John Parr, best known perhaps for his one big hit St Elmo’s fire, has has always been good quality song writer however quality is not a word that you could used to describe the sound in the Metro Radio Arena as Parr and his band took to the stage. To be honest it was a distinctly lack lustre opening to the gig as they served up a version of Naughty Naughty' and followed it with the theme from the Gillette advert, "The Best A Man Can Get, apparently a track that Parr himself penned.  At times Parr came over all Bruce Springsteen-esque and although his guitarist was top notch the rest of the band proved more work-man-like and not at all what you would expect for a band opening up a major arena show. Perhaps the addition of Parr to the bill was a missed opportunity for the countless struggling AOR bands that would have jumped at the chance of supporting Journey and certainly made more of an effort than relying  a medley of Fleetwood Mac's 'Oh Well' which drifted into 'Whole Lotta Love' by led zeppelin and 'Walk This Way' by Aerosmith. Perhaps it was a vain attempt to inject some enthusiasm into the obviously less than enthralled audience but even that didn't work and it wasn't until  'St Elmo's Fire itself that the Newcastle crowd finally stirred into motion.  A decidedly under par performance if you like!

Journey took to the stage with a musical intro segued into “Majestic” and, as the notes faded away, the band launched into “Never Walk Away”  for their latest album Revelation. The natural successor to “Be Good To Yourself” it saw new vocalist Arnel Pineda make his entrance, and make it in style. Running from the back of stage right he came from behind Neal Schon's amps leaping into the air in a manner reminiscent of a youthful Dave Lee Roth. From the off the band and Arnel's vocals were pin clear in fact it has to be one of the best sounding mixes heard at the Arena in a long while.” Separate Ways” led into the pulsating “Only The Young” with Pineda covering every inch of stage seemingly wanting to make eye contact with every member of the audience. As a front man he was like a breath of pure fresh mountain air. It’s been along time since I saw someone looking so obviously happy to be up on stage and living their dream, which in reality is exactly what Pineda is doing, having been plucked from relative obscurity to front the legendary band.

A short instrumental guitar interlude from Schon led in to “Stone In Love” and “Keep On Runnin’” before “Ask The Lonely” and “Who’s Cryin’ Now” saw the band hitting the cruise control, Schon centre stage delivering a spine tingling rendition of the new instrumental “The Journey (Revelation)” and proving why he is regarded as one of the guitar greats. One of the high points had to be new song “Change For The Better” which is destined to become a live Journey classic whilst Lights simply sounded sublime and then there was the new mega ballad After All These years”. When it comes to tugging at emotional heartstrings Journey are up there with the best of them. Mother father” with its dramatic and huge arrangement lifted the roof off before a keyboard solo form Jonathon Cain led nicely into “Open Arms” allowing the audience to catch their breaths.” Wheel In The Sky” saw Pineda delivering a vocal performance that had to be seen and heard to be believed, one of the hardest of the Journey back catalogue to sing Pineda just flowed through it with apparent ease. Anyone who thought the instrumental before" Wheel In The Sky” was familiar may like to know that Cain and Schon's jam was based on the HSAS track “My Home Town” with Schon throwing in the chord progression from one of his solo tracks “Deep Forest” towards the end.” Edge Of the Blade” was played to within an inch of its life before “Faithfully” and the now classic “Don’t Stop Believin’” with its timeless opening riff from Schon closed the show. The encore featured the epic “Escape” with all its weaving musical parts sounding as good now as they did when they first hit the airwaves. Show closer was “Anyway You Want It” a song that racked up the feel good factor and took it off the scale.

One thing that really came across at this show was how happy the band look. Pineda has enabled the band to get back to their roots and play the music that is in their hearts and the new material sits alongside the early classics as if they too were written when Journey were at the height of their powers. One thing that is for sure  and that is that Journey are back. Being honest they never really went away but their career did stall considerably and all credit has to go to Schon who has refused to let the band die and he must now be feeling rightly proud of where they currently are. For this reviewer the possibilities for Journey are now endless and in Arnel Pineda the band have found a true star that is perfect for the band's signature sound. As a show this was a triumph in every respect and just about the perfect Journey spectacle.

Al Hey, Dougie & Leanne Nicholson