Oh oh Kage, Journey on Today show this morning and....

[gkinsingapore]

So they did a show the night before and flew in at 4am for soundcheck.....given the mitigating circumstances I'd say he's a hell of a singer to be hitting those notes at that time of the morning after a show the night before!

I thought it sounded so-so...rhythm guitar a little lost for me and the backing vocals poorly mixed. In Any Way You Want It the wrong harmony was mixed up as the melody so it sounded a bit weird to my ears. having said that I should listen on proper speakers then comment

Also, City of Hope is (again, to me) a pathetic attempt at writing a Journey anthem by numbers.....

 

[jlbaxe]

To me they are a cover band of Journey with most of the original members. I prefer Perry and havent listen to them since.

Actually I heard Journey "Seperate ways" song on the radio at work the other day and all I could hear and see in my mind was the Mark Day vid of his band and the faces. Prefer Marks tone much more. And his singer just nails the Perry vocals.

 

[Red_Label]

The Blackstars don't cut & sound muddy and compressed, i still can't take the Fillipino guy srsly..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brpd8vfc ... r_embedded

In this youtube above, Neal doesn't seem to sell the amp, just acts like a 1 minute paycheck.

I did not hear anything you did, thought they were fine for a gig wedged between skyscrapers and 75% humidity.

I take back my earlier post, i've supported Journey since the 70's and will continue to do so, Neal is a Virtuoso in every sense of the word, not really into Blackstar though.

Whoah... Do I see a pair of Chinese Bogner Alchemist heads there?

 

[charveldan]

The Blackstars don't cut & sound muddy and compressed, i still can't take the Fillipino guy srsly..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brpd8vfc ... r_embedded

In this youtube above, Neal doesn't seem to sell the amp, just acts like a 1 minute paycheck.

I did not hear anything you did, thought they were fine for a gig wedged between skyscrapers and 75% humidity.

I take back my earlier post, i've supported Journey since the 70's and will continue to do so, Neal is a Virtuoso in every sense of the word, not really into Blackstar though.

Whoah... Do I see a pair of Chinese Bogner Alchemist heads there?

Yeah, that was one of his rigs last year.

 

[gibson5413]

I have always loved Schon's phrasing. He always picks great notes to end runs on.

 

[70strathead]

The Blackstars don't cut & sound muddy and compressed, i still can't take the Fillipino guy srsly..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brpd8vfc ... r_embedded

In this youtube above, Neal doesn't seem to sell the amp, just acts like a 1 minute paycheck.

I did not hear anything you did, thought they were fine for a gig wedged between skyscrapers and 75% humidity.

This... I was taking my son to camp yesterday morning and all I could think of was how swampy it was going to be up on stage..

I dont know how they were wearing jackets....

Neil can play anything he wants...he's Neil fucking Schon and we're not. I don't think this performance was bad at all considering the environment. Kage, let me know how Gales show is, you're stoked!

 

[Mark Day]

I think Neal is a monster, love his playing and song writing. He plays fine in this clip. I thought the vocalist was straining and was flat quite often. It's unfortunate, he could have been tired, or bad in-ears, or hoarse from allergies..who knows. I have had many bad nights both guitar wise and vocally. I just thought it was unfortunate that a band this good had this particular performance recorded. Everything was fine except the lead vocals.....and I can't even imagine the stress of having to live up to Steve Perry's legacy. I feel bad for the poor dude.

Mark

 

[polaris20]

I think Neal is a monster, love his playing and song writing. He plays fine in this clip. I thought the vocalist was straining and was flat quite often. It's unfortunate, he could have been tired, or bad in-ears, or hoarse from allergies..who knows. I have had many bad nights both guitar wise and vocally. I just thought it was unfortunate that a band this good had this particular performance recorded. Everything was fine except the lead vocals.....and I can't even imagine the stress of having to live up to Steve Perry's legacy. I feel bad for the poor dude.

Mark

Eh.......I agree. The vocals were just weak. The only thing I have to compare them to is the DVD they did (Live in Manila?) and he was plain awesome in that. Makes me wonder if he's getting burned out, just had a bad day, or if the conditions were rough for him (cold/flu, humidity, temp, etc).

I lOVE Journey, but really I still gravitate back to the old stuff mostly. I really miss Steve Perry.

 

[bigdaddyd]

I think the singer was just weak from the outfit he was wearing. I think it sucked the life out of his vocals...lol.

 

[Gainzilla]

The Blackstars don't cut & sound muddy and compressed, i still can't take the Fillipino guy srsly..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brpd8vfc ... r_embedded

In this youtube above, Neal doesn't seem to sell the amp, just acts like a 1 minute paycheck.

I did not hear anything you did, thought they were fine for a gig wedged between skyscrapers and 75% humidity.

This... I was taking my son to camp yesterday morning and all I could think of was how swampy it was going to be up on stage..

