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Saturday, 15th July 2006
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Charlotte, NC, USA - Media Reviews

Those songs from our younger days still touch the heart By Courtney Devores

I never went to a rock concert in 1981, but after Saturday's Journey/Def Leppard double-header, I feel like I have.

A few years ago neither were selling out amphitheaters. Journey was playing state fairs.

So what made this lineup, with seats topping out at $75, the surprise hot ticket of the summer? Nostalgic hits and tight players who are still on top of their game decades after they peaked.

You would think Journey for one would lack something without singer Steve Perry. Perry's sound-alike replacement, Steve Augeri, is temporarily off the tour because of a throat infection. Third up was Jeff Scott Soto, a scruffy-looking 40-year-old. Between him and drummer Deen Castronovo, who sang "Open Arms" and "Faithfully," fans barely noticed the absence of Perry and Augeri.

When I turned to watch the sea of pumping fists behind me as Journey bashed through its finale, "Separate Ways," I realized it isn't necessarily the musicians, but the songs that draw fans. The same songs draw crowds to see tribute and nostalgia acts at Amos' regularly.

Jani Lane, the Warrant singer whose substance-abuse problem became reality TV on VH1's "Celebrity Fit Club" last season, plays Amos' Saturday. (8:30 p.m., $12). I doubt he'll put on the same caliber show as Def Leppard and Journey, but songs such as "Down Boys" and "Cherry Pie" may transport you back to high school cruising the mall parking lot.

There's freedom in recapturing simpler youth in song. When I heard the first notes of both Def Leppard's "Hysteria" and "Love Bites," I got butterflies. Suddenly I regressed into a lovelorn 12-year-old girl with an unrequited crush listening to my headphones in the back of Mom's Oldsmobile.

By Charlotte Observer 2006.

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