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Ugh. Saw this tour last night. Let me get this out front - my wife bought us tickets as my "birthday present". Truth be told, she really wanted to see Heart, and dragged me along. Now, I've always dug Neal Schon's guitar playing, so it wasn't much of a stretch for me. But, holy smokes, was this a bad show. And a really weird crowd mix.
The Wilson sisters definitely still have it. Their pipes are strong. As strong as a house. (Which is about the same size as Ann Wilson.
) Their guitar player blew chunks, though. The guy had reasonable chops, but was constantly playing out of time. He just couldn't find the groove. It was almost as painful as the ear infection I have, while enduring 20th row center seats at a loud, bad concert.
The lesbian quotient in the crowd was very high. Nothing wrong with lesbians, but these were mixed in with the typical "rocker" quotient for a standard show plus an unusually high proportion of seniors. I mean real seniors. A hell of a lot of 60+ couples at this show. :think: I don't know how to explain, other than perhaps Journey gaining a new fan base by limiting their recent release to WalMart-exclusive sales. Like I said, a weird crowd mix.
Anyway, on to Journey. They were tight as a band, and had helluva chops all around. And the new singer dude (Philipino, IIRC?) has talent and sounds just like Steve Perry. It's spooky. Unfortunately, he also looks like a shorter, skinnier version of William Hung. :ROTF:
The first third of the show was reasonably good. But Schon was having equipment problems throughout. He kept motioning to and (between songs) discussing with the techs on the sideline. He was clearly pissed at them for repeatedly failing to fix the issue, and it was definitely affecting his playing mojo. I wouldn't doubt that someone got fired after last night's show. At the very least, they got a major ass-chewing. I think at one point he may have even broke a string, and went completely out of tune before a guitar swap.
Anyway, Journey's set then led into a few of their sappier songs, and then some of the new release's material. They did about 4 or 5 songs worth, IIRC. Basically all in a row. And they completely lost the crowd at this point. As in considerable numbers of people sitting down, and many even leaving. Bad move, poor set planning. Too much sap and unknowns, back-to-back.
At this point, my ear infection had had enough pain, and we bailed. I was really disappointed. Having seen Journey a few times before, they've usually been good shows and Schon has always kicked ass. Not last night.
On a side note: it was cool to see Neal's guitars, too. I suspect he is endorsement-shopping right now. His Floyd'd Les Pauls w/sustainers were all present. And, IIRC, he's talked about being unhappy with how Gibby has treated him. But he also played a very cool strathead Fender Tele, possibly set-neck, with the same exact specs. Flame-top, binding and all. It looked badass. And he also brought out a Floyd'd custom PRS with the same set-up, too. Hope he lands with Fender, as that guitar was my favorite. :P
The Wilson sisters definitely still have it. Their pipes are strong. As strong as a house. (Which is about the same size as Ann Wilson.
) Their guitar player blew chunks, though. The guy had reasonable chops, but was constantly playing out of time. He just couldn't find the groove. It was almost as painful as the ear infection I have, while enduring 20th row center seats at a loud, bad concert. The lesbian quotient in the crowd was very high. Nothing wrong with lesbians, but these were mixed in with the typical "rocker" quotient for a standard show plus an unusually high proportion of seniors. I mean real seniors. A hell of a lot of 60+ couples at this show. :think: I don't know how to explain, other than perhaps Journey gaining a new fan base by limiting their recent release to WalMart-exclusive sales.
Like I said, a weird crowd mix.Anyway, on to Journey. They were tight as a band, and had helluva chops all around. And the new singer dude (Philipino, IIRC?) has talent and sounds just like Steve Perry. It's spooky. Unfortunately, he also looks like a shorter, skinnier version of William Hung. :ROTF:
The first third of the show was reasonably good. But Schon was having equipment problems throughout. He kept motioning to and (between songs) discussing with the techs on the sideline. He was clearly pissed at them for repeatedly failing to fix the issue, and it was definitely affecting his playing mojo. I wouldn't doubt that someone got fired after last night's show. At the very least, they got a major ass-chewing. I think at one point he may have even broke a string, and went completely out of tune before a guitar swap.
Anyway, Journey's set then led into a few of their sappier songs, and then some of the new release's material. They did about 4 or 5 songs worth, IIRC. Basically all in a row. And they completely lost the crowd at this point. As in considerable numbers of people sitting down, and many even leaving. Bad move, poor set planning. Too much sap and unknowns, back-to-back.
At this point, my ear infection had had enough pain, and we bailed. I was really disappointed. Having seen Journey a few times before, they've usually been good shows and Schon has always kicked ass. Not last night.
On a side note: it was cool to see Neal's guitars, too. I suspect he is endorsement-shopping right now. His Floyd'd Les Pauls w/sustainers were all present. And, IIRC, he's talked about being unhappy with how Gibby has treated him. But he also played a very cool strathead Fender Tele, possibly set-neck, with the same exact specs. Flame-top, binding and all. It looked badass. And he also brought out a Floyd'd custom PRS with the same set-up, too. Hope he lands with Fender, as that guitar was my favorite. :P
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