Journey, Louisville, 8/21/09

Full review coming soon.

Long story short? A helluva lot better than I expected.

Journey w/ Heart -- 8/21/09

As any of you who read the thread in which I essentially bitched the band out in a 10k word essay, you may know that my Journey experience began this year ass-deep in hesitation and uncertainty. To sum it up, I was frustrated with many things. Like whether or not Jonathan Cain was to be billed as Journey's keyboardist or rhythm guitarist, whether they were a rock band or the harbingers of death metal, whether or not they cared if the audience was painfully aware of their prerecorded backing vocals (and if they did, why they bothered to stand in front of their microphones at all), why crap like "Dead or Alive" was being shoved into the setlist when they could be promoting the album each band member takes the time to fellate on a constant basis, and why Neal Schon feels inclined to take every single opportunity to shove a guitar solo into everything at least three times.

But... that changed.

We purchased the five star I Love All Access tickets and were treated to the presence of Deen Castronovo. To sum that up, Deen presents himself to be an extremely nice, humble man, who took the time to speak to all of us, take pictures, and even chat with two people on the telephone at the behest of certain crowd members (one of whom he even offered and promised tickets to their Florida show later this year). It seemed apparent that stranger is a word that has no meaning to Deen, and it elevated my unenthusiastic mood.

Simply put, Heart rocked and Nancy Wilson looks incredible. I zoned out halfway through the set and envisioned splaying her on the drum riser and going to town... "These Dreams" indeed.

Journey took the stage at 9:30 to "Majestic" and then straight into "Separate Ways," which the crowd ate up. I liked the order of the setlist a lot better than last year's, and it served to pull the crowd in further. When they reached songs like "Change For the Better", I had a suspicion that Journey management had heard my bitch session about the videos, because Jon actually played the keyboards to the song (until the very end, he switched to rhythm guitar), which is the first I've seen him do. He also did the same thing for "Wildest Dream" and made sure to sing into the microphone, like Deen and Neal. I was pleased and "Wildest Dream" was one of the highlights of the evening. Live, it's far and away superior to the studio version. The faster tempo, louder backing vocals all make for an extremely high energy song. The Revelation songs were well received, though it was obvious that few people knew the words. Still the crowd remained on their feet and involved, though somewhat unsure of themselves. A far cry from the myth that the stadium empties itself for people to go piss.

Deen busted out "Mother, Father" from the closet where it was collecting dust, making this the second year in a row that our concert initiates "Mother, Father" usage on tour. This was my father's favorite performance, as he prefers it to Perry's version.

Predictably, you couldn't hear much of the band for songs like "Faithfully," "Don't Stop Believin," and "Open Arms." The crowd overpowers the band and it was pleasant to see 16,000 people basking in the glory of Journey.

Notes:

1. Dad and I sat in the third row, in between Neal and Arnel, but favoring Neal's side. We got direct eye contact and smiles from the band multiple times, probably because we were the only ones present who knew the lyrics to all of the songs.

2. Though I was somewhat annoyed with his constant indulgences, Neal is truly an incredible guitarist. The crowd was in awe of the man, and the solos and riffs were spectacular. There are few words to describe seeing Schon live, but I highly recommend it. Great stuff.

3. Ross has always had something of a subdued presence and seems to spend most of his time hanging in the back near Deen, content to let Arnel, Neal, and Jon control the stage. This time, he was out in the open, occupying Arnel's position since the Filipino was ruling the entire stage like the Tazmanian devil. Since the bass was cranked up loud enough to hear, I gained great appreciation for Ross. The bass notes seem a lot more complex and intrinsic than I ever imagined.

4. Deen is a badass. 'Nuff said.

5. For a man who rivals Neal and Perry in terms of his influence and impact on the band, Jonathan never seems to get much appreciation or love from the diehard fans. The truth is that, in his own way, Jon is the most talented member of Journey. He has been their main songwriter since '81, their keyboardist, rhythm guitarist, back up vocalist, and he's even handy with a harmonica. Two highly received moments for the concert was his jam with Neal (the camera was on Jon a lot longer during that performance than Neal) and his piano solo, which demonstrates great dexterity and skill... and it pissed me off. He's clearly got great piano chops, so why is he content to lazily hit a couple of notes during the songs? Neal, during the next album, let Jon have his uber-piano moment. Even if it's a rocker like "We Will Meet Again" or "To Be Alive Again."

Two other non-music related comments I have to make on Jon. First, his fashion sense that is constantly mocked by the fans? Well deserved. Second, the man has aged the best out of anyone in the band, Perry included. For someone with the reputation of a pansy, he could probably kick the asses of most people at the concert. Sixty years old, and built like he's half that age. The lady to my left never took her eyes off him.

6. Arnel. Arnel was superb, spectacular, amazing, magnificent. People can bitch about his accent and his voice from now until Armageddon, but he sounds truly great. The crowd was fixated on him, they ate him up. His youthful exuberance has returned and he dominated the stage demonstrating great athleticism, charisma, and skill. He interacted with the crowd in ways I never saw Augeri, Soto or [clips of] Perry. In the case of Perry, it was likely more that the crowd was mesmerized by him. Arnel lacks Perry's polish and control, and is simply too much fun to sit in a hypnotic lull.

Long story short, the concert was a highlight of my life and it seems to get better with each year.

Final score: 9.3/10.

Nice work boys!

I am glad you enjoyed the show. The band is getting better with every performance. I remember seeing them in Chile last year and then in September here in Detroit and what a improvement from the Chile show. I wished they would have played closer to the Detroit area. This is the 2nd tour I have missed since 1976, They did not play the Detroit area during 2002 Under the Radar tour and this year. The Journey continues

You went to see them in Chile? Nice! It's a shame, though, that you didn't get to see them this year. They were excellent.

Gideon wrote:You went to see them in Chile? Nice! It's a shame, though, that you didn't get to see them this year. They were excellent.

Yes I saw them In Chile. I always wanted to go see the Vina del Mar music festival. I also saw Earth, Wind and Fire and Peter Frampton plus latin bands like Miguel Bose. It was a great time, I am glad I knew the language, great people.