Journey / Foreigner / Styx - June 5th

[Faron]

I had the great pleasure of going to see three of my all time favourite bands last night at the LG Arena in Birmingham.

 

 

Styx were on first, they played an immaculate 45 minute set, opening with The Grand Illusion and closing with Renegade. Lawrence Gowan for me was very impressive vocally, he sounded very much like Dennis DeYoung at times and his keyboard playing backwards was great to see. Tommy Shaw still sounds excellent and doesn`t miss a note, James Young sounded pretty good too on Miss America, they were absolutely spot on and it`s criminal that they play such a short set, it was nice to see Chuck Panozzo come on stage for a few songs.

The crowd didn`t stand up or get going until Blue Collar Man, I was one of the only person`s standing.

 

Their two stand out songs on the night were Lady and Blue Collar Man, I had goosebumps.

 

Setlist

The Grand Illusion

Too Much Time On My Hands

Lady

Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)

Miss America

Blue Collar Man

Come Sail Away

Renegade

 

Foreigner came on and played for 60 minutes, Kelly Hansen is such a perfect fit to sing their classic stuff, no new stuff this evening just the usual greatest hits. I thought they were great, very loud, Mick Jones seemed to be really enjoying himself. They started with Double Vision and ended with a too long version of Juke Box Hero.

Kelly came out into the crowd at one time which got the masses cheering, Tom Gimbel was superb on the sax during the always great Urgent.

 

Setlist

Double Vision

Head Games

Cold As Ice

Waiting For A Girl Like You

Feels Like The First Time

Urgent

I Want To Know What Love Is

Hot Blooded

Juke Box Hero

 

At around 9.30, Journey came on stage and played for approx 90 minutes, opening with the classic Separate Ways and ending with the very disappointing choice of Lovin` Touchin` Squeezin`.

They were so loud that my ears were hurting during and definitely after, a very good performance, the drumming was loud, Schons guitar was at times brilliant, I did feel he was improvising a lot, changing the solos a little too much for my taste. Trying to not sound too critical, Arnel Pinedas vocals were quite irritating, he was screeching a little, on certain songs he was spot on but others he was a little off. Deen Castrovono sang on Mother Father which was pretty good. They played four new songs off Eclipse, they all sounded excellent but heavy.

After they played Open Arms, they went into a superbly heavy Chain Of love, one of the highlights for me.

The encore of Lovin`, Touchin`, Squeezin` was IMO a very poor choice, I know it`s part of the dirty dozen but not one of their better songs.

 

Setlist

Separate Ways

Only The Young

Edge Of The Moment

Ask The Lonely

Send Her My Love

Resonate

Stone In Love

City Of Hope

Lights

Mother Father

Open Arms

Chain Of Love

Wheel In The Sky

Be Good To Yourself

Faithfully

Dont Stop Believin`

Any Way You Want It

Lovin`, Touchin`, Squeezin`

 

My brother, my mate and I all thought Styx were the best on the night with Journey next.

[melodicrockfan]

Seeing this lineup on Sunday all beit sans Styx and FM instead and setlists don't look too shabby at all.

[Swazi]

I will go and see a similar lineup on June 22. Journey, Foreigner, Kansas & Night Ranger. Unfortunately Styx will not be playing that night. But I am REALLY looking forward to this concert !!

[Glen]

@ Faron. Nice write up mate.

 

Just a couple of points........

 

Lucky we are all different eh??! I personally hated Styx. I know Ive never been a fan, but I do really like the Paradise Theatre album. I thought most of the songs were just bloody annoying - far too drawn out. As you say the only song which really rocked was 'Blue Collar Man'.

 

Re Journey. I thought Pineda was spot on at Wembley. If anything I wish he'd sung Mother, Father as well as Dean's vocal deliverance was pretty poor I thought, which is unusual for him as he is usually v good. Bit of a mistake me thinks giving him arguably the most difficult song to sing?? He used to sing 'Still They Ride' which is much easier IMO.

 

I agree that it was LOUD - too loud IMO. To feel the bass thumping your chest in an arena that size is a rare thing these days and I think the sound engineer could have toned it down a little as it did detract from the overall sound quality.

 

Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed the Journey set - and the new songs sounded awesome eh??

 

Cheers

[Faron]

@ Faron. Nice write up mate.

 

Just a couple of points........

 

Lucky we are all different eh??! I personally hated Styx. I know Ive never been a fan, but I do really like the Paradise Theatre album. I thought most of the songs were just bloody annoying - far too drawn out. As you say the only song which really rocked was 'Blue Collar Man'.

