REVIEW
What: Journey with Loverboy
and Night Ranger
When: Tuesday night
Where: Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre
Rating: 4 (out of five)
You can forget all about Marty McFly and his retrofitted Delorean. The quickest way to go back in time in 2012 is to attend an '80s rock extravaganza featuring the likes of Journey, Loverboy and Night Ranger.
Last night's sold-out concert at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre was proof of that. In fact, there was such a footloose, '80s feel to the four-hour concert, it was hard to argue with the results, however discerning your musical tastes. The only requirement? You had to buy into the night in order to fully enjoy the ride. Those who didn't probably thought it sucked.
There wasn't anything remotely newsworthy to report on the music side -- which is entirely the point of an exercise such as this. The bands put the emphasis on fun, trotting out every back-to-back guitar solo and classic rock cliche known to mankind.
This was a night dedicated solely to the good times, the memorable moments of rock music past when football stadiums were full of party people and FM radio was dominated by a particular brand of band who had as much attitude and style as talent, as many hooks and choruses as they did cheeky videos.
The exact type which took to the stage on Tuesday night in Victoria for the final night stop on Journey's tour of sa国际传媒.
Night Ranger, the five-piece fronted by singer-bassist Jack Blades, was up first with its hair-friendly stadium rock, which they delivered to a modest crowd as if they were headlining Wembley.
It was hard not to like the band's energy, in part because they knew how to pace their set. After a somewhat sloppy Sister Christian -- far away the biggest song of their career -- Night Ranger sprinted into (You Can Still) Rock in America, a jacked-up anthem far more indicative of the band's 35-minute set.
Loverboy's Mike Reno was in fine vocal shape for his band's well-received appearance, hitting some seriously high notes on The Kid is Hot Tonite, the first song of the entire night to roust the crowd from its seats. He did the same during Turn Me Loose, to utter adulation from the audience.
Reno was a force of nature, even though he was a little heavier and a little thinner on top than most remember. Dressed in black, with a pair of wraparound shades -- the only red being his trademark bandana -- he was every bit the conquering rock star.
Reno and his bandmates made the most of their 50 minutes, save for a totally unnecessary (albeit well-received) battle royale between drummer Matt Frenette and bassist Ken (Spider) Sinnaeve, who went head-on for what seemed like an eternity.
It was that type of night. Everything that should not have worked came up aces; everything from a slice of double-cheese stage banter to a cringe-worthy power ballad had fans going nuts. It was like the past two decades of musical evolution never existed.
"It kind of feels like the weekend to me," Reno said, riding a wave of appreciation from the crowd near the end of its set. "Of course, every day feels like the weekend to Loverboy."
Indeed it must.
Here's the kicker: Journey took what Loverboy and Night Ranger did and multiplied it ad infinitum, from its very first note to the close of its 90-minute set.
Four songs in, when the group dropped a spot-on Faithfully and had the crowd singing its praises, it was all-out insanity.
When the group got around to the meat of its set, trotting out one hit after another, the thunder being brought to the stage was even more impressive.
The catalyst was singer Arnel Pineda, who joined the group in 2007. The fact that you could close your eyes and hear Steve Perry, the longtime frontman for the group and singer of its most famous songs, was only part of it. Pineda was frenetic phenom, a performer who made up for his imperfections with an engaging sense of theatricality.
He didn't say much to the audience, but that mattered little. He had some help -- drummer Dean Castronovo handled lead vocals on Keep on Runnin', and shared duties with keyboardist Jonathan Cain on Just the Same Way -- but he matched blistering Journey guitarist Neal Schon, the group's towering presence and top songwriter, as the night's co-MVP.
There is no way that Journey could have known, way back in 1981, that their much-ballyhooed and hugely successful seventh album would bear such a prescient title.
Escape, the album which spawned the non-stop megahit, Don't Stop Believing, is not simply an apt moniker -- it's a catch-all term for everything Journey in 2012.
Escapism is what the long-running San Francisco band provides in concert. Forget that it's style of arena rock looks and sounds distinctly out of place alongside what dominates the charts today. If you're looking for fun, Journey is your Rodney Dangerfield.
They might not get respect from some circles, but they certainly deserve it.
