Journey, Steve Miller Band -- Live Review
Saturday, May 17, 2014 at 08:45AM Editor's note: today's show review comes to us from longtime poster Bob. If you have a show review to share, email me at allyson@bringbackglam.com.
On Thursday, May 15, my wife and I went to the Journey, Steve Miller and Tower of Power concert at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, CA. On the day of the show, we had lots of questions. The biggest one was if the show would even happen because Southern California had been hit pretty hard by wildfires that week, and many events were canceled. The second was if we would make it to the show on time. Since this is a triple bill that needed to be over by 11:00, the concert was starting promptly at 6:45 which is a little too early for working people who have to battle traffic to get there. The last question was how the bands would sound. This was the first date of the tour which could mean that the bands were either well-rested and ready to rock, or a little rusty from time off.
As it turns out, we did not make it there on time. By the time we fought through the traffic, and walked about ten minutes to the venue, Tower of Power was already playing their last song: the always show stopping, "What is Hip." I was really bummed that we missed most of TOP's 45-minute set, but we did catch most of "What is Hip." TOP has been doing it since 1968, and with four of the founding members still in the band, they still bring it at an extremely high level: funky, tight, and completely in your face horn-driven soul -- just the way you want it. If you see this tour, do whatever you can to be in your seat before TOP hits the stage.
Next up, after what was only about a 15-minute break was the Steve Miller Band. They opened up with "Jungle Love." The song sounded decent, but they played it several keys lower than the original which made me wonder if Miller's voice was still up to the task of performing. Fortunately, Miller and crew picked up steam as the night went on, and by about the fourth song, they had blown the dust off and were sounding great. they played pretty much every hit you'd want to hear, along with some pleasant surprises. Stevie Guitar showed off
his impressive chops with a great version of "Gangster of Love" with just him and his acoustic guitar. While he had his acoustic out, he did a simply gorgeous version of "Wild Mountain Honey." by this point, his voice was fully warmed up and he actually sang the keyboard parts himself. Hopefully he'll keep this as part of the set for the rest of the tour -- it was truly a highlight. Overall, Miller's set was really good -- a tight band playing lots of timeless tunes that had the crowd on their feet and singing along. Honestly, I think they'll get even better as the tour goes along. they were just a little rusty at the beginning, but they got noticeably better as the night went on. Steve Miller definitely can still make a guitar sing. he plays with taste, not flash: a lesson that the next guitarist who took the stage that night could benefit from learning.
So, at about 9:20 Journey hit the stage and the crowd went crazy. They opened up with "Be Good to Yourself." After about two vocal lines out of Arnel Pineda's impressive pipes, some drunk girl behind us shrieked, "He
sounds just like their old singer!!!" The dude's been in the band for six years already.
You'd think everybody would know by now that Pineda can out-Perry Perry at this point, but that'll teach me to over-estimate the masses, I guess. They played right up until 11:00 doing mostly their 80s-era hits while sprinkling in a few of their newer tunes. As you might imagine, everybody stood, cheered and sang
for the 80s tunes, then sat right back down when they'd play a newer song.
How did they sound? In a word...awesome...And I don't even really like Journey all that much. Pineda's vocals were particularly impressive, although his stage banter could use some improvement. Understandably, he still
speaks with a thick Filipino accent so the crowd couldn't always understand what he was saying. The crowd would just kind of nervously cheer whenever he'd yell something. Only when he yelled "San Diego!!!" into the mic would the crowd completely know it was okay to cheer back. Speaking of vocals, I had no idea that
Deen Castronovo had such a strong voice. I've been a huge fan of his drumming prowess since his days playing sessions for Shrapnel Records in the 80s, but he absolutely blew me away when he sang lead on "Mother, Father" which got a hugereaction from the crowd. By contrast, Jonathan Cain's turn at lead
vocals on "Any time That You Want Me" was underwhelming at best. Cain's keyboard solo was decent though -- more of a nice montage of melodies strung together by brief flourishes. At one point, he hinted at "Who's Crying Now" which started with a big cheer from the crowd then almost a sound of immediate letdown when
he moved onto something else.
