Nashville - 9/13/11

[Gideon]

^ Me and my better half, Ashley

Aww cute couple.

Thanks, Deb. She's definitely a looker, though one must question her vision.
Did you catch my shout out to you in the review?

LOL and hey a great guitarist can play with damn near as much soul as a great vocalist......but not quite. BTW....question? In that pic of you and your dad, what are the blue curly strings coming out of the back of your neck?

Earplugs (which we didn't end up needing).

[The_Noble_Cause]

I would have enjoyed hearing When You Love a Woman. No such luck at my piece of shit show. Was the sound mix any better? I couldn't tell you how "badass" Neal was or wasn't because I couldn't even hear the first half of any of his solos because the incompetent sound man didn't bring him up in the mix for any of them.

Pound for pound one of the worst concerts I've ever seen. I've been seeing clean, tight bands like Elton John, Little Big Town, and Restless Heart lately. And the comparison wasn't flattering for Journey.

Agreed. New sound guy is awful. They should just let Foreigner's sound guy work the board. Could barely hear Neal for shit. The past few shows, I struggled to hear Augeri (intentional?), but Neal was always a guitar hero.

[artist4perry]

Huge brawl. Almost had stop the show. I have it on my phone I think.

Details, man, details!

Dan wouldn't high five Mr. High Five guy..........that was what started one riot..........
the one he is talking about was huge.

[Deb]

Huge brawl. Almost had stop the show. I have it on my phone I think.

Details, man, details!

Dan wouldn't high five Mr. High Five guy..........that was what started one riot..........
the one he is talking about was huge.

Wow, he's taking this 'no hugs' thing to whole new level.

[artist4perry]

Huge brawl. Almost had stop the show. I have it on my phone I think.

Details, man, details!

Dan wouldn't high five Mr. High Five guy..........that was what started one riot..........
the one he is talking about was huge.

Wow, he's taking this 'no hugs' thing to whole new level.

He hugged me, I wouldn't high 5 Mr. High 5 guy either. I cannot wait till Rip and Dan feel more awake and they tell their side of things. Funny stuff, great night, and I don't want to Shadow Giddy's parade of his Nashville show.

By the way Gideon, nice review.

[Gideon]

Hey, hey, I don't mind. Details woman!

[Deb]

Huge brawl. Almost had stop the show. I have it on my phone I think.

Details, man, details!

Dan wouldn't high five Mr. High Five guy..........that was what started one riot..........
the one he is talking about was huge.

Wow, he's taking this 'no hugs' thing to whole new level.

He hugged me, I wouldn't high 5 Mr. High 5 guy either. I cannot wait till Rip and Dan feel more awake and they tell their side of things. Funny stuff, great night, and I don't want to Shadow Giddy's parade of his Nashville show.

By the way Gideon, nice review.

It's just a razz from the other thread. Glad you had a great time Ging! Pics....people!!! I want to see pics.......and read some reviews.....with my coffee this morning!

[Jana]

Great review, Gideon.

[Ehwmatt]

I would have enjoyed hearing When You Love a Woman. No such luck at my piece of shit show. Was the sound mix any better? I couldn't tell you how "badass" Neal was or wasn't because I couldn't even hear the first half of any of his solos because the incompetent sound man didn't bring him up in the mix for any of them.

Pound for pound one of the worst concerts I've ever seen. I've been seeing clean, tight bands like Elton John, Little Big Town, and Restless Heart lately. And the comparison wasn't flattering for Journey.

Agreed. New sound guy is awful. They should just let Foreigner's sound guy work the board. Could barely hear Neal for shit. The past few shows, I struggled to hear Augeri (intentional?), but Neal was always a guitar hero.

It's just so confusing to me. I saw Restless Heart last Sunday at a county fair. Granted, it's a much smaller venue to get the sound right, but that also means less glitzy equipment to work with. And their mix was CRYSTAL CLEAR. If you remember/have heard them at all, they are a band that sings 4-5 part harmonies on nearly every song, has acoustic and electric guitar on every song, piano etc... so There's a LOT sonically that's going on at their shows. And you could even hear the acoustic guitar perfectly, which is often shortchanged/drowned out in the mix at live shows.

Now, they're a great band, but they're pretty much relegated to playing fairs and other more minor events. How can a band as popular as Journey not have a more competent sound guy? I realize there are many variables that go into it, but it's no coincidence that every time I've seen this band, they sound crystal clear. Seen them indoors and outdoors at places of varying sizes.

Perhaps more appropriately, I saw Elton a week ago at the exact same venue I saw Journey at. And here too, you could every nuance of every instrument perfectly. Fantastic mix all around from the first song and it only got better. So it's not the venue.

[SilvioRodrigues]

Sorry for the novel, guys, that came out a lot longer than what I expected.

Nice review, Gideon!!
Thanks for sharing!

[Red13JoePa]

Huge brawl. Almost had stop the show. I have it on my phone I think.

LOL Absolutely HILARIOUS story dude.

[Rip Rokken]

Not that I saw, why?

Maybe it was tonight then. I saw a pic of him and Arnel's wife. Maybe he likes milfs.

Link?

