SAN ANTONIO 7/28/06: JOURNEY Concert Review

[Fernando Ramirez]

SAN ANTONIO 7/27/06: JOURNEY CONCERT REVIEW

The show started at 7:30pm, and it was still daylight. A singer/songwriter came out with his guitar, and he played three songs. Sorry, I didn't catch his name, but he did introduce "a good friend" on harmonica named Jonathan Cain who jammed with him on his third song. JC proceeded to play some mean harmonica solos, and the sound was great.

The Verizon Wireless Amphitheater is pretty big. Technically, it's outdoors, but it's all covered by a really HUGE and very TALL pavilion style roof. Only the grass seats are uncovered, and you can see the sky. The venue was pretty packed when Journey started playing. The crowd was pretty much there when they took the stage... I had never seen so many people there. It must have been sold out. I got there at 7:15pm, and was willing to spend some money on good seats, but I ended up buying $60 seats for myself and my wife in section 300, right smack dab in the middle, and slightly to the back of the venue. Everything in front was sold out. We had a perfect shot of the stage, and were right in between the PA speaker slabs. The optimal place to hear everything. I have seen BOSTON, STYX, and CHICAGO there, and this JOURNEY/DEF LEPP show was easily the most attended. And it was pretty apparent that everybody wanted to see both bands.

Neil started with an absolutely amazing STAR SPANGLED BANNER, while Jonathan Cain provided some really great keyboard beds for the song. Neil was clearly a guitarist at the top of his game. There was a huge "double widescreen" video screen behind the band, and an animation of red stars was being shown during the song. The crowd reacted pretty strongly when Neal hit the song's important parts, and the animation added red/blue/white hues to simulate the American flag. This all had an effect on folks... I felt a lump in my throat, and almost choked up with the performance. His fingers were all over the place, and was a great, fantastic introduction.

The first track after this was STONE IN LOVE, and the crowd really got into it. JSS was really really great, and he was engergetic THE WHOLE SHOW. The band were into the performance, and they were joking / interacting with each other. They were clearly pumped... the show's big attendance must have added some spunk to the band's outlook... they were having a great time, and it was obvious.

By 8:30pm, the night had fallen, and the two video screens (HUGE concrete pads on the right and left of the stage) were utilized, and you could watch the band in closeups. Everytime Ross's face came up, he was making funny faces at the camera, at himself, to the other band members.... it was hilarious. The guy was having a blast, and showing it.

Deen sang three tracks: WHO'S CRYING NOW, FAITHFULLY, and OPEN ARMS. He sang them FUCKING PHENOMENALLY!!! The crowd was visibly BLOWN AWAY by his seemingly effortless vocals. He truly commanded the performances of these songs, and got huge cheers on certain parts of the songs, especially the parts that Perry sang pretty high. The band was COMPETELY ON with these songs, and even Neal's guitar solos got responses/cheers from the fans. I'm not talking isolated cheers, I mean you could hear A LOT OF PEOPLE cheering their heroes on. I still can't believe how good Deen was, and I was completely in awe of him during the songs. He's got vocal chops to rival the best out there, and even the high parts seemed to come so damn naturally to him. The songs he sang were definite high points. His drumming on the rest of the show was phenomenal, as well. I recognized/could hear him singing backgrounds throughout the show, and he added A LOT to the vocal performances/choruses as well. A top talent.

I am a JSS fan... I've got several of his solo cds, the Yngwie cds, the two DVDs he's put out. He sounded great with Journey. I will be honest and state that he visibly struggled with some of the high parts. And I'm talking only on certain really high parts. I'm totally certain that not even Perry himself would be able to accomplish the singing he did on these tracks. JSS had some challenging parts on ONLY THE LONELY, KEEP ON RUNNING, and ESCAPE. I mean, who wouldn't? Those tracks have some of Perry's best singing in his highest register. However, JSS did sound really Perry-like on a lot of the other tracks. LIGHTS was awesome. LOVIN' TOUCHIN' SQUEEZIN', ANY WAY YOU WANT IT, and SEPARATE WAYS were awesome. JSS often had to go into falsetto to keep some of the high parts. But the man was singing his heart out, and it was all LIVE, and he was loving it. He did successfully hit the high registers on many songs, and he did it with flair (often adding vibrato and other liberal touches when I mistakenly thought he was at the limits of his voice. I was pretty happy with JSS, and the band responded to him postively.

