Journey Closes out the State Fair Faithfully

[jrny84]

http://www.twincities.com/statefair/ci_ ... faithfully

Journey closes out the State Fair, faithfully
By Ross Raihala
rraihala@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 09/01/2014 12:01:00 AM CDT | UPDATED: 4 DAYS AGO

Classic rockers Journey closed out the Minnesota State Fair for the season Monday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 13,129, two more folks than they drew the last time they headlined the Grandstand in 2012.

This kind of stuff does big business at the Fair, and Journey specializes in the sort of sticky, sweet and nostalgic tunes that make the Great Minnesota Get-Together tick. What better way to ease your way back into the indignity of eating food from plates than swaying in the cool evening breeze to some of the biggest hits of the '80s?

Journey's secret weapon remains Filipino vocalist Arnel Pineda, who the band discovered on YouTube. Truly, the guy sounds exactly like former band leader Steve Perry, probably even more than Perry himself these days. Plus, he doesn't do "Oh Sherrie"!

The pint-sized Pineda is 46, but could pass for 26, and brings a youthful energy to a band where three of the four members are in their 60s. Pineda pumped his fist and jumped around the stage like a kid, giving Neal Schon (age 60) the chance to concentrate on his Guitar Face. The vocalist also sprinted off stage to change outfits, donning a Vikings jersey at one point and, to coincide with "Faith in the Heartland," an American flag T-shirt.

As expected, the 90-minute set drew heavily from Journey's billion-selling "Greatest Hits," with the band working in a few album tracks and more recent numbers between the big ones. In a rather cheeky move, the band also played a selection of the new songs they've recorded with Pineda over the loudspeakers before they took the stage.

Journey opened strong with "Be Good to Yourself," a late-period Perry hit from 1986, and rolled through "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)," "Any Way You Want It" and "Only the Young" with the crowd cheering them on all the way. Schon's take on "The Star Spangled Banner" gave casual fans the chance to hit the beer stand, as did later solos from pianist Jonathan Cain and drummer Dean Castronovo (who also sang the 1981 album cut "Mother, Father").

Prior to the fireworks, Journey barreled through another run of hits, much to the delight of the crowd: "Wheel in the Sky," "Faithfully," "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin.' "

Clad in black leather and looking every bit as tough as she did back in the '80s, 55-year-old Joan Jett opened the show with a clutch of rockers from her earliest days with the Runaways ("You Drive Me Wild," the unstoppable "Cherry Bomb") and her own back catalog. Yeah, her best-known songs are covers, but she's long since made "Do You Wanna Touch Me," "I Love Rock and Roll" and "Crimson and Clover" her very own.

Jett aired some newer material too, like "Any Weather," co-written with Dave Grohl. But she missed a huge opportunity by skipping "Love Is All Around." Bob Mould covered the tune, aka "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" theme song, on the same stage Saturday night, and it would have been awesome to hear Jett rip into it Monday. Oh well, maybe next time.

[RPM]

Sounds just like S.P. huh..... Well, No he doesn't , and thats ok. Its a great story for him, and he does a great job,
but STOP with the implications he reproduces S.P.

[JBlake]

Sounds just like S.P. huh..... Well, No he doesn't , and thats ok. Its a great story for him, and he does a great job,
but STOP with the implications he reproduces S.P.

Well AP does sound closer to SP more than anyone else I've ever heard so far, and obviously the members who make the decisions in the band think so too. So like it or not, this is one of the reasons AP's got the job.

[Monker]

Sounds just like S.P. huh..... Well, No he doesn't , and thats ok. Its a great story for him, and he does a great job,
but STOP with the implications he reproduces S.P.

Well AP does sound closer to SP more than anyone else I've ever heard so far, and obviously the members who make the decisions in the band think so too. So like it or not, this is one of the reasons AP's got the job.

And, that is a sad thing for a band which wanted to update its sound both prior to and following Revelation.

[JBlake]

Sounds just like S.P. huh..... Well, No he doesn't , and thats ok. Its a great story for him, and he does a great job,
but STOP with the implications he reproduces S.P.

Well AP does sound closer to SP more than anyone else I've ever heard so far, and obviously the members who make the decisions in the band think so too. So like it or not, this is one of the reasons AP's got the job.

And, that is a sad thing for a band which wanted to update its sound both prior to and following Revelation.

Is it a bad thing? Let me ask you a question, and I'm sure the numbers are out there to support this. From my understanding, SP left Journey in maybe around '96ish, I personally don't know exactly when he left but seems I recall in '95 or '96 I heard mention that he wasn't in the band any longer. So from '96 to around say October 2007, how much revenue did Journey bring in? How many concerts did they do, how many shows did they participate in? How many albums did they put out. How many tours did they go on? How about record sales in terms of units sold and revenue? Now compare this data with that of from, say, November 2007 until current date of the same (revenue, concerts, shows, albums, record sales, etc. etc etc.) Which timeframe was the band more active and brought in the most - '96 through early 2007 or late 2007 to current?

BTW - '96 through October 2007 is roughly 11 years, compared to late 2007 to current which is roughly 7 years in comparison.

[tater1977]

Is it a bad thing? Let me ask you a question, and I'm sure the numbers are out there to support this. From my understanding, SP left Journey in maybe around '96ish, I personally don't know exactly when he left but seems I recall in '95 or '96 I heard mention that he wasn't in the band any longer. So from '96 to around say October 2007, how much revenue did Journey bring in? How many concerts did they do, how many shows did they participate in? How many albums did they put out. How many tours did they go on? How about record sales in terms of units sold and revenue? Now compare this data with that of from, say, November 2007 until current date of the same (revenue, concerts, shows, albums, record sales, etc. etc etc.) Which timeframe was the band more active and brought in the most - '96 through early 2007 or late 2007 to current?

BTW - '96 through October 2007 is roughly 11 years, compared to late 2007 to current which is roughly 7 years in comparison.

May 8th, 1998 the divorce was final.

[JBlake]

Is it a bad thing? Let me ask you a question, and I'm sure the numbers are out there to support this. From my understanding, SP left Journey in maybe around '96ish, I personally don't know exactly when he left but seems I recall in '95 or '96 I heard mention that he wasn't in the band any longer. So from '96 to around say October 2007, how much revenue did Journey bring in? How many concerts did they do, how many shows did they participate in? How many albums did they put out. How many tours did they go on? How about record sales in terms of units sold and revenue? Now compare this data with that of from, say, November 2007 until current date of the same (revenue, concerts, shows, albums, record sales, etc. etc etc.) Which timeframe was the band more active and brought in the most - '96 through early 2007 or late 2007 to current?

BTW - '96 through October 2007 is roughly 11 years, compared to late 2007 to current which is roughly 7 years in comparison.

May 8th, 1998 the divorce was final.

A few years later than I had thought. You mention "finalized". Was the band in some type of dormant state between '96 and the time the departure was finalized?