I'll try and find it, but I think it was at plokker land. And the more I look at that pic, the more I don't think it's him.

Gigi posted it at AP's site.

Haha... I thought the exact same thing when I saw him, but didn't want to mention the resemblance. I asked who he was thinking he might be a band relative, and they told me he looked just like Justin Bieber! A few hours later I was getting texts asking me to confirm that Bieber was indeed there, and I said... YES!!!



Glad you had fun in Nashville, Gideon!

[fightingilliniJRNY]

Since we're already a couple of days removed from the show, I'll condense my thoughts a little bit. First of all, this will help set the stage for some of my other comments in the review - this is my third show of the tour (along with Chicago and Indianapolis) and my 14th Journey show overall (age 24). Having said that, this show probably falls right in the middle of the shows I've seen, both on this tour and all time for two main reasons, and both have been discussed on here at length:

1) The Setlist
I agree completely with Gideon when he said that When You Love A Woman is a strange song to be in the third slot, and Faithfully at number five after City Of Hope is bizarre as well. All of Journey's songs on the night were performed really, really well, as always. Arnel sounded in top form, and the rest of the band was solid. But I could not get past the overall feeling of a car starting and stopping when you're trying to drive it somewhere. They would open up with Separate Ways and the crowd goes nuts. Then it's Ask The Lonely, which in reality not everybody knows. But then you go into When You Love A Woman and slow everything way down, before City Of Hope and then Faithfully. It's a strange way to start a show after Separate Ways. Throughout the rest of the show you mostly alternate faster, slower, faster, slower, and it subdues a crowd that Foreigner had going nuts. I won't say that Foreigner was better than Journey. Because they aren't. But for most people, it seems like they have a more engaging set.

City Of Hope went over decently well, but Edge Of The Moment was a complete dud. That song did nothing any of the three shows I saw on this tour. Why not swap it out for another Eclipse song? What do you have to lose? There is no excuse for not playing Anything Is Possible - a SINGLE - and doing EOTM instead.

I enjoyed seeing La Do Da, and Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' right after DSB in the encore slot came across really well. Maybe because they didn't do that extended blues intro and went right into it after DSB ended, and maybe it's because I didn't see it in Chicago or Indy. But the crowd responded incredibly well, and it was an enjoyable way to end the show.

As always, the final four or five songs were one knockout punch after another, which always seems to be the strength of Journey's set. If they just fine-tuned the way they did the first half of the show, it would just SEEM like a better show. I described it to my girlfriend as Foreigner has a more even-keeled show at a high level throughout, but Journey's is more of a rollercoaster - Journey's highs will ALWAYS be higher than Foreigner (or another opening band), but their low spots drag it down a little bit.

And again, I am NOT talking about the performances of the songs here. Journey will outperform almost any band you put them up against. I am just talking about the overall FEEL of the show from an audience standpoint.

2) The Sound
Let me preface this by saying I am not a musician, and I don't know much a damn thing about the technical aspects of putting on a rock show. But when your headliner comes out and sounds totally different (for the worse) than the other two bands, then there is something not quite right. I will say that I don't think it's as much of an issue as some people do. But there were points in the show where my ears actually hurt a little bit. And I'm 24 years old, and I go to plenty of concerts every year. There is just something about the sound on this tour that makes parts of the show hard to listen to.

I can't put my finger on it and won't try to explain it, but it has not been like this on previous tours. I've seen multiple shows from all different bands at all of these venues, and Journey does NOT sound good on this tour. Chalk it up to the new sound guy, new equipment, whatever. But something isn't working. I overheard some people after the show who said they had to leave early because they "couldn't take it anymore" and that Journey's sound "wore them out." Not good, guys.

All in all, it was still a really fun show. You can hate the triple-band bills all you want, but they work. People were packed to the rafters for this show, and they were into it. Night Ranger and Foreigner are both outstanding, and Journey was solid as is expected. Journey's lights/videos/lasers were incredible and FINALLY fitting of a headliner.

Now that my shows on this leg of the tour have concluded, I would rank the overall enjoyment of each of the tours I've seen the band on as follows (not that people ranking their shows means anything )

1) Revelation Tour
2) Def Leppard Tour
3) Eclipse Tour
4) Generations Tour
5) Classic Rock's Main Event Tour

There's no doubt that Journey should, and will continue to, headline tours until they decide to retire. But if they think that everything came up roses on the first leg of the Eclipse Tour and just mail it in until the next leg without fixing anything, then they would be making a terrible mistake.

[Rip Rokken]

1) The Setlist
I agree completely with Gideon when he said that When You Love A Woman is a strange song to be in the third slot

Saint John had the exact same thought in Memphis.

[Gideon]

Thanks for the thanks everyone!

Great review, M.!

[Ehwmatt]

Fightingillini, good call on hearing people who were "worn out" and "had to leave." Unfortunately, it's got nothing to do with loudness. It has everything to do with the muddiness of the mix. Your ears are straining VERY hard to discern the different aspects of the music in the mix. There are no dynamics because there's no separation between the instruments. There's a quasi-technical/scientific term for this phenomenon called "listener (or ear) fatigue." A few people I was with in the Cleveland show experienced the same thing. Check out http://www.turnmeup.org/ for some good articles.

