Ok here it is, song-by-song... gonna be relatively long, bear w/ me. First, a few general comments:
Audio: Sounds good... not awesome like the Rush DVDs or Birtles Shorrock Goeble - Full Circle Live, but nothing to get picky about either. Just solid all-around. Backing vox seemed to be very much in the background... but maybe that's just me. No complaints about the audio here.
Video: Looks great, no complaints at all. They sure do avoid filming much of Ross's craggy mug though... he's barely on there at all! I did find a few of the Neal angles to be darker than the other angles of the other band members like a few have pointed out... but nothing terrible. The angles on Deen when he's singing are great.
Setlist: A very satisfying setlist, lots of new stuff, some classics like WYLAW and Edge of the Blade etc. I wouldn't have minded seeing a few more pre-1980 tracks on here and perhaps Higher Place and Chain Reaction, but this is a good collection of songs.
Ok, song-by-song breakdown:
1. The Journey/Majestic - Great stuff, Majestic is an awesome opener. I wish we could see Neal while he plays it though instead of that lame picture intro. 10/10
2. Never Walk Away - One of my faves from Rev. Arnel sounds horrendous on this song though! Shocking, considering he's the one who recorded it. Strained, diction issues all over the place, and pitchy. The Rev DVD version is far superior. 3/10
3. Only The Young - Arnel sounds great here and this is obviously a concert favorite. Why the hell do they have that annoying synth loop doubling the D chord riff though? Sounds like a cheap fucking MIDI program playing the Dsus4-D-Dsus2 progression over and over! 8/10, with points taken off for that awful keyboard loop
4. Ask The Lonely - Solid version of a VERY difficult song in the Journey canon. This is a very underrated song in terms of vocal difficulty. Arnel eats it on the high-pitched outro "Ask The Lo-Lo-Lo-Lonely" stuff... too much cracking and screaming. 6/10, points taken off for the badly mangled vocal outro
5. Stone In Love - Solid again, diction issues troubling me again though. Love Neal's solo leading into it. 8/10, with Neal's stellar guitar work on this song making up for some vocal issues. 8/10
6. Keep On Runnin - Not a favorite of mine, but I really enjoyed this version with Deen taking vocal duties. I'll listen to it again. 8/10
7. After All These Years - Arnel kills this song. A powerful rendition, no complaints here. 9/10
8. Change For The Better - Another favorite of mine from Rev performed very well. I thought it was interesting to have Friga on guitar for this one and have all the synths looped. I'd rather have him play those live on a song this synth-heavy... a bit cheapening and I don't think the second rhythm guitar is essential. 9/10
9. Wheel In The Sky - I love the extended jam on this song, good stuff. 9/10
10. Lights - I mean, it's good for what it is. This song is about as tired as it gets though, but I love Neal's solo. I think they missed the harmony during the verse, sounded like they were kinda doing a group unison thing instead of the true harmony. 7/10
11. Still They Ride - LOVE this song live, especially considering I don't really love the studio take. Deen's awesome on this one. You gotta love the subtle ways Neal and Friga interact with the main high melody part of the song between the piano and lead guitar line... that's the mark of guys who have been playing together for a LONG time. 9/10
