Journey - Sheffield Motorpoint Arena (28/05/2013) - Review
Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 11:11 pmJ 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)
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)
