June 5, 2001: Arrival Opening Night

Albuquerque, NM
Journal Pavilion

Tonight the Arrival Tour kicked off for real. No huge festival lineup, just the line up that will be on the road for the next three months.

The show started on time with John Waite opening. He played for about 35 minutes, and had three new tunes in among familiar hits. Alas, he neglected to introduce any of the new songs other than saying "This is a new song." He mentioned he has an album coming out next month, but if he mentioned the title of the album, it's escaped me in the intervening hours. There was no Bad English reunion, though we did get a rendition of "When I See You Smile."

Frampton hit the stage about 7:30, while I was up at the snack bar getting something to drink. I returned to my seat about half way through his set when he started up with his classic "Baby I Love Your Way."

I was rather stunned by Frampton's appearance, which oddly reminded me of my grandfather! Not that he looked as old as my grandfather, but there was something about his manner that brought Grandpa to mind and made it very difficult for me to take Frampton seriously. All in all though, he put on a good show and it was fun to see Steve, Ross, and Deen peeking out from the side of the stage from time to time. (Both Steve and Deen looked like little kids with great big smiles on their faces!) Towards the end of his set, he played a song that he and Jon had co-written. Alas, bad fan that I am, I have no clue what it was called!

So, this brings me to the Journey set. As I was watching the crew set up the stage, it became apparent that the "stuff" behind Deen's drum kit and Jon's keyboards wasn't just protective padding, but an elevated level of the stage! Woo hoo!

The show opened with the same video sequence that was used at Mandalay Bay last December, which was as eye catching this time as it was the first time around. Jon, Deen, Ross, and Neal came out on stage, and took up their positions. I looked around for Steve only to have him appear, all in white, on the riser above Deen as the guys launched into "Message of Love." Throughout the show, all the guys (except Deen, of course) would take turns on the raised part of the stage.

The sound problems I encountered in Las Vegas weren't nearly as bad this time. The volume was fine, but there were a few spots in the show that had the vocals too low or a microphone cut out. That would be my only complaint on the technical side of the house.

I was thoroughly impressed by the video screen. They must have cameras in the lighting because some of the angles they showed were from above Deen and Jon, which was great. And I'm sure there were a few other cameras I couldn't see other than the two that were roaming in front of the stage, so for those folks who have seats further from the stage, you're going to see some cool stuff.

It was another energetic show with a crowd that seemed thrilled to be there. From my seat in the 5th row, it looked to me like the place was sold out. The lawn was packed and I didn’t see many empty seats (okay, the two behind me which were occupied for a short period by Neal's wife Amber and Deen's wife Julie were vacant after the first 20 minutes or so.) It was also nice to hear a slightly different set list from Vegas, which I am given to understand was also different from the set list in Phoenix. The set list follows:

Message of Love
-- Neal Solo --
Stone In Love
To Be Alive Again
Lights
All the Way
Higher Place
-- Neal Solo --
Wheel in the Sky
Don’t Stop Believin'
-- Jon Solo --
When You Love A Woman
Just the Same Way
Faithfully
Escape
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'
I Got a Reason
Be Good to Yourself

Encore:
Separate Ways
Ask the Lonely

Journeying through the Southwest for Journeydigest.com...