Journey @ Hammersmith Apollo, London

It couldn’t have been much more than 4 or 5 years ago that some friends and I were discussing what it would take to get Journey to play on these shores. Even the possibility of a package tour with, perhaps, Foreigner, Boston and Styx seemed remote. Fast forward to present day and the fact they’ve been over 3 times in barely 2 years (with 3 different lead singers), and still manage to fill The Hammersmith Apollo seems quite unbelievable. 

I was informed of this assignment about 3 hours before the show kicked off, blissfully unaware of the support being John Parr, known to me only for the song ‘St Elmo’s Fire’. Having arrived during his last song, the only thing I know about John Parr is still the song ‘St Elmo’s Fire’. He did a pretty cool trick where he threw his pick at the bass player, who promptly caught it. Awesome. The Audience remained static and seated, though, which doesn’t fare well for the rest of the set.

So, onto tonight’s main event. The lights dim, and the crowd wait in anticipation of how internet wonderboy Arnel Pineda would fare as Journeys new vocalist. The four longstanding members kicking off with the instrumental ‘Majestic’ kept the suspense at a peak, before Arnel entered the stage like a hyper active, pint-sized Pokemon, before launching straight into ‘Never Walk Away’ an upbeat track off the new album, reminiscent of Hagar-era Van Halen. Through ‘Separate Ways’, ‘Only the Young’, ‘Stone In Love’ and an inspired vocal on ‘Keep on Running’ by drummer Deen Castrato-novo, they don’t let up, this is Journey the Rock band, far more energised and inspired than the ballad-heavy set I saw 2 years ago. ‘Ask the Lonely’ followed (my personal favourite, with it’s intro that’s somewhere between ‘Runaway’ by Bon Jovi & ‘Eye Of The Tiger’).

The inevitable ballads open with ‘Who’s Cryin’ Now’ & a new track ‘Change For the Better’, followed by the fantastic ‘Lights’, with a guitar solo that inspired a thousand Richie Sambora’s. Many old favourites follow, but the new tracks stand up too, highlights being the anthemic ‘After All These Years’ and the surprisingly heavy ‘Wildest Dreams’.

It could be argued that Arnel, vocally, sounds a bit too close to Steve Perry, his ad-libs being pretty similar to those on the records, and that some of the instrumental sections were a little un-necessary, but over all the show was great fun and Arnel exceeded all expectations as a frontman. By the time the band returned to the stage for encore’s ‘Escape’ and ‘Any Way You Want It’, the crowd was entirely won over, I had to hide my notepad in order to slap hands with Arnel and catch one of Neal Schon’s picks (which has lasted me 2 acoustic gigs so far!).

Here’s hoping to see them back next year, maybe even on that package tour with Styx, Boston & Foreigner. Judging by tonight’s triumph, anything is possible…