Ok, first up, let me say I had a ball, despite everything that is to follow. I was hyped to go, I had Ian with me, I was thrilled at the generosity of the meet and greet passes, and I was finally going to see a favourite band I never thought I'd get to see live. Despite everything, I had fun.
Having said that, there were some pretty big stand outs for me.
First - NEAL SCHON, WILL YOU PLEASE QUIT STICKING BOTOX IN YOUR FACE!!!!
Seriously, it doesn't make him look younger, it makes him look like he's had some weird kind of stroke that affected the top half of his head instead of the left or right side. Neal's never been a classically good looking guy; what made him attractive was the emotional mobility and expressiveness of his face. Look back at the old photos before he started this poisonous shit - his smile lit up his face and when he was serious you could tell exactly how he felt about something from his expression. He's a passionate player, and it used to be the passion showed up in his face as much as it came his fingertips. Last night his face was frozen from the eyes up. Those mobile, expressive eyebrows were dead, the lines of concentration and passion in his forehead were non-existant, and his smile struggled to reach his eyes, which looked deadend and artificial. It didn't make him look younger AT ALL, it just made him look like an old man trying to be a young dog. It reduced all the passionate expression into a rictus grin that made him look like a cross between the Joker and Guy Fawkes from 'V for Vendetta'. I'd have laughed if it didn't bother me so much. If he knocked off the botox and let his face express his emotions (and his smile) again, he'd be a damn sight better looking, and I suspect he'd look younger too, even with the lines. And damn it, he EARNED those lines!
Ok, with that off my back, the show itself.
First in the line up, and Night Ranger have a new fan. Great showmen, great music, and it was obvious that they were having a lot of fun. I really noticed something about this line up - Foreigner have a frontman; Journey have a lead guitarist and lead singer; Night Ranger seem to be a bunch of guys having fun making music with each other. I don't know anything about the band, or the history of its members, but last night they certainly projected a happy, friendly atmosphere, where no one was fighting for the limelight and they all seemed to be happy to share the front spot around. More than anything, they just seemed to be happy to be up on stage and making music, even if only half the audience was there.
We saw the whole Night Ranger set, then went backstage for the meet and greet. A lot of people had passes; we got to meet Arnel, and got a quick 'hi' in passing from Jon, who was the only one who seemed to be happy to be wandering around chatting to people. Arnel was very sweet, and seemed genuinely flattered that someone would come from Australia to see the concert. He was bundled up in multiple layers and still obviously cold - there is no 'padding' on this guy at all! I felt a little sorry for him, to be honest - he obviously wants to please his fans, but it felt a bit like a sideshow with him as the freak attraction. When I told him I didn't need a photograph to remember meeting him, he seemed genunely touched. I don't want to claim I was the only one who made him feel like a person not an 'attraction', but he seemed to appreciate the sentiment anyway.
And yes, he is tiny. When he went to shake hands with Ian, there was a startled look on his face - Arnel barely came up to Ian's mid-chest. In fact, we joked afterwards that if we'd stacked Arnel two high and three across, he'd just about make one Ian. It's not just that he's short, he's also unbelievably thin. I remember reading that Audrey Hepburn put her 'waifish' figure down to having starved in her teenage years in war-torn Holland, and I wondered if the same thing applied to Arnel. There is not an ounce of spare flesh on him, anywhere. We talked a bit about touring Asia and Australia, and he pretty much confirmed an Australian tour just doesn't work into their logistics. Ah well.
We missed the first couple of songs by Foreigner, but that did make the change in the audience pretty obvious. BIG difference between Aussie and American audiences - for this kind of concert, everyone would have been there for the opening act. Maybe not as into them as the headliners, but they would have been there. When Ian and I left after the Night Ranger set, maybe half of the audience still had to take their seats. I also completely flipped out at the concept of buying hot meals to eat during the concert - WTF? Popcorn and fairy floss (er, cotton candy? Spun sugar in luminous artificial colours) being sold between sets, I mean, seriously? This is a rock concert, not a damn movie in the park! Anyway, the seats were full and the audience was jamming for Foreigner. Really good energy levels (more on that when we get to Journey.) I'm not a huge Foreigner fan; I like the songs I know, but I've never followed them or bought an album. May have to change that
Ian is more of a fan, and he loved it. There was a definite stage presence, and like I said, Foreigner have a frontman, not just a lead singer. They did a great set, and the crowd got into it.
Then Journey. And here the difference really showed. It was pretty obvious this was a Journey crowd, but I was still surprised at how many of the crowd just didn't get into it. Every time I looked around, between half and a third of the audience, even if they were standing up, were just still. No head bopping, no toe-tapping, just completely still. They might as well have been watching a film up there, and that kinda confused me. Don't know if it's an Aussie vs American thing, or just this gig, or what. As the set went on, I really noticed dips in energy with every song, and I'm sorry to say it, because I love the guy's playing, but Neal Schon is the problem.