There were some flubs. At one point, JSS ran down the stage searching for a working mike when his own went out. He tried two others that didn't work either, and he finally got on one that worked to finish up the vox on one of the songs towards the end. During Jonathan Cain's piano solo, the piano sound totally got cut off for a few seconds! But it was quickly restored as he was playing the end of his solo, and he went into the opening bars of OPEN ARMS soon after. . JSS came out with a SPURS jersey (20/Ginobili) for the encore song which was SEPARATE WAYS, and the crowd loved it. The crowd responded to SW by cheering on certain familiar keyboard parts, the solo, and the breaks. And everybody sang along with it all the way through. The sound of the show was REALLY LOUD. Neil’s guitar solos were always bumped up a notch, and they came through really clearly. I felt that JSS vox were a little low at times. Also, he had a lot of echo on his voice. I felt it should have been louder, and found myself thinking this 3-4 times during the show. Deen’s vox were SPOT ON CLEAR, loud, and phenomenal. Don’t know what kind of head microphone he was using, but it was very clear sounding, as clear as a condensor microphone. They need to let JSS use one of those bad boys!

Towards the end of the Journey set, a lot of the attendees from the grassy area were allowed into the pavilion part, and they stood along the aisles for the last 4-5 songs and the encore. These are the open aisles between the sections of seats. JOURNEY received a very well deserved reception. San Antonio loves them, and this was totally clear. A fantastic show!

DEF LEPP came on at about 10pm, and they got a great reception. My wife noted that the people were really into them. They sounded good. Phil Collen had some really great soloing moments. Joe looked like he had put on some weight, but he sounded okay. I was surprised to hear LET IT GO… I’ve always loved that song. It’s difficult to appreciate Joe after hearing JSS and Deen, let’s face it. But he sounded good, just a totally different style of singer.

When Savage did his bass solo, everybody sat down. The guy next to me said "It's time to get some food", while laughing. But then Sav started playing the intro/bass line to ROCK ON, and the crowd immediately reacted. I saw them play the Badfinger song (the one that was on the greatest hits, and also on YEAH), and of course, ROCK ON.

We left during the Def Lepp set, about 10 songs in. I was able to score an autographed copy of GENERATIONS from the t-shirt booth for $15, and jammed out to it on the 35 minute drive home. Great night, and me and my wife had a blast.

[fred_journeyman]

Thanks for the post! Sounds like you had a great time!

[Fernando Ramirez]

Yeah, Fred, it was my first time seeing Journey live in concert, and it was a great time!

[Clasicrockldy]

Fred,

Are you going to change your mind and see Journey now when they come to the Ampitheater here in Marysville? I wish I could go. I mean the ampitheater is only about 10 minutes from my place, but it is the money issue....... darn. I would like to see JSS.........

[WORLD CHANGER]

Great review.

[momto2]

SAN ANTONIO 7/27/06: JOURNEY CONCERT REVIEW

I am a JSS fan... I've got several of his solo cds, the Yngwie cds, the two DVDs he's put out. He sounded great with Journey. I will be honest and state that he visibly struggled with some of the high parts.

Not according to JSS himself.

[cetera]

SAN ANTONIO 7/27/06: JOURNEY CONCERT REVIEW

I am a JSS fan... I've got several of his solo cds, the Yngwie cds, the two DVDs he's put out. He sounded great with Journey. I will be honest and state that he visibly struggled with some of the high parts.

Not according to JSS himself.

Let it go.....