no one will ever replace Steve Perry, my favorite vocalist of all-time.

[Rick]

I certainly did mean newest reference "Be Good To Yourself" (n.b. see set-list details below the review). “Thanks Annie!”

Even though I would have preferred Jeff Scott Soto or even Steve Augeri to remain with the band, I agree that they definitely want a Steve Perry sound-a-like. I also know that they are probably just in it these days for the money but that is the same with many bands. Here in the UK we never saw Journey throughout the eighties and nineties so I am quite happy that they are finally returning, regularly to our shores. Journey are not big enough to headline Arenas here in the UK by themselves but that said, I have really enjoyed the last two tours being a fan of Styx, Foreigner, Thunder and Whitesnake. The AOR Tour was definitely a better fit, IMHO.

Foreigner's Kelly Hansen gave a perfect performance on how to deliver the band's past classics whilst maintaining his own identity. I personally thought that Arnel is improving with time, however, no one will ever replace Steve Perry, my favorite vocalist of all-time.

How many accounts to you have on here?

[musicfan17]

The main reason I won't go see Journey live anymore has nothing to do with their singer, and has everything to do with the totally stale setlists they have had the last few years. On this current tour they should be rocking it up and dropping all the ballads except for faithfully, which pretty much has to be played. along with DSB and Separate Ways. Everything else should be fair game. Playing with two heavy metal/hard rock bands here is an idea of what the setlist could/should look like...


Faith In The Heartland
Separate Ways
Keep On Running (Deen)
Stone In Love
Resonate
Line Of Fire
World Gone Wild
Edge Of The Blade
Change For The Better
Shes A Mystery
Troubled Child
Cant Tame The Lion
Lovin You Is Easy
Any Way You want It
Dont Stop Believin'

Encore: Faithfully

The European Audiences seem to be a lot more accepting of not hearing all greatest hits, so why not rock up the set-list on a tour like this. One reason is practice... it is easy (and lazy) to not have older songs and newer album cuts practiced enough to do them live. But the band is talented enough to do it. If your not getting the crowd reaction from the same stale set-list with a few change-ups....perhaps it's time to really shake things up with a set-list similar to the one above.

At this point in the bands career, they SHOULD be playing older cuts, AND newer album cuts in almost every show. Not just the dirty dozen with a song or two thrown in. I'm a lifelong Journey fan, but will not go see them anymore. There is just very little value in it. When I saw them last with Night Ranger and Foreigner, I though both of those bands were better than Journey in terms of the overall show. Night Ranger at least did three newer songs in their short setlist.

[Onestepper]

They've become just like a lot of the classic rock bands just out there on the road for a money grab. I thought they were going to keep the thing rolling with new music for the foreseeable future, but appears they are just going to let this thing roll until there is no one left to buy tickets. I've passed on seeing them twice in the last year and a half..and I am assuming now that I'm done all together.

It's quite sad.