I've never seen Journey before, but I have seen the DVDs of 'Live in Houston' and the Budokan shows from the early 80s, plus all those YouTube clips. There's no doubt that Steve Perry was the frontman of those shows, but at the same time, if I was to compare those performances to the three I saw last night, then I'd have to say they were closer in feel to the Night Ranger set up than Foreigner or current Journey. There was a sense that every person in the band was having fun, and they each got their moments in the sun. Last night, it felt like Neal needed to be centre-stage every single second, and it seriously cost the band in terms of audience energy. Every song had a long, drawn out end - nothing clean, nothing sharp, just bleeding away into Neal's shreds with Deen giving it just enough drum support. The result was an audience who never really knew when to cheer; instead of a thunderous, energising response at the end of a final chord, the applause got diffused across a minute or two of noise.
On top of that, Neal seems to have forgotten it's MELODIC rock, and that shredding doesn't need to sound like someone's using a cheesegrater on the amp. What I remember of the guitar solos from 'Live in Houston' is virtuoso guitar work with impecable melody, perfectly reflecting the singing and the song as a whole. What I heard last night was. pure and simple, musical masturbation. I love some shred, but it's like chili - even if you like it hot, you want more to the dish than just that. The guitar solo (as opposed to solo spot in a song) was perfect at the start, and I wanted to yell 'do that more' because it began that way - melodic, emotive, technically complex with musical soul - but even that degenerated into two minutes of guitar sound effects and then dischordant shredding. When he shifted from playing to sound effects, for a moment I felt like crying, because it seemed to me like Neal Schon - of all people! - has lost his musical soul. All that stuff from the 70s and 80s, all that stretch and soul and fusion, all that melodic expression and creativity and virtuosity, has been reduced to a one trick pony, and the trick is LOUD and not very interesting.
What also hit home is that Neal doesn't seem to be able to let anyone else step forward. Points where Jon, Deen or Ross take up the spotlight in the song, Neal seemed to be incapable of letting them go for it, he had to cut in with some more shredding. Jon's harmonica solo was painful, to be honest, because he and Neal were so out of synch and out of tune with each other. At that point, Neal should have been pulling back and letting Jon go for it - for a whole 30 sconds! - but he just didn't seem to be able to. I can't remember which song, but I remember at one point the entire audience simply stopped moving and just watched because they just couldn't find the beat through Neal's playing. Deen was still playing strong, but when the drummer is keeping perfect time and can clearly be heard, yet the audience can't find the beat because of the guitarist's solo antics, there is something going seriously wrong. Not even the audience was allowed to keep the focus for more than a moment - the audience singing 'na na na' from LTS lost it and drifted off when Neal went into another 'virtuoso-shred'.
The main problem with all this is that it seemed to just suck the energy out of the audience. Ever had one of those days when it's all stop-start-stop-start? Know how tiring those are compared to even a busy day when it's all go-go-go? That's how this felt. Every time the audience picked up and rode the energy of the song, there was this halt while Neal took off, and then an increasing drag to pick up the swell again when he stopped. A guitar solo should be riding the crest of the wave of the song's energy, not taking the energy from it, which is what seemed to be happening. When Jon came out to do his piano solo, a flashy, classical/prog rock thing, there simply wasn't any energy left in the audience for it. The last two songs, the encore, were (mostly) devoide of Neal's antics, and was how the whole gig should have been done - tight, high energy, melodic, and the whole band in sync energy wise and enjoyment wise - and the audience ate it up.
I don't know what's going on with the band, but this isn't a band of brothers any more, not by a long shot. I've always held that Perry and Schon together were better than they were apart, and seeing this performance has made me reconsider why. Neal is a great player, but he needs something to play against, something or someone that will both fight him for the spotlight and surrender it to him at the right time. Perry did that, and did it well. Arnel is a great singer, but he isn't able to stand up to Neal musically (and I'd guess personally either, for all kinds of reasons.) Jon, Ross and Deen are good musicians, and it was great to see them, but there didn't seem to be that aura around them that said they were having fun, having the time of their lives. They were working musicians doing a job, not a bunch of guys having fun on the stage doing what they love, and that does sadden me. It also tells me that it may well be time for Journey to hang up their laurels, leave it for a bit until they get their mojo back, and then do one last farewell tour in two or three years.
So, to sum up:
Despite everything, I had a hell of a lot of fun.
Neal needs to seriously tone it down, stop behaving like a talented kid at a grown up party and let go, and he really needs to get his melodic mojo back.
Arnel is not Steve Perry, and I don't think he's trying to be, but he's a good singer, and given half a chance I think would make a decent front man. I'd definitely pay to see him with his own band.
Fried chicken and onion rings do not belong in a rock concert.
Did I mention I had fun? No, really, despite everything, I had fun!
