JOURNEY CONCERT REVIEW 2005 ON ROCK N ROLL UNIVERSE

Flashback: 25 years, to 1980, when I last saw Journey, at Tingley Coliseum, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on their 'Departure' tour. The band, which at this time consisted of Steve Perry, Neal Schon, Greg Rollie, Ross Valory and Steve Smith, were well on their way to being the multi platinum stars that ruled the 80's, and frankly were utterly boring in concert, being upstaged by the antics of their opening act The Babys, whose frontman John Waite pleased the crowd by running around the stage armed with a bottle of Jack Daniels, and in whose ranks also featured a young keyboardist by the name of Jonathan Cain, who soon afterward would join the headliners during their ascent to superstardom throughout the '80's and into the 90's. In contrast, Journey stood almost stock still, and their energy level was uninspiring to say the least. Sure, Steve Perry had a great voice, and there's no doubt the others were, and are excellent musicians, but they were just...so...bland, their only saving grace on that night being Schon's excellent guitar work, albeit restrained within the confines of Top 40 pop rock. Perhaps it was the fact that at the time I was used to the pure rock power of Zeppelin, the drug fueled recklessness of Aerosmith, the metal onslaught of Motorhead, or the youthful exuberance of then young upstarts such as Iron Maiden, Saxon or Diamond Head that caused me to think the band were rather tame, but I still don't think so. Their stage show at the time was as bland as I perceived their music to be. Now, let me say that I was, and still remain a huge fan of the band's first three albums, pre- Steve Perry, which although they sold next to nothing in comparison to what they later achieved commercially, were much more successful artistically, at least in my opinion.

Flash forward 25 years, it's now 2005, and here I am again, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, same city, different venue, this time the outdoor Journal Pavilion for an "Evening With Journey", on the 'Generations' tour, which is billed " A Celebration Of 30 Years Of Journey". Well, everyone, unless they've done something particularly heinous in nature, deserves a second chance, I suppose. So, doing my best to totally erase my impressions of the band in a live situation still left from my earlier experience a quarter of a century earlier, I sank into my seat and anticipated the worst, while at the same time, hoping for the best, at the very least, it would be a night away from home.

Shortly after 7:30 p.m the band hit the stage, and what do I hear, but the familiar opening notes of "Of A Lifetime", the opening track to the band's self titled debut, and one of the best songs in the Journey canon ever. Well, instantly my ears perked up, as the band , which currently consists of founding members Schon and Valory,long standing keyboardist Cain, and relative newcomers drummer extraordinaire Deen Castronovo and vocalist Steve Auguri, absolutely smoked through a selection of tracks from the early albums such as "Kohoteuk", Nickel & Dime" and "Mystery Mountain". Schon in particular,showed from the beginning why he's one of the absolute best in the world when it comes to guitar players, playing like a man possessed as they tore through these hard rock fusion classics. What an incredible start, and for 35 minutes, as the sun was beginning to set to the west of the amphitheater, it was as if one were transported back into time to a place where only the music mattered, with no commercial concerns, one that was in stark contrast to the moribund playing I'd witnessed so long ago now it seems. What an incredible ride, and it was only just beginning. Cain handled the vocals for this portion of the set, and did an admirable job, not only replicating the keyboard work but also the vocals which were originally courtesy of Greg Rollie. Afterwards, they launched into several songs from their first album to feature Perry, 'Infinity,' including "Patiently." the first song Schon ever wrote with Perry, Castronovo surprising with a dead on rendition of Perry's vocals, then shortly before the first hour mark was to hit, the first set was over, the band promising to come back after a short break "To play all the hits from the 80's and 90's and beyond".

