ARNEL PINEDA AND JOURNEY AT MALL OF ASIA
I am not a fan of Journey. I don’t like their music even when it was still Steve Perry leading them or now that Arnel Pineda’s the one blasting at the mic. Their music is described as radio-friendly corporate rock which means that it can be played on the radio (without your conservative grandma raising much of a ruckus or some people asking what the hell is the song all about), in corporate parties, in discos and in parties where the attendees are class-cutting high-school students.
In other words, people who really know and dig real rock music find their music bland, corny and eww!-inducing. You can’t expect them to write songs that have subliminal meanings or that cleverly tackle topics like death, insanity, depression, child abuse, euthanasia, government corruption and other life’s complications. They would rather sing about love (“To fall in love is so hard to do, I hope and pray tonight, somewhere youre thinkin of me girl” from their song When You Love A woman) and other mundane topics. Their songs are also not really that melodic.
In other words, people who really know and dig real rock music find their music bland, corny and eww!-inducing. You can’t expect them to write songs that have subliminal meanings or that cleverly tackle topics like death, insanity, depression, child abuse, euthanasia, government corruption and other life’s complications. They would rather sing about love (“To fall in love is so hard to do, I hope and pray tonight, somewhere youre thinkin of me girl” from their song When You Love A woman) and other mundane topics. Their songs are also not really that melodic.
But when a free ticket for a Journey concert at SM