West Springfield, MA
September 29, 2002
The concert was great! I’ve seen some mixed reviews already, but –I- had a great time! And so did my daughter and her friend. This was Holly’s (the friend) first Journey concert and her reaction after was: “That was awesome!” As usual, I have no voice left today! We chose not to stand in line for 5,6,7+ hours and to enjoy the Expo some instead, so we ended up maybe 10 rows back from the stage, dead center- not bad at all! Wish I’d brought the good camera- just had a wimpy disposable.
The concert lasted just about 2 hours- they cut the acoustic set and rearranged things a little, I think. But the whole thing was still awesome! They were dead on all night and the crowd was right with them. People seemed to like the Red 13 stuff- I saw a lot of folk go out with the CD in hand. Yeah- there were some there just because they were at the Expo and maybe weren’t hard core fans, but everyone was on their feet most of the night (I never sat down!). Steve was just awesome, as usual- he appeared to be losing his voice a bit toward the end when he was speaking, but I didn’t notice any singing trouble. Neal played incredibly well, I love the way they’ve brought Ross up in the mix more this time- you can really hear him play, and he was his usual silly self up there. Deen was great- he just amazes me and this time we were right in the center and could see him really well. Jon played wonderfully, as always. (But then I’m a little prejudiced there! J ) I, personally, love that he is doing more guitar stuff- gets out front stage more! J
Good stuff: Deen waved to us! He was backstage, looking out over the audience before the show, and my daughter and I waved- he waved back! Amused the three 20ish guys sitting next to me, when we got all “teenybopper” over that! J Overall, the sound was better than Guilford, I thought- only a couple spots where I picked up noticeable distortion. Neal did the thing before they went into Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’ where he plays a bunch of blues lines and has the audience sing ‘em back- it was, umm, amusing. But he was nice and complimented us on our singing! J
Bad stuff: They lost the sound on Steve’s mike at one point at the end of the concert- luckily, we all knew the words and were singing our hearts out! People complaining about the seating arrangements- hey, it’s small space and general admission- you get there early or you don’t get in. No different than any small club with GA seating, really. And the folks I heard wishing Perry were still with the band. No offense to any strong Perry fans, and I love what he did with Journey and always will, but Steve Augeri is doing a fantastic job, he’s incredibly talented and has a great butt, as well! To me, it’s just time to move on. (That last was an editorial statement- sorry.)
Anyway, it was a great night, no one with me came away disappointed in any way—and I can’t wait for the next tour!!!!!! J
(Oh, and I really DID get kissed by a llama!)