 

Re Journey. I thought Pineda was spot on at Wembley. If anything I wish he'd sung Mother, Father as well as Dean's vocal deliverance was pretty poor I thought, which is unusual for him as he is usually v good. Bit of a mistake me thinks giving him arguably the most difficult song to sing?? He used to sing 'Still They Ride' which is much easier IMO.

 

I agree that it was LOUD - too loud IMO. To feel the bass thumping your chest in an arena that size is a rare thing these days and I think the sound engineer could have toned it down a little as it did detract from the overall sound quality.

 

Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed the Journey set - and the new songs sounded awesome eh??

 

Cheers

 

Cheers Glen

 

I try to remain objective when watching three of my faves, Styx are probably my joint favourite band with Rush and I genuinely thought they were superior on the night, possibly their sound quality was better than Journey (not as loud etc).

 

Regarding Mother Father, one of the best Journey songs, I said it was pretty good but in retrospect, I didn`t like and don`t particuarly like Deens vocals on this, the rest of the song was great.

 

Definitely too loud, sound quality wasn`t the best for an headlining act.

 

All four Eclipse songs were really good,always great to hear new songs and less of the obvious overplayed classics.

[Faron]

Seeing this lineup on Sunday all beit sans Styx and FM instead and setlists don't look too shabby at all.

 

Hope you enjoy

[Faron]

I will go and see a similar lineup on June 22. Journey, Foreigner, Kansas & Night Ranger. Unfortunately Styx will not be playing that night. But I am REALLY looking forward to this concert !!

 

That`s a fantastic line up Bernd

[Glen]

@ Faron. Nice write up mate.

 

Just a couple of points........

 

Lucky we are all different eh??! I personally hated Styx. I know Ive never been a fan, but I do really like the Paradise Theatre album. I thought most of the songs were just bloody annoying - far too drawn out. As you say the only song which really rocked was 'Blue Collar Man'.

 

Re Journey. I thought Pineda was spot on at Wembley. If anything I wish he'd sung Mother, Father as well as Dean's vocal deliverance was pretty poor I thought, which is unusual for him as he is usually v good. Bit of a mistake me thinks giving him arguably the most difficult song to sing?? He used to sing 'Still They Ride' which is much easier IMO.

 

I agree that it was LOUD - too loud IMO. To feel the bass thumping your chest in an arena that size is a rare thing these days and I think the sound engineer could have toned it down a little as it did detract from the overall sound quality.

 

Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed the Journey set - and the new songs sounded awesome eh??

 

Cheers

 

Cheers Glen

 

I try to remain objective when watching three of my faves, Styx are probably my joint favourite band with Rush and I genuinely thought they were superior on the night, possibly their sound quality was better than Journey (not as loud etc).

 

Regarding Mother Father, one of the best Journey songs, I said it was pretty good but in retrospect, I didn`t like and don`t particuarly like Deens vocals on this, the rest of the song was great.

 

Definitely too loud, sound quality wasn`t the best for an headlining act.

 

All four Eclipse songs were really good,always great to hear new songs and less of the obvious overplayed classics.

 

Personally I thought the beginning of 'Edge Of The Moment' was absolutely awesome - seeing Schon in full flow hammering out that riff. In fact the whole song was superb. Made some of their older hits sound like bubble gum pop.

[Nightrain]

great report Faron, looks like you enjoyed it a lot

 

but i'm pretty surprised Journey didn't include any songs from Revelation, I thought at least two songs should be there, Never Walk Away and After All These Years

[Faron]

great report Faron, looks like you enjoyed it a lot

 

but i'm pretty surprised Journey didn't include any songs from Revelation, I thought at least two songs should be there, Never Walk Away and After All These Years

 

Thanks mate, I was surprised too but having only a 90 minute slot and the obligatory dirty dozen, plus four new Eclipse songs,I guess they felt that a couple of older classics needed to be added instead

[Nightrain]

Journey needs at least 2 hours for a complete satisfying set I believe, or maybe 3 hours is still not enough lol, and I thought they're going to pull out 'Anything Is Possible' and 'Someone' from Eclipse as both songs are among the most classic sounding songs of the new album IMO but 'Edge of The Moment' is truly a great song, reminds me a lot to the heavier days of 'Frontiers'

[Glen]

Journey needs at least 2 hours for a complete satisfying set I believe, or maybe 3 hours is still not enough lol, and I thought they're going to pull out 'Anything Is Possible' and 'Someone' from Eclipse as both songs are among the most classic sounding songs of the new album IMO but 'Edge of The Moment' is truly a great song, reminds me a lot to the heavier days of 'Frontiers'

 

Edge Of The Moment was f awesome live!