After said short break, that's exactly what they did. If you can think of a Journey song that was a hit, or even close to being a hit, well that's what you got, from "Wheel In The Sky" and "Lights" all the way to "Open Arms" and Separate Ways". Say what you will about Journey, but you've got to be at the very least impressed by their ability to write song after song after song that not only were incredible hits, but were able to strike a chord with millions of people not only during that time period, but all the way until the present day. Countless bands struggle their entire careers to come up with even one song that will become standards, but Journey has them by the truckload, and they delivered them one by one to an ecstatic crowd. Listening to Schon play the solos to these songs, you're also reminded that even the guitar parts are so well constructed as to become hummable, you have to give major props to the man for achieving that in itself.

Whether it's the fact that with the integration of Castronovo and Auguri this has given the band new life, or Schon's side projects have inspired him to rock out more, I'm not sure, but the fact is this is a revitalized band, tight as a drum, even the ballads have a renewed sense of feeling. Auguri is a great frontman, showing an exuberant energy that Perry definitely lacked in my previous experience, cajoling and playing to the crowd effortlessly, while hitting the notes Perry hit almost perfectly, although at the same time adding just enough of his own personality as to not sound like a mere imitation, while Valory and Castronovo combine to form a formidable rhythm section. Valory's rock solid bass work working counterpart to Castronovo's manic, powerful drum work, while Cain's keyboard work fleshes out the sound, in an unobtrusive, yet essential way, if he weren't there, there'd be a huge hole in the band's sound. Speaking of the sound, although the band aren't generally perceived as being particularly heavy in nature, I'd liken their sound, at least live these days as being no less heavy than Sammy Hagar era Van Halen, and with Schon's playing being incredible throughout every song, I'd have to rank him as being up there with Eddie Van Halen, if not better than his work with VH during that time, and Castronovo is an incredible drummer, it's easy to see why artists such as Steve Vai, Ozzy and Paul Rodgers have all sought out his services, the man simply is fantastic, musically he lends a more progressive edge to even the ballads, making them rock out much more than on record.

Now, this is not to say that this second set was all about just playing the greatest hits. Definite highlights included a spirited, fantastic instrumental version of "The Star Spangled Banner", courtesy of Schon, which was played while the giant screens on either side of the stage interposed live shots of his playing with video of the American flag, while on the monitors, which were placed above the stage, fireworks were shown "Bursting In Air".Later on, another surprising highlight, and one that I'd never thought I'd see or hear at a Journey show, an incredible version of Hendrix's "Voodoo Child(Slight Return)" with Schon on vocals, which segued into "Third Stone From The Sun"., on which Schon not only conjured up memories of the best of Jimi along with a Santana-esque vibe, while Castronovo attacked the drums with primal fury which would be the envy of many a metal band. Shades of Hendrix came to the fore again a few songs later, when during the intro to "Walks Like A Lady," which Valory sang in a most convincingly raspy blues voice, he found a way to fit in part of "Still Raining, Still Dreaming," before going into a blues jam which, with it's dueling guitar and keyboard work, recalled Deep Purple at times. There was a definite harder edge to even the most mellow ballads, and in the more rocking songs, the band instrumentally sounded not unlike Schon's new side project Soul SirkuS, which is to say they were more hard rocking than I'd have presumed. In addition to the hits, the band previewed three songs from their upcoming 'Generations' album, which went over quite well with the crowd despite being relatively unfamiliar to most in attendance, and if these songs are any indication of the material contained on the disc, Journey fans are in for a treat, as they sound a bit heavier than their more recent output.

Finally, after approximately two hours and forty five minutes, the band ended up with an encore of "Lovin, Touchin' Squeezin," which commenced with a most blues worthy jam featuring Jonathan Cain on harmonica, and contained yet again more smoking guitar from Schon, and was a fitting end to what proved to be a quite enjoyable night of music.

The bottom line is that regardless of what your opinion of Journey has been in the past, or is today, these guys are incredible musicians who put on a great show. Even a non Journey fan would find something to enjoy amongst the music presented, and if you're a casual or die hard fan, you're going to absolutely love what you're hearing. We left impressed, and if you ask me, the band is, after 30 years, playing and sounding better than ever. A wonderful time was had by all.