And now, let's turn to Mr. Ego himself, Neil Schon. Don't get me wrong, I love guitar solos. One of the things I miss most about today's hard rock is guitar solos. I also freely acknowledge that Neil Schon has chops and
technique to burn. What he clearly doesn't have is the ability to edit himself. These days he seems to be more concerned with showing how fast he can play, or how high of a note he can squeeze out of his guitar than putting together an interesting solo. It really got old after about four songs. also, why do so many
guitarists these days feel the need to play "The Star Spangled Banner?" Hendrix at Woodstock set the bar so high that when I see any other guitarist do it, it almost seems like a waste of time. that said, the crowd loved
it, so clearly my opinion on the subject is in the minority. :)
"But Bob", I hear you say, "You said Journey sounded awesome, then went on to complain about a bunch of things." Well my friends, that's because I'm nit-picking like I always do. Overall, Journey really did
put on a great show. They are playing in top form these days, and they absolutely had the crowd in the palm of their hands. Listening to them play, and marveling at how good they sounded, i turned to my wife and
said, "If I was about 80 pounds lighter, and still had big poofy hair, it could easily be 1983 right now."
If this tour comes to your area, I highly recommend going. Not only are all three bands playing well, but the diversity of musical styles is what makes this tour so great. The blistering soul of Tower of Power, the timeless classic rock and tasty guitar of the Steve Miller Band, and the anthemic arena rock of Journey all work together
brilliantly as a single night of music.
Reader Comments (17)
I thought the Steve Miller band was great they were the highlight of the evening.
I was really looking forward to hearing the lead singer of Journey. But i felt the band was overpowering all the vocals.
I have seen video of the band and the vocals were great. Just could not hear them well. In a way it seemed they were trying to focus more on Neil Schon. I agree with the original poster. about what he said him.
Schon? Well, the guy can't get past the fact that he isn't Hendrix, Beck, or even Vai. Simply, he tries too hard and tarnishes his reputation (as a guitarist, not as an immoral bastard who makes most men look saintly). Mr. Pucker Lips is slowly traipsing into obscurity (with Cain), riding the rails as a nostalgia act (admission: a good one), but tarnishing the heritage of the band while baiting the new singer into thinking this is something to proud of (to be fair, Pineda is amazing . . . as a lapdog for the band. But he wasn't hired to break new ground that would test the formula).
So I take Steve Miller in slo-mo over Journey in repeat.
Him, excellent points about Journey. Schon really need to calm down. Pineda and Castronovo were easily my favorite parts of their set. Steve Miller is a class act. that's all there is to it. He's done it all and still sounds really good. His solo acoustic version of "Wild Mountain Honey" gave me chills it was so good.
I saw Steve Miller and Tower of Power on separate occasions back in the day when they were at their respective heights and both were mind blowing.
I saw Steve Miller at Capital Centre in Largo, MD (since detonated) off "Fly Like An Eagle". What a complete genius he is in every way plausible.
Never did see Journey, for reasons you can imagine, coming from me. I did see Steve Perry solo as part of a Veteran's Day Event at Capital Centre in'87 or so, which also included James Brown. Perry sang "Oh, Sherri", which for all it's cheese factor, was still amazing to hear live. There's no denying Perry's voice is supernatural (or was, as the case may be).
As for Schon... What an a*sclown!
p.s. Great comments, as usual, HIM!
And I should add what others have: great review Bob. Nice to get a fresh review of some old school bands. Maybe some readers and posters will give _Tower of Power_ a listen.
And Rob, that "baby boomer kegger" comment made me laugh out loud, something I don't often do. Thank you for that.
As for the crowds, I can only speak for the NorCal ones. They are fairly diverse when it comes to the SMB. I saw him last year with the Doobie Brothers, and previous years with other opening acts. Old, young, in between. Sure, there are some that haven't woken up since the 70s, some who want to "look" like they haven't, and still others that look like first time listeners. Everyone seems to have a great time. The one bummer? No mosh pit. I kid.
Classic Rock Re-visited recently posted a review of a nostalgia package tour that included Foreigner and Styx. It is worth reading (many of the reviews there are), if only to get a nicely balanced view of the best and worst of what these sorts of tours offer. I'd suggest you give it a look Rob. I suspsect you and yours will have a great time. Heck, you should write a review and submit it to Allyson.
so much for doing it without the benefit of money. you people are just selfish and greedy. maybe protective, but if so, a little too fuckin much so!