October 2, 2005
Chronicle Pavilion, Concord, CA
By Dan Wall
Set 1: Kohoutek, Of A Lifetime, I’m Gonna Leave You, Nickel and Dime, Mystery Mountain, Walks Like a Lady, In Self-Defense, Just the Same Way, Feeling That Way, Anytime, The Place in Your Heart, Anyway You Want It.
Set 2: Be Good To Yourself, Ask the Lonely, Only the Young, Faith in the Heartland, Star Spangled Banner, Stone in Love, Wheel in the Sky, Chain Reaction, Higher Place, Lights, Every Generation, Open Arms, Escape, Faithfully, Don’t Stop Believing, Separate Ways. Encore: Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’. 3 hours.
During Journey’s three-hour set in Concord last week, it dawned on me that band’s career is almost a direct a parallel to the history of rock and roll during the past 35 years.
The band started out as a supergroup, with former Santana bandmates Gregg Rolie (vocals, keyboards) and Neal Schon (guitar), along with ace drummer Ansley Dunbar, bassist Ross Valory and guitarist George Tickner. This formation follows along the same lines as groups such as Blind Faith and Bad Company, when members from successful bands would form new groups together. This was all the rage in the early 70’s, when Journey first formed.
The band’s first three albums were chock full of long songs that were muscular and inventive, tunes that fit well into the FM radio concept of the day and sounded great live. Instrumentally, Journey was as good as anyone back in those days. Too bad that mostly guys listened to the group and frequented Journey’s live shows back then, which led to the next change for the band and another direct parallel to many of the day’s big rock bands: the direction change to get radio airplay and more female fans.
Journey was at a cross roads when it added singer Robert Fleischman to its line-up in 1977, but the singer/songwriter lasted only a few months before the group struck gold with vocalist Steve Perry. At the time, Columbia Records was looking for a hit or the nearest door to shove Journey through. With a push (in the right direction) from said label and management, Perry and the remaining members (Tickner was gone by now) molded a sound that didn’t stray too far away from what it was doing instrumentally, but structurally changed the length (shorter) and sound (more melodic) of the group’s tunes. Since a number of these songs became hits, Journey began a steady climb to superstardom with Infinity, the first with Perry at the helm.
Over the course of the next three records, Journey became a major concert attraction in the States, but it wasn’t until Rolie left and Jonathan Cain was recruited from the Babys that Journey blew up big with Escape. That album had more hits than a prizefight and the band quickly became a stadium attraction worldwide. Each subsequent release was bigger and bigger, until Perry got too big for his britches and started firing band members before the Raised on Radio tour. After that trek, which was still successful but filled with acrimony amongst band members, the group split up. The core members reformed for an album in 1997, but Perry refused to tour, and the band brought in vocalist Steve Augeri, which pissed off Perry and led to a great Behind the Music special on MTV.
Perry stays on the sidelines to this day, as the band carries on with Augeri, Schon, Valery, Cain and drummer Dean Castronovo. Now how many bands that you know and love can you draw a parallel to with this introduction? I can think of Styx, REO Speedwagon, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Kansas, KISS, Toto, Foreigner, Boston and Heart, just to name a few.
The band just completed a massive summer tour to celebrate 30 years of Journey onstage, and for the first time in over 20 years the group included songs from its entire history, even going back as far as the first three records that launched the group’s career back in the 70’s.
Of course, all the big hits were there as well, as the band made sure to send everyone home happy. The group went as far as to hand out a copy of its new Generations CD to the crowd to make sure that the next “generation” of Journey fans will listen to its new stuff as well.
The band helped make the show great by playing a loose, playful set that included most of those biggies listed, the old, rare stuff and a number of classic album cuts. Cain sang most of the older stuff, and Valory was even allowed a rare vocal as the band got everyone involved in the lengthy set. Augeri picked up a guitar for the earlier material, helping Schon beef up the sound and helping replicate parts originally played by Tickner.
All this additional support at the mike helped get vocalist Augeri through the lengthy set, and he was all the better for it. Augeri has to sing like Perry all night long (and its hard to sing with a binder clip attached to your private parts for two hours, much less three), but on this night he didn’t struggle to reach those high notes late in the set, since he could rest his throat during his buddies time in the spotlight.
Schon is still the individual centerpiece of any Journey show. Simply one of the greatest guitarists in rock history, he effortlessly played all of the leads you grew up listening to in your car on the radio. Cain, Valory and especially Castronovo provide ample support for Schon and Augeri, who has stepped quite adequately into Perry’s huge shadow.
As a matter of fact, I think this is the best version of Journey since the 80’s. Back then Perry helped the band claim the mantle as the world’s best melodic rock band, and he certainly had a hand in all of those huge hits. But this band has proven to be a solid road attraction and it’s obvious the individual members get along better now than they did back then. Thus, the live performance is better now, and it certainly helps Journey continue its pace of over 100 shows played each year.
Also impressive was the stage show, with huge video screens and a great lighting rig. The shade and color helped bring out the best in each song, and made the presentation that much more memorable than a typical rock show.
So what’s next for Journey? Probably more of the same, as the group will do some dates to support the new record and then head out next year, to play for its aging crowd during the summer months, when Journey sounds the best. This will undoubtedly be played out year after year, until the group calls it quits, which I don’t see happening for a long time. This is one journey that is far from over.
