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It's official, there's nothing weirder than...

A Journey concert.

Apologies to any of their fans here, but this band is just odd.

So, last night my wife and I got roped into seeing Tower of Power, Steve Miller and Journey at The Hollywood Bowl with three other couples from our neighborhood. This is LA and the Bowl is both everything right and everything wrong about this place. It's a fantastic venue for a show, but the last two miles to the parking lot took us 40 minutes.

Hence, we missed Tower of Power, but caught the last 7 or 8 songs by the Steve Miller Band. I thought that four of them - The Joker, Keep On Rocking You, Jet Airliner, and Swingtown were good ol' rock n roll fun. The encore - Fly Like an Eagle - was a bit of a mess, but overall this was a good show. Then Journey came out.

In my view, never has so much talent had so much success in the service of so little. Everyone of these guys can play the sh*t out of his instrument (including vocals) and everyone gets a solo or 3 to show that off. Well, everyone except for the guy who played an inaudible (to my ear) 12 string on half the songs. He may not have even been plugged in.)

Other than the obligatory 5 songs in the middle from their new record - which no one wanted to hear and made for an excellent bathroom break - every song was a familiar hit. But...

Every moment felt, hollow, empty, and scripted to the last detail. Even when they rocked 'em up, these songs just get louder, not more exciting.

Neal Schon is a highly skilled player, but he broke the guitar players' first commandment: Thou shalt never solo to the Star Spangled Banner, unless thoust first name is spelled Jimi. His isn't.

I vaguely remembered that Journey had replaced Steve Perry with a Filipino singer they found on you tube. I didn't realize that it was a miniature Filipino half the size of the next smallest band member. There is IMO nothing weirder than hearing familiar, empty pop hits unsuccessfully rocked up by an expert band led by (effectively) a Filippino midget.

And that's what I saw last night. Highly recommended for those who enjoy the surreal.
martykl
chayro
3,012 posts
 
Your understanding of what is wrong with Journey shows a much
higher level of insight into music. Journey is, and always
was, nothing but a product. Yes, all commercial music is a
product and someone has to make some money, but bands like
Journey just put all the bad things together in one place. As
to the singer - for some reason, we can't accept an Asian
frontman in a rock band. It is well-known that Freddie
Mercury, Indian by birth, passed for white his entire life, as
nobody would accept a non-European in that role. Sad but
true.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,319 posts
 
Chayro - Agree with your take (and Marty's) on Journey but c'mon..."...nobody would accept a non-European in that role."? Seriously?? Maybe I'm missing what you are trying to say there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:African-American_rock_musicians
chayro
3,012 posts
 
There are a couple of documentaries on Queen, all excellent, by the way. They discuss Freddie's upbringing and heritage and it was thought at the time by all involved that his non-European heritage would not be accepted in the rock industry. I can't say that FM ever specifically denied his heritage, but it was something that was never spoken of until very near his death. And, as we all know, in music and perhaps moreso in rock and rap, image makes or breaks you. This probably applies to classical as well, but it's somewhat less obvious. Somewhat. Ghosthouse, when I said non-European, I should have been more specific. I was referring to Freddie's Indian heritage and the fact that it was believed at that time that he could not suceed unless it was supressed. Unfortunately, the same may hold true today, as the OP had a very hard time accepting someone of Asian descent in the role of Journey frontman, regardless of his talent.
chrshanl37
835 posts
 
Um...you went to see journey....did you honestly go there with any kind of expectations? That's like knocking the karate kid part 3 for not being as good as the original
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