Monday, September 22, 2008 - Here’s how crazy my life can get. I’m sitting at home on Saturday evening doing some work on-line and a message pops up on my email from my friend Ben Smith. “Hey Brad! Can you help me out and pick me up at the Amtrak station tomorrow? I need to get to the Clark County Amphitheater for our gig with Cheap Trick and Journey.” Absolutely!
>> photos from the adventure
I met Ben years ago in a little town called Port Townsend in the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula where I was living at the time. Ben’s sister Sarah was a friend of mine and I met Ben at her house one night at a gathering. Ben is one of those people that you meet and instantly you feel like you’ve known him all your life; just a great guy.
Ben also happens to be an incredible drummer and about 15 years ago he got the call to do some work with Ann & Nancy Wilson of Heart when they were doing a side project, the acoustic based “Lovemongers”.
Well, here we are 15 years later and he has been the drummer for Heart since they decided to get back out on the road and do some full-scale touring. Sunday night they made their way through our area with a show at the Clark County Amphitheater with Cheap Trick and Journey.
CHEAP TRICK
Cheap Trick opened up the show at 7pm with a short but powerful set that really got the crowd going.
HEART
Heart was next up and I just can’t say enough about how great their set was. Ann Wilson sounds better than she has ever sounded (and she is just getting over a cold!), and the band is incredibly tight.
Magic Man, Never, Alone, Straight On and Crazy on You were the Heart hits they played, and they did two insanely good cover songs: Led Zeppelin’s “Going To California” and “Love Reign O’er Me” from the Who’s Quadrophenia rock opera.
Short but sweet, the set was really flawless and I wished they were the Headline band as I wanted more when they left the stage.
JOURNEY
Not to be too negative, but the night really went downhill after that. Journey took the stage and I felt like I was watching a Vegas Karaoke act. Their new lead singer is trying his best to fill the shoes of Steve Perry but it’s just not working, at least not for me.
The venue was charged after Cheap Trick and Heart did their respective sets, then all the energy left. It seemed like Journey was just going through the motions and it just came off like a too well-rehearsed lounge act.
I'm sure lots of people enjoyed the set, I just wasn't one of them. All in all a great night for music in our town, the show was nearly sold out and the crowd for the most part enjoyed the concert.
>> photos from the adventure
