Last night Cindy and I went to see Night Ranger and Journey at the Amway Arena in Orlando, Fl. The kids bought the tickets for Mother's Day/Birthday. The seats weren't bad. We sat slightly to the left in front of the stage. I figured the sound would be pretty good since it would come straight at us and not bounce around. We sat down with a couple of beers (10 bucks a pop!) and watched the roadies finish getting ready for the show.
It's amazing how the "concert clientele" has changed over the years. Last night in front of us was a dude with his wife and two preteen sons, couples from their late teens to late thirties, a lot of fans my age (or older) and a number of small kids. It was like going to the movies! When I saw Alice Cooper in 1973, there was nothing but teenagers and young adults. The lights went down and everyone lit up! Not anymore, nothing but clean smoke free air! Obviously the groups get older and so do their fans. We saw Night Ranger twice in the early 80's and Journey twice during the same time frame. The arena had the upper bowl blocked off (and parts curtained off) and the area around from the edge of the stage around the back to the other side was blocked off too. The three quarters or so of the lower bowl that the fans sat was pretty much filled up. Not too many empty seats. On each side of the stage were two
enormous video screens. Through my binoculars I could check out the impressive sound equipment and mixing boards on the back of the floor directly in front of the stage. There was also a video camera which I'm sure was going to fill those video screens.
We weren't there more than 20 minutes or so when the lights dimmed and Night Ranger took the stage. Jack Blades on bass, backing and lead vocals, Brad Gillis on guitar, backing vocals, Kelley Keagy on drums, backing and lead vocals, Joel Hoekstra on guitar, backing vocals and Christian Cullen on keyboards and backing vocals.
This is the latest reincarnation of Night Ranger. Blades, Gillis and Keagy were the original founding members along with Jeff Watson on guitars and Alan Fitzgerald on keyboard. This was the lineup for their initial success in 1982 and the one I remember most!
The stage was set with Keagy's drum riser to the right of stage (as opposed to the usual center stage setup). When I first went to a Night Ranger concert, I couldn't figure out the reason for this. It soon became apparent when I realized he also sang lead vocals and he could see the fans (and vice versa). Brad Gillis played to the right, Jack Blades in the center, Joel and Christian were on the left side of the stage.
Brad Gillis played his original red Fender-styled Strat (Fernandes?) with the Floyd Rose tremolo unit, Seymour Duncan pickups and a special wireless unit under the pickguard. The guitar looks beat, but boy, does it sound sweet! Joel Hoekstra played a Gibson Les Paul Standard gold top (also a Flying-V and an acoustic). Jack Blades played what looked like a Hamer bass, white, hollow body with two pickups.
The band played all of their hits including a few from Jack Blades' tour of duty with Damn Yankees. Sing me Away, Eddie's Comin' Out Tonight, When You Close Your Eyes, Don't Tell Me You Love Me, Sister Christian (with Deen Castronovo, Journey's drummer on drums while Kelley sang), and (You Can Still) Rock in America and High Enough and Coming of Age from Damn Yankees.
Brad Gillis is fantastic on guitar. He has always been one of my favorites over the years. I love his aggressive attack! His work with the Floyd Rose is genius! Joel Hoekstra was pretty good also. I was wondering if they were going to play (You Can Still) Rock in America due to Jeff Watson's eight-finger tapping effect during the solo. They did and Joel did a great job with it!
Hats off to Night Ranger! It was great to go back to 1982!
After a half hour or so break, Journey took stage...
Journey was a favorite band of mine back in the late 1970's. Me, my cousin Alan Schroeder and friend Gary Miller discovered Infinity, their first album with Steve Perry, with a little song called "Lights". From that point it was all Journey all the time. I had the pleasure of seeing Journey for the first time with the original line up of Steve Perry, Neil Schon, Ross Valory, Greg Rollie and Aynsley Dunbar. The concert was at the Miami Jai Lai fronton. We sat a few rows back in the center of the stage. Thin Lizzy opened. What a great concert!
Journey this time around has only two of the original members from that time. Neil Schon (guitar) and Ross Valory (bass). Now we have Jonathan Cain, (from the great super group, the Babys) (keyboard, vocals), Deen Castronovo (drums, vocals) and Arnel Pineda (vocals).
Neil Schon was on the right side of the stage. He mainly played a Gibson Neal Schon Signature Les Paul. It's pretty cool with diamond inlays, a Floyd Rose tremolo and Fernandes pickups. He also played a white Fender Stratocaster with a rosewood neck for the song "Lights". Ross Valory, who mainly stayed at center stage in front of the drum riser played a number of different basses. Nothing I could identify. Occasionally Jonathan Cain (keyboards on the left side of the stage) would step out and play rhythm guitar using either a Fender Telecaster, Strat or a Gibson SG Standard. Arnel Pineda was all over the stage when he sang and would disappear when Deen Castronovo sang a couple of Steve Perry's hits.
Journey played through their catalog of hits. They started with Separate Ways and on into Stone In Love, Only The Young, Lights, Wheel In The Sky, Faithfully, Don't Stop Believin', and Anyway You Want It among others. Neil stepped out with a guitar solo or two. The only problem was his playing speed blurred the notes into white noise sometimes. Still, I'm not complaining! Jonathan Cain played some great piano and along with Deen's drumming and Ross's solid bass, the band was as tight as I remember.
They did have an odd turn in the middle of the concert with Neil playing what looked like an electric mandolin and Jonathan playing a harmonica. I thought I was transported back to a Paul Butterfield Blues concert! Arnel Pineda did a good take on the great Steve Perry. I've heard all of the "Journey lite", "Journey tribute" band cracks. It's got to be a difficult turn with Steve Perry's ghost always in the background.
Two hours later it was over. After the concert, Cindy remarked how she missed Steve Perry's heart and soul in the band. She felt she could see Steve coming out of Arnel on some of the songs. I had to agree. Hearing Don't Stop Believin' just wasn't the same. Still it was a great show by both bands and I would recommend to any Night Ranger or Journey fan to go and check them out.
For an evening, Cindy and I felt great! It was wonderful to go back and experience once more the joy and happiness music makes us feel...
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