June 2, 2001: Junefest

Las Vegas, NV
Silver Bowl Park

This was the first post to the old Journey Digest mailing list to be titled "Rockin' Road Report" and the beginning of my trek across the southwest for the opening of Journey's 2001 tour.

Hello one and all from the wonders of the southwest. The fear and dread over the possibility of spending 8 hours in the blazing desert heat of Las Vegas was abated by the 20+ mph winds that made the day cooler than expected and bearable. The amazing thing about die hard Journey fans is that even in a crowd of 30,000 people you can find each other! To all our gang from Sunset Station...it was a blast. I shall bypass the other bands at the show (except to say I was FLOORED by Styx and their new singer! Wow!) and get right to the meat of the matter.

It was not a perfect show. The volume was too loud which made for periods of distortion where you couldn't hear or understand Steve's singing. It also muffled Neal's guitar somewhat. In the moment, I thought it was perhaps due to the fact that I had been sitting outside listening to loud live music for about 6 hours before Journey ever hit the stage, but after the show and talking with a few other people, including two who didn't arrive until Styx was on the stage, we agreed it was the sound system and not our poor beaten ears.

The guys hit the stage about 8:30 and played a blazing, blistering set. They crammed 17 songs into 90 minutes, and it was absolutely incredible! They barely slowed down to take a breath at all, which was fantastic, particularly towards the end of the set—the last 5 songs were run together with barely a break. The stage lighting was very cool, particularly during "Lights," but since this wasn't an "official" Arrival Tour show and a show in a soccer field rather than an amphitheater, I'm wagering that there will be something slightly different come Tuesday night's show in Albuquerque. I also suspect that the reason for the blazing speed of the set was the rigid schedule the Junefest promoters had.

The energy and vibe of this show was much stronger than when I saw them in December at Mandalay Bay. While that show looks awesome on DirecTV, the show last night had MUCH more energy and connection. The crowd was really in to the show (both those who were inebriated in one way or another and those who weren't.) Of course, the best part was that we got a brand new set list and lots of new tunes. They mixed things up a lot and didn't do any of the "extended versions" that they’ve been doing the last couple of tours.

I believe the set list has been posted on the Journey forum already, but for those of you who haven't been it here's what we got to hear....

Message of Love
To Be Alive Again
-- Neal solo --
Stone in Love
Nothing Comes Close
Lights
All the Way
Higher Place
Don't Stop Believin'
Faithfully
I Got A Reason
-- Neal solo --
Wheel in the Sky
Escape
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'
Ask the Lonely
Any Way You Want It

Encore:
Separate Ways
Be Good to Yourself

Journeying through the Southwest on assignment for Journeydigest.com...

P.S.—Dan, I am getting paid for this right...