12. Open Arms - A bad, bad song that should be deleted from the band!
Arnel is really good on this song though and it's a nice showcase for him. I knew the Neal solo would be in there, so I watched it once just to see that... otherwise I woulda skipped it. 8/10
13. Mother, Father - About the same as the Vegas version. Deen's very good on this song, especially when you listen to the intricacies of some of the drum fills he plays while he sings a song that's hard enough to sing when you're just singing and doing nothing else! 9/10
14. Wildest Dream - Decent, no complaints, Arnel stays faithful to the album version, but this is not a song that has stood the test of time that well for me. It's probably fun in person at the concert though. 7/10
15. When You Love A Woman - Another great performance for the most part from Arnel. I think a few small things kinda irked me, but I'd have to go back to identify them. I wish Neal would use a Stratocaster or a single-coil guitar on this track. The tones he put down on the studio version are beautiful and fit the song well... his hot LP sound doesn't quite fit this song for me. 9/10
16. Separate Ways - One of the few rockers Arnel really seems to be able to consistently nail. I also like the added stuff, although it's not as neat as the Wheel jam. 9/10
17. What I Needed - Great version of this song, even though I'm not high on it like many are. Neal smokes on this one and Arnel's good too. 8/10
18. Edge of the Blade - Ok, why the hell did Neal play the intro an octave higher with that octave riffing shit? It should be played in the low octave like the studio version, nice and heavy. That bugged me right away, but it's a good version of the song. Arnel surprises me again with his skill on this rocker. 8/10, woulda been higher if Neal didn't mangle the intro riff playing it higher
19. Where Did I Lose Your Love - Very solid again, a good tune from Rev. Nothing to complain about. 8/10
20. Escape - I'll honestly have to defer on this one before I watch it a few more times. I'm just not sure I like Arnel on it.
21. Faithfully - Note-wise, Arnel's golden on this, but I've NEVER been a huge fan of the way he phrases stuff on this song, drawing certain parts out or coming in slightly late etc.. That detracts quite a bit from the performance for me. 7/10
22. DSB - Absolutely dreadful! Arnel sounds like he swallowed a bag of nails on the first couple lines. They REALLY did make this 100% live
. It really sounds terrible. Arnel trying to adlib over the extended outro comes off as a drunken karaoke attempt too. Adlibbing and improvising on the melody/words are just not Arnel's strengths, not even close... I guess that's where not being a native speaker really kills him. That was Augeri's arrangement and he owned it. This is not good. 0/10
23. AWYWI - Decent, I like what they added. Probably won't be going back to this one too much though, too played out. 7/10
24. LTS - I won't even watch this song, I hate it. No rating.
25. Turn Down The World Tonight - My top ballad from Rev unfortunately just doesn't work that well live. There's too much "space" in the beginning, Friga's piano isn't treated like it is on the album to give it that atmospheric feeling and Neal's volume swells don't fill enough space between the piano and drums. Arnel sang it very well though. 7/10 just because this doesn't seem to work that well live.
26. BGTYS - Arnel's diction issues on this song just destroy this favorite for me. I still watch to see Neal jam though. 6/10
Overall: You know, I've rated most of the songs decent to very good here, but taken as a whole, I just can't help but be somewhat disappointed. Arnel has not made strides with his accent and diction issues, as I suspected from YouTube clips over the last year and a half but reserved complete judgment on til I saw it in a more polished environment. He tries hard to be a showman, maybe a little too hard, but I won't hold that against the guy. It's better than being a stiff up there.
He seems like he's loving it and he is by all accounts one hell of a guy, so I feel bad ripping on him too much, but I think they need to take this long hiatus to work on these issues. I also think they really just need to reel in his attempts to adlib and change the melodies up... he just can't do it without sounding extremely forced or awkward because of his language barrier issues. If that sounds harsh, and maybe it is, I'm sorry, but it is what it is. They really oughta just tell him to stick to the melodies as originally recorded because it just gets incredibly distracting when he makes an awkward one. The raspiness gets to me on certain cuts too... he gets overly raspy and I actually don't think it's got anything to do with strain or technique (he does strain sometimes and ends up screaming), but it actually has to do with him trying to get too close to the SP sound.
He also still needs to work on his style on the rockers. He does surprisingly well on some, like Sep. Ways and Edge of the Blade, but his language issues really rear their head on others, like Stone and Ask The Lonely.
I just feel like until he works out these issues it's like watching the best bar band I've ever seen, and not a professional band that's been out there for over three decades.
In short, I'll enjoy this DVD, but it's got some issues, and most of them are from Arnel's weaknesses (that should be fixable).
Side note: It's a hell of a long concert and I don't wanna get greedy, but would it have killed them to include some extras? They were over there for two weeks... what about a tour documentary? A tour of Neal and Jon's music rigs? An interview with the band? Don't put it past these guys to try and milk us and come out with a special edition of this DVD, especially if it's ever going to come to Blu-Ray as well.