Re: Edge of the Moment. I thought that was a horrific song live (and not much better on the album). At this point, it's obvious Neal just enjoys playing the guitar parts on that song. It's a real dud of a song.

[fightingilliniJRNY]

Fightingillini, good call on hearing people who were "worn out" and "had to leave." Unfortunately, it's got nothing to do with loudness. It has everything to do with the muddiness of the mix. Your ears are straining VERY hard to discern the different aspects of the music in the mix. There are no dynamics because there's no separation between the instruments. There's a quasi-technical/scientific term for this phenomenon called "listener (or ear) fatigue." A few people I was with in the Cleveland show experienced the same thing. Check out http://www.turnmeup.org/ for some good articles.

Thanks for the explanation. I couldn't put my finger on why my ears hurt during the show, and I'm certainly not a person who can't handle loud music. Interesting to realize that it's because of the muddiness of the mix. It's annoying as hell, whatever it is.

Re: Edge of the Moment. I thought that was a horrific song live (and not much better on the album). At this point, it's obvious Neal just enjoys playing the guitar parts on that song. It's a real dud of a song.

I don't mind it on the album, but it was a complete mess live. Probably partly because you could not discern any of the lyrics, and it wasn't because of Arnel's diction. It was just a bunch of jumbled guitar riffs and words. Complete mess. Why they don't swap it out for something else baffles me.

[fightingilliniJRNY]

Thanks for the thanks everyone!

Great review, M.!

Thanks, Gid. Sorry we didn't meet up before the show the other day. Maybe we'll catch up on campus one of these days.

[Rick]

Not that I saw, why?

Maybe it was tonight then. I saw a pic of him and Arnel's wife. Maybe he likes milfs.

Link?

I'll try and find it, but I think it was at plokker land. And the more I look at that pic, the more I don't think it's him.

Gigi posted it at AP's site.

Haha... I thought the exact same thing when I saw him, but didn't want to mention the resemblance. I asked who he was thinking he might be a band relative, and they told me he looked just like Justin Bieber! A few hours later I was getting texts asking me to confirm that Bieber was indeed there, and I said... YES!!!



Glad you had fun in Nashville, Gideon!

Isn't that Tessang in that picture?

[steveo777]

Not that I saw, why?

Maybe it was tonight then. I saw a pic of him and Arnel's wife. Maybe he likes milfs.

Link?

I'll try and find it, but I think it was at plokker land. And the more I look at that pic, the more I don't think it's him.

Gigi posted it at AP's site.

Haha... I thought the exact same thing when I saw him, but didn't want to mention the resemblance. I asked who he was thinking he might be a band relative, and they told me he looked just like Justin Bieber! A few hours later I was getting texts asking me to confirm that Bieber was indeed there, and I said... YES!!!



Glad you had fun in Nashville, Gideon!

Isn't that Tessang in that picture?

Yep, I think so. She's kind of cute, isn't she?

[Rick]

Not that I saw, why?

Maybe it was tonight then. I saw a pic of him and Arnel's wife. Maybe he likes milfs.

Link?

I'll try and find it, but I think it was at plokker land. And the more I look at that pic, the more I don't think it's him.

Gigi posted it at AP's site.

Haha... I thought the exact same thing when I saw him, but didn't want to mention the resemblance. I asked who he was thinking he might be a band relative, and they told me he looked just like Justin Bieber! A few hours later I was getting texts asking me to confirm that Bieber was indeed there, and I said... YES!!!



Glad you had fun in Nashville, Gideon!

Isn't that Tessang in that picture?

Yep, I think so. She's kind of cute, isn't she?

Yeah, she is. I saw on Facebook that she was coming to the US to see some shows.

[Rip Rokken]

Isn't that Tessang in that picture?

'Tis she!

[steveo777]

Isn't that Tessang in that picture?

'Tis she!

Rip, did you steal that gal in your avatar from Neal?

[Rip Rokken]

Isn't that Tessang in that picture?

'Tis she!

Rip, did you steal that gal in your avatar from Neal?

She is one very cool gal! All heart and sincerity - a true gem.

[Jana]

Isn't that Tessang in that picture?

'Tis she!

Rip, did you steal that gal in your avatar from Neal?

She is one very cool gal! All heart and sincerity - a true gem.

I like her blond better than brunette. He should go back to her.

[steveo777]

Isn't that Tessang in that picture?

'Tis she!

Rip, did you steal that gal in your avatar from Neal?

She is one very cool gal! All heart and sincerity - a true gem.

I like her blond better than brunette. He should go back to her.

She's better than anything he's got going on today, but she won't get him any pub.

[fredinator]

She sure is cute, isn't she? She looks like Camille Grammer to me in that pic.. I like her hair blonde, too.

[steveo777]

She sure is cute, isn't she? She looks like Camille Grammer to me in that pic.. I like her hair blonde, too.

Oooh, Camille Grammer. (like this!)

[RedWingFan]

^ Jon Cain and his silver pimp suit.

Is that Cain? I thought it was Morris Day.

[Gideon]