I dont know how they were wearing jackets....

Neil can play anything he wants...he's Neil fucking Schon and we're not. I don't think this performance was bad at all considering the environment. Kage, let me know how Gales show is, you're stoked!

Agreed, Its kinda hard to put down a guy who had 2 of the biggest guitar heroes of the time(Clapton & Santana) competing to have him play in their bands when he was 14 years old LMAO!!!!!

Eric is going to be amazing Ant, Ive been looking forward to for awhile now!!!

Kage

 

[Inearthed]

Have yet to see see a rock band play at that outside venue for the Today show and sound decent

This new song is pretty cool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYWLfT0Nrfs

 

[Schaf]

I think Neal is a monster, love his playing and song writing. He plays fine in this clip. I thought the vocalist was straining and was flat quite often. It's unfortunate, he could have been tired, or bad in-ears, or hoarse from allergies..who knows. I have had many bad nights both guitar wise and vocally. I just thought it was unfortunate that a band this good had this particular performance recorded. Everything was fine except the lead vocals.....and I can't even imagine the stress of having to live up to Steve Perry's legacy. I feel bad for the poor dude.

Mark

It's very difficult to sing in the morning. And, you know musicians, like they went to bed early to rest up for the show, after they probably played a show the night before. Could be a number of things but I would bet he was having a difficult time because it was in the morning. I think he's a really good singer. But, he's being compared to one of the best singers of all time. Not really fair

 

[IndyWS6]

If Schon and Perry would kiss and make up, Journey would earn twice as much money as they do today (regardless of how his voice currently sounds...) and millions of 1's and 0's could be saved on forums across the globe

 

[zz666]

Perry can't sing anymore. Well he can't hit those notes anymore. There's a reason they didn't tour for Trial By Fire and it wasn't Perry's back.

 

[IndyWS6]

Perry can't sing anymore.

Wouldn't matter - at least for a while. There is a hundred thousand MILF's that would pay top dollar for a Journey reunion tour. I'd go to watch the scenery - and because I like Journey. That's right, I said it

 

[Shawn Lutz]

I like Journey too, was the very first concert I ever attended at Cobo in Detroit, I think I was 13. Way back when Neil had the big fro so late 70's...

 

[Red_Label]

Perry can't sing anymore.

I'd go to watch the scenery - and because I like Journey. That's right, I said it

Ditto to all of that! Journey MILFs are teh hawtest! (They were pretty hawt back when they were teenagers and 20-somethings as I recall too!)

And yeah... Journey has always kicked ass. One of the few bands that can write tunes that almost everyone likes/sings-along-with, and yet still be kickass musicians and respected as such.

 

[BAN-ONE]

Perry can't sing anymore. Well he can't hit those notes anymore. There's a reason they didn't tour for Trial By Fire and it wasn't Perry's back.

And ol' Steve still gets a big share of all the profits.. The $$$ just keep rolling in.

 

[nevusofota]

I think Neal is a monster, love his playing and song writing. He plays fine in this clip. I thought the vocalist was straining and was flat quite often. It's unfortunate, he could have been tired, or bad in-ears, or hoarse from allergies..who knows. I have had many bad nights both guitar wise and vocally. I just thought it was unfortunate that a band this good had this particular performance recorded. Everything was fine except the lead vocals.....and I can't even imagine the stress of having to live up to Steve Perry's legacy. I feel bad for the poor dude.

Mark

Eh.......I agree. The vocals were just weak. The only thing I have to compare them to is the DVD they did (Live in Manila?) and he was plain awesome in that. Makes me wonder if he's getting burned out, just had a bad day, or if the conditions were rough for him (cold/flu, humidity, temp, etc).

I lOVE Journey, but really I still gravitate back to the old stuff mostly. I really miss Steve Perry.

I'm going to have to DISAGREE (somewhat) . I don't feel the vocals were all that weak overall. Sure, was he pitchy/flat in spots? Yes. I mean its rock, not a Broadway show. I've heard well known acts do way worse live (anybody see that last Creed tour vid? )

Anyway, Neil takes up for him in the first part of this backstage interview after the show and explains why the vocals may have been a bit off.

 

[Bob Savage]

I'm going to have to DISAGREE (somewhat) . I don't feel the vocals were all that weak overall. Sure, was he pitchy/flat in spots? Yes. I mean its rock, not a Broadway show. I've heard well known acts do way worse live (anybody see that last Creed tour vid? )

Anyway, Neil takes up for him in the first part of this backstage interview after the show and explains why the vocals may have been a bit off.

It sounds to me like you're disagreeing with Neal too, otherwise he wouldn't have been excusing the vocal challenges.

And why should the vocal standard be based on a sliding scale just because it's rock? Just because Creed is "lame" does not mean the bar for all other rock singers should be lowered.