Journey had homefield advantage and the band would use it for all it was worth as the Summer Stadium Tour rolled into Oracle Park in San Francisco on Aug. 28.
And everybody in attendance knew that was going to happen, with pretty much all the buzz in the ballpark centered on the Bay Area group from start to finish in this five-hour show that also featured Def Leppard and the Steve Miller Band.
The only people who apparently didn’t see this coming were the tour organizers, who had Leppard scheduled to go on last — the de facto headlining spot — after Journey had just absolutely crushed its 90-minute set in front of some 25,000 fans.
No doubt, Def Leppard would pay a heavy cost for that decision. The English rock act delivered a fine set of music, but it definitely couldn’t match Journey’s performance on basically any level — including in terms of setlist, energy, musicianship and, most certainly, connection with the crowd.
Most of the fans, who were physically and emotionally spent from having just seen Journey, still stuck around to see Def Leppard take the stage. But then they began their exodus within just a few songs of the nightcap, almost like they were collectively saying, “OK, we were here for Journey, but we still wanted to check Def Leppard off our list.” Midway through the band’s set, and before it had gotten around to playing such big hits as “Rock of Ages” and “Photograph,” it appeared that at least a third of the crowd had made an exit.
This didn’t have to happen. The phrase that I kept hearing repeated from fans all night long was something like, “I thought Journey would headline in the Bay Area.” And, yes, organizers should have made that happen — if, indeed, this trek is a true co-headlining show as it’s being promoted.
Steve Miller Band also had homefield advantage, yet there simply weren’t enough fans in the stadium as he took the stage around 6 p.m. — while most people were still battling traffic and parking issues — for it to make a difference.
Still, the 80-year-old former Bay Area resident — who was the first of the three Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acts to perform on the night — made fine use of his hourlong set as he cruised through such all-time-fun classic rock radio staples as “Jungle Love,” “Take the Money and Run,” “Jet Airliner” and “The Joker.”
Then Journey hit the stage, opening their 90-minute set with a blazing double shot of “Only the Young” and “Be Good to Yourself,” and the hometown party went into overdrive.
The sextet — which consists of keyboardists Jonathan Cain and Jason Derlatka, guitarist Neal Schon, drummer Deen Castronovo, bassist Todd Jensen and vocalist Arnel Pineda — was in take-no-prisoners mode for the first portion of the set, continuing to roll through such rowdy rockers as “Stone in Love” and “Ask the Lonely” before wooing the crowd with the memorable power ballad “Faithfully.”
“San Francisco, on our 50th anniversary, we’d like to say that we are forever yours, faithfully,” Cain said as he stood before his eye-catching red grand piano.
Yes, more than a half century after a bunch of Bay Area rock vets formed the band in 1973, Journey still sounds as powerful as ever. It’s weathered the changes — and challenges — quite well, all the while continuing to enlist new generations of fans into the fold.
Even the current challenge — which is the ongoing feud between Schon and Cain over things both big and seemingly very small — can’t derail the group’s live show. Indeed, it might just push it to greater heights, as the two opposing band members seem determined to win the battle of Journey MVP each time they take the stage.
Of course, Schon takes that trophy — by a wide margin.
His fiery, yet carefully enunciated guitar parts were absolutely breathtaking to behold on such winners as “Be Good to Yourself,” “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin'” and “Who’s Crying Now?”
How is it that Schon, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and the sole remaining founding member of one of the biggest rock bands of all time, remains so underrated? It’s because he’s made his fame as part of an outfit best known for grandiose pop-rock power ballads, which basically disqualifies him from nerdy conversations over best guitarists. If he’d instead made his fortune in a hard rock band, however, he’d likely be considered an all-time great — right up there with the likes of Jimmy Page and David Gilmour.
Overall, the thing that most distinguished Journey’s set from the others on the bill was the dramatic emotional investment that these fans have in the music.
“Wheel in the Sky,” “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart),” “Lights,” “Don’t Stop Believin'” and the like aren’t just mere songs for these fans — they are Bay Area points of pride. (Even though, as I always feel compelled to point out, “Lights” was originally written about rival city Los Angeles.)
In direct comparison to that, well, Def Leppard simply didn’t stand a chance in front of Journey’s people as it unveiled a setlist filled with such easily digestible and utterly sheeny ’80s numbers as “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop),” “Foolin'” and “Armageddon It.”
The group sounded fairly good, despite lead vocalist Joe Elliott not being at the top of his vocal game, yet the whole thing just felt so lightweight after the heavy duty offering that we got from Journey.
By the time they were a half-dozen numbers into the 18-song set, and getting ready to roll into the new song “Just Like ’73,” Def Leppard had pretty much lost the majority of the crowd — some to the exits, others to indifference.
Yet, they’d redeem themselves on the last leg of the race, motivating those fans who were still in the house to get up out of their seats and enjoy a main-set-ending twofer of “Rock of Ages” and “Photograph.
Journey setlist:
1. “Only the Young”
2. “Be Good to Yourself”
3. “Stone in Love”
4. “Ask the Lonely”
5. “Escape”
6. “Who’s Crying Now”
7. “Faithfully”
8. “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin'”
9. “Open Arms”
10. “Line of Fire”
11. “Dead or Alive”
12. Guitar Solo/“I Left My Heart in San Francisco”
13. “Wheel in the Sky”
14. “Lights”
15. “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”
16. “Don’t Stop Believin'”
17. “Any Way You Want It”
Def Leppard setlist:
1. “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)”
2. “Rocket”
3. “Foolin'”
4. “Armageddon It”
5. “Animal”
6. “Love Bites”
7. “Just Like ’73”
8. “Comin’ Under Fire”
9. “Too Late for Love”
10. “Die Hard the Hunter”
11. “Two Steps Behind”
12. “This Guitar”
13. “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak”
14. “Switch 625”
15. “Rock of Ages”
16. “Photograph”
Encore:
17. “Hysteria”
18. “Pour Some Sugar on Me”
Steve Miller Band setlist:
1. “Swingtown”
2. “Serenade”
3. “The Stake”
4. “Living in the U.S.A.”
5. “Fly Like an Eagle”
6. “Abracadabra”
7. “Rock’n Me”
8. “Jungle Love”
9. “Take the Money and Run”
10. “The Joker”
11. “Jet Airliner
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