 

Yeah, I was surprised by having nothing from Revelation as well, but I guess you can only play so much in 90 mins and 'After All These Years' is too close to 'Open Arms' which they will never drop from their set!

 

What irks me more is that the only song they play from Evolution is bloody 'Lovin Touchin Squeezin' which is the WORST song on the album IMO!! What's more they end with it.......why not end with 'Lovin You Is Easy' which would blow the roof off the joint?? Imagine Schon ending on that extended solo they do live

 

Also I tend to think that 'Wheel In The Sky' is past its sell by date.........I would much rather hear 'Winds Of March'....now that would be cool.

 

Cheers

[Faron]

Journey needs at least 2 hours for a complete satisfying set I believe, or maybe 3 hours is still not enough lol, and I thought they're going to pull out 'Anything Is Possible' and 'Someone' from Eclipse as both songs are among the most classic sounding songs of the new album IMO but 'Edge of The Moment' is truly a great song, reminds me a lot to the heavier days of 'Frontiers'

 

 

 

What irks me more is that the only song they play from Evolution is bloody 'Lovin Touchin Squeezin' which is the WORST song on the album IMO!! What's more they end with it.......why not end with 'Lovin You Is Easy' which would blow the roof off the joint?? Imagine Schon ending on that extended solo they do live

 

Also I tend to think that 'Wheel In The Sky' is past its sell by date.........I would much rather hear 'Winds Of March'....now that would be cool.

 

Cheers

 

I seem to be agreeing with you a lot lately Glen, the classic Evolution is represented by far it`s worst song, some crackers on there that could/should be played, wish they would deplete the dirty dozen and play some of their other really great songs - Winds Of March is definitely one of them.

 

I am sick of hearing the following......

 

Lovin` Touchin` Squeezin`

Any Way You Want It

Don`t Stop Believin` (Really gone off this song)

Be Good To Yourself

Lights

Open Arms

[Nightrain]

Faron, there's no way that songs should have dropped off, after all, many people are going to their concert just to hear that songs live lol

 

but to say 'lovin touchin squeezin' is the worst of Evolution, hm i don't think so as I recall the last two songs on that album are weaker, but some songs like 'do you recall', 'sweet and simple', and 'just the same way' are much better

[Faron]

Faron, there's no way that songs should have dropped off, after all, many people are going to their concert just to hear that songs live lol

 

but to say 'lovin touchin squeezin' is the worst of Evolution, hm i don't think so as I recall the last two songs on that album are weaker, but some songs like 'do you recall', 'sweet and simple', and 'just the same way' are much better

 

It`s all about personal taste and arguably the diehards who go to concerts don`t want to keep hearing the same old songs, then again they may be the minority as possibly the majority of fans do want to hear the same old songs as they don`t really know all the back catalogue.

 

LTS is the worst off Evolution in my opinion, done to death live, time to change it and replace it with Daydream or Lady Luck!

 

Do You Recall, Sweet And Simple, Just The Same Way are three of the best

[Glen]

Faron, there's no way that songs should have dropped off, after all, many people are going to their concert just to hear that songs live lol

 

but to say 'lovin touchin squeezin' is the worst of Evolution, hm i don't think so as I recall the last two songs on that album are weaker, but some songs like 'do you recall', 'sweet and simple', and 'just the same way' are much better

 

It`s all about personal taste and arguably the diehards who go to concerts don`t want to keep hearing the same old songs, then again they may be the minority as possibly the majority of fans do want to hear the same old songs as they don`t really know all the back catalogue.

 

LTS is the worst off Evolution in my opinion, done to death live, time to change it and replace it with Daydream or Lady Luck!

 

Do You Recall, Sweet And Simple, Just The Same Way are three of the best

 

well simply put any track from 4-9 would be much much better than LTS. IMO.

 

I doubt we would ever get 'Just The Same Way' again due to the double vocals......wouldn't be the same without Gregg.

 

What I would really love is an encore of 'When Youre Alone' and 'Lovin You Is Easy.

 

Cheers

[FredGarvin]

I just found out today that Journey/Foreigner/Night Ranger are playing here in Oklahoma City in September. I'd really like to go. I'm sure it will be great.

[melodicrockfan]

Journey were great, FM were excellent (always wanted to see these guys) but Foreigner were amazing, stole the show for me and Kelly Hansen had the crowd eating out of his hands from the get go, great night