Steve Perry: Raised On Radio Tour Review

Things have not been easy this year for Journey. The multi-platinum rock band battled back from the brink of extinction to record the group's first new album in more than three years, only to see the record greeted by radio, press and public with more ennui than enthusiasm.
  Journey's tour was delayed month after month, while the group auditioned what must have seemed like an endless procession of drummers. But once on the road, doing what the band does best - playing live concerts - things should have settled down, as the immensely popular rockers sold out arena after arena across the country.
  Five months ago, the tour opened under the balmy night skies of the Sierra Nevadas at Calaveras County Fairgrounds, and on Saturday Journey returned home triumphant, preceded onstage at the Cow Palace by no less distinguished a set of fellow San Franciscans than the NFC division champions, the San Francisco 49ers.
  The rabidly partisan crowd cheered even more madly for the rock stars than their football heroes, greeting the first few notes of every tune with wild abandon, in Journey's first hometown concert in three years.

While the quintet delivered the goods to its fans and then some, powered by the inevitable professional polish of Journey's production, staging, video close-up and lights, musically the group appears caught straddling a transition. The gleaming pop sensibilities of the latest album, Raised On Radio, have not yet been smoothly integrated into the band's highly reputed guitar onslaught provided by ace Neal Schon.
Lead singer Steve Perry, with his high, slicing voice, can dig into a slushy ballad like nobody's business, curving and twisting his vocals scrupulously around every note. On the rock side Saturday, he preferred the mid-tempo numbers over the hard, driving beat of older tunes like the pumped-up "Any Way You Want It."

  Schon appeared to be reined in by the sleek arrangements, generally punching out only a handful of brief, pointed solos at the end of tunes. The free-form Hendrix-esque solo excursions he took to introduce a couple of numbers provided his most uninhibited playing of the night. Without imbedding his work more solidly in the fabric of the music, Schon couldn't exhibit the full scope of his skills.
  But with the funky thump of the new rhythm section - bassist Randy Jackson and drummer Mike Baird - the glistening back-drop of vocal harmonies and Jon Cain's cleanly tailored keyboard sound, the band has sculpted a formidable pop approach, perhaps more ideally suited to the soaring Perry vocals.
  The program centered on selections for Raised On Radio and, although the songwriting may be among the most sophisticated in Journey's catalog, the album failed to launch any blockbuster hit singles, despite the best efforts of "Be Good To Yourself," that could serve as live flag-wavers along the lines of earlier pieces like "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" or "Don't Stop Believin'."
  Such rousing romps apparently are more properly the province of Journey the rock band than Journey the pop group.