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Cheap Trick, Heart and Journey
Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek
Raleigh, NC 10 August 2008

People tend to be a bit wary of all the “packaged tours” that end up at the sheds each summer. And I totally understand it because typically they’re made up of has-been 80′s bands who are way past their prime. And I’m sure in some people’s minds, the Cheap Trick/Heart/Journey triple bill could be lumped with the rest of ‘em. Call it what you want – 80′s nostalgia, a blast from the past, whatever. But last night in Raleigh, the three bands truly rocked the lil’ ol’ amphitheater and the nearly sold out crowd (including me) enjoyed every minute of it.

Cheap Trick probably got the toughest job on the tour, playing to a half-filled house at 7pm each night. With the sun still blaring on their faces, the band blasted through their set just like they always do. Unfortunately their set was marred by a muddy sound mix. But Cheap Trick is a class act and they delighted their fans with stellar versions of “If You Want My Love”, “I Want You to Want Me”, “Surrender” and “Dream Police”. I always get a kick out of seeing Rick Neilsen’s unique collection of guitars. Felt a little sorry for his guitar tech though – tuning and maintaining all those guitars each and every night must be a bitch. Robin Zander’s vocals sounded strong for the most part but still has a tough time with “The Flame”. Even performing it tuned down a couple steps, Zander couldn’t cleanly hit that last high note in the song. It was spectacularly cringe-worthy. Other than that, CT’s set was pretty flawless. Oh, and Ross Valory (of Journey) came out in the middle of CT’s set to yell “these guys ROCK!” to an unsure crowd who were all probably wondering “who’s that old man?” heh.

Heart nailed their set last night. Definitely made them a HARD act to follow. By the time they got on stage, the place was pretty much full and raring to go. Ann and Nancy Wilson proved once again that they could rock just as good (or even better) as the rest of the boys on the bill. They played a nice mix of their 70′s and 80′s hits plus a Who and Led Zep cover. And yes, Ann Wilson is singing the songs in a lower key but it doesn’t really matter in this case because she belts these out like no one else can! If there were any wine glasses around that night, they would have been shattered by the time Ann hit that otherworldly vocal run in “Alone”. wow! She is amazing. Oh and Nancy got her time in the spotlight with a nice acoustic guitar solo before the start of “Crazy on You”. plus, she still does those high kicks that we all know and love.

And how do you follow that? It’d be tough for ANY band to keep that level of momentum going. Journey stumbles a bit at the beginning with singer Arnel Pineda not quite hitting the high notes on the set opener “Never Walk Away”. But the band quickly recovers and get things back up to fever pitch by the time they hit “Only the Young” and “Stone in Love”. I’m sure the band tries to keep things “fresh” for themselves by mixing up their setlist every night but at times the sequencing seems so random. There’s an art to building a setlist and last night’s set didn’t have that great of a flow. For example, they followed Separate Ways with Rubicon and then went straight into two new songs off of Revelation, “Change for the Better” and “Wildest Dreams”. Talk about a momentum killer. But odd sequencing choices aside, the band was phenomenal. Neal Schon, Ross Valory, Deen Castronovo and Jonathan Cain are spectacular players and all the musicians in the crowd were most likely slack-jawed in awe of their skill. Schon and Castronovo were especially amazing to watch.

Going into the show I was a bit worried that Pineda’s voice would show signs of the wear and tear of the road but Pineda was in fine form after the initial hiccup at the start of the set. Pineda was up and down the stage, dancing, jumping and shaking hands with those up in front. He was a bundle of energy and definitely brought new life into these old favorites. I’m not so sure performing “Escape” and “Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin” for the encore is the smartest choice in terms of keeping the interest of a huge crowd but all in all I had a blast seeing the newly reborn Journey with Pineda at the helm. It’s a strong show and definitely well worth seeing if it comes near your neck of the woods.
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I don’t have Showtime so I just recently had the opportunity to catch up on David Duchovny’s Californication – Season One on DVD. The story revolves around struggling writer Hank Moody (Duchovny) and his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Karen, and their daughter Becca. There seems to be some similarities to another favorite of mine – Rescue Me. Like Denis Leary’s critically acclaimed series, there are frequent dream sequences, issues with God/religion, divorce and substance abuse. The series seemed to struggle a bit during the first few episodes but by episode four, things began to click especially in terms of the dynamics within Moody’s family. Even though I’m all for nudity and sex scenes, the numerous scenes at the beginning of the series weren’t really that necessary. My guess is that it was pretty much done to boost viewer ratings on Showtime. But once you get past the gratuitous nude scenes, the great dialogue and the talented cast are surprisingly the main things that keep you watching.

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Long time fans of Toronto-based band Martha and the Muffins are probably rejoicing over the reissue of the group’s 1983 album, Danseparc which comes out August 4th after years of being out of print. Newly remastered by producer/engineer Peter J. Moore (Cowboy Junkies), the Cherry Red reissue features three bonus tracks including the 12″ Dance mix of “Danseparc (Every Day It’s Tomorrow)” and a B-side track “These Dangerous Machines”. But Martha and the Muffins fans have even more to rejoice about. The group recently finished recording a brand new album with grammy-award winning producer David Botrill titled “Delicate” which is scheduled for release toward the end of 2008.
I recently had the chance to listen to the remastered version of Danseparc and I have to say that the album still sounds fresh and inventive to this day. Early eighties recordings tend to sound dated with the heavy use of synths and drum machines that were in fashion at the time but producer Daniel Lanois (U2, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan) and the group wisely chose to minimize the use of those synth patches of the day and kept things more organic. Most of the songs have a quirky edge to them that places the group’s sound somewhere near the Talking Heads/the B-52s realm. My personal favorite off the album is “World Without Borders” which features a strong melodic bridge that reminds me of XTC or even Roxy Music. I love the fact that the group had the freedom to experiment on this album. A lot of bands on the charts today seem to cut songs out of the same mold. But Martha and the Muffins made an effort to explore new and different sounds. Singer Martha Johnson even went as far as to play Mark Gane’s guitar upside-down in order to find alternative chords to play. Their willingness to take risks while recording makes Danseparc an absolute joy to listen to. Gane’s inventive guitar playing keep things lively and interesting throughout the album. plus the percussion and drum work are top notch. The David Byrne-esque track “Several Styles of Blonde Girls Dancing” features a nice little syncopated drum fill right before one of the choruses that is pure genius in my book, especially for a song done in the early eighties. Other highlights on the album include: “Walking into Walls”, “Danseparc (Every Day It’s Tomorrow)” and “What People Do for Fun”.

For more info – check out the recent press release about the Danseparc reissue.
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