Thunder/Whitesnake/Journey - Sheffield Motorpoint Arena
20th May 2013
A Triple bill at Sheffield Motorpoint arena promised to offer a fantastic evening of rock by three mainstream bands, with Thunder beeen revived (again) to participate in this UK tour.
After a few hours in the afternoon at Meadowhall shopping and eating, we arrived at the arena fairly early (doors open was an early 17:30!)
Our seats were in elevated block 1 stage right, and close to the side of the stage. Excellent!
THUNDER
The lights dimmed, and AC/DC Thunderstruck belted out with Thunder taking the stage. Danny Bowes instantly encouraging the crowd to cheer as he launched into the intro of Dirty Love, his golden voice clearly going down well with the many Thunder fans in the audience.
Good to be back!
Thunder : Set List
- (Intro)Thunderstruck (AC/DC)
- Backstreet Symphony
With good sound, good banter with the crowd, Thunder were as good as they have ever been, despite been away from regular gigging for a few years. good to see them back from semi-retirement as a functioning band, even just for this tour (and Download/Xmas gatherings).
Love walked in was belted out in the usual fashion, the crowd joining in loudly.
Could Whitesnake or Journey follow this?
It was all over FAR too soon, with Thunder on stage around 45 mins.
Very enjoyable.
WHITESNAKE
Thunders gear was soon cleared from the front part of the stage, and a larger stage area cleared for Coverdale & Co., with the full works of projection backdrops and side video screens.
We had seen Whitesnake on many occassions over the last 15 years, the last outing been Newcastle City Hall in 2011. That gig had been a little dissapointing, mainly centered around Coverdales voice, and inability on that occassion to "hit the notes", compared with not that long ago previous gigs. Was tonight going to be more of the same?
The Whos "My Generation" played, we could see Coverdale standing stage right ready to make an entrance.. The band readied themselves on stage, and straight into a storming "Give me all your love".
"Heres a song for ya!!"............ Coverdale entered onto stage, and we were not dissapointed.
Within just a few songs it was apparent this was going to be significantly better than the previous Newcastle outing.
Sure...... the voice is not what it was years ago, but thats expected, and song choices, timings etc.... no doubt picked to allow for this.
Whitesnake: Set List
- My Generation (Who Intro)
- Give Me All Your Love
-
(dedicated to Mel Galley, Cozy Powell)
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-
(Guitar Duel by Doug Aldrich & Reb Beach)
-
(incl. Drum Solo by Tommy Aldridge)
- We Wish You Well
The crowd seemd to lap it all up, when encouraged to participate (regularly)
Who is the headliner tonight?
The band thmeselves were as tight as we have ever seen them. Sure, David had a long rest in the middle as the duelling guitars and long drum solos were wheeled out. But again, not unexpected.
A mix of the old with the new, but more of the good old eighties barnstormers, kept the crowd pleased.
The 100 mins or so , went by too quickly, and it was not long before the (for me) highlight "Still of the Night" was over, and the usual finish "Wish you well" saw the band exit to raptuous applause. FOLLOW THAT..... JOURNEY!!
JOURNEY
A bit longer break, and the "headliner", (though it was touted as a equal headliner billing) hit the stage.
Seperate Ways..... Worlds apart was very apt........ Journey were exactly that.......
Worlds apart from the preceding 2 bands, but not in a good way!
Sure, Arnel Pineda is a young guy with plenty of energy and a good voice, but his audience and band integration/interaction skills did not really seem to be there.
Here were Journey, we saw them at MEN as headliners with Foreigner/Styx a few years back.
Same frontman, same set (pretty much), OK set list a bit more traditonal (more crowd pleasers) . This should have been better.... it was not!
Foreigner were leagues ahead then, as Whitesnake and even Thunder were tonight.
Journey : Set List
- Ask the Lonely
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(Featuring God Save The Queen)
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- Keep on Runnin'(Deen Castronovo on lead vocals)
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(extended guitar into)
It was all very much the band going through the motions, a lack of energy or something missing to excite the crowd. The sound was not that good either to my ears.
The most interaction from Arnel, was "Hello Sheffield" and the like really, though hats off to his energy, like a whirling dervish around his almost static band-mates.
Rock music is supposed to instil excitement in an audience, trepidation upon what song the band may play next, and gaining some form of enjoyment from the bands performance.
I did not, and nor did the many people we observed leaving the arena early, a few half-way through the set.
We stuck it out till near the end. Only "Don`t stop believing" seemed to get the crowd a little more excited. The "Glee" version of this song woould probably have instilled as much excitement as here.
Sorry Journey, two chances, and now I have stopped believing!
My opinion of the Journey show at the MEN several years ago was the same as my opinion tonight, and the show did little to excite me.
Thank god, for Whitesnake and Thunder!!
Thunder: 8/10 (higher if set was longer)
Whitesnake: 9/10 (best performance)
Journey: 4/10 (Poor!, points for Arnels energy)
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