Pittsburgh, PA - Media Reviews

Def Leppard And Journey By Derek Sherinian

I have waited a longtime to see Journey and Def Leppard, I have never had the opportunity to see either of them for some reason and both hold wonderful memories for me, not to mention they have written some of the most memorable songs of all time.

The seemingly odd pairing of Journey and Def Leppard became even stranger as Bob Dylan wanna be Stoll Vaughn took the stage to open the show. Steeped in Americana tradition, Vaughn delivered some powerful blues and bluegrass laden rock. Vaughn delivered a solid set of songs that failed to energize the audience (with the exception of the songs he was joined on stage by members of Journey and Def Leppard for) but wasn't bad per se. In fact I kinda liked him, he just seemed very out of place.

Journey took the stage next, opening with the most moving version of the star-spangled banner (played alone by Journey mainman Neil Schon instrumentally) I have ever heard. Playing just days after the memory of 9/11 again reared its head this was a particularly poignant moment that brought many in the audience to tears. From there the band blasted through hit after hit (do they have any songs that aren't major radio hits?) of high energy rock and roll and powerful ballads. I was disappointed to see that Steve Augeri is no longer with the band, but I was equally excited to see his replacement Jeff Scott Soto (Yngwie Malmsteen) bring his talents to the fold. I am a longtime fan of Soto and he sounds GREAT fronting Journey. Soto actually split the vocal work with drummer Deen Castronovo, who sang all the ballads and is a dead ringer for Steve Perry vocally. The band simply blew me away; they sounded better than I would have dared dream and provided solid evidence of just how they sold 75 million albums over the course of their thirty year career.

Def Leppard headlined (why?) and they came out to a huge reaction as well. Opening with "Let's Get Rocked" the band launched right into their hit list, just as Journey had done before them. Def Leppard played a slightly shorter set than Journey with a nice bit mid-set that included songs from their recent covers album YEAH, complete with costumes. Vivian Campbell does not look good dressed like Marc Bolan for the record. The band sounded a little haggard and didn't look nearly as on top of their game as Journey did but they still delivered a fun set of great songs and the audience loved every minute of it. One thing that really struck me was just how creative Def Leppard was in the eighties. When you listen to songs like "Rocket" and "Rock of Ages" these days, it is evident how completely unique they were. It's like acid trip rock radio, something I didn't think about much when I was 15.

This is a great match up of bands, each offering the same kind of appeal with entirely different musical approaches. No matter where you are in the world you should check this out. Even if you think you don't know the songs, just show up. You'll know the songs.

By The Great Nothing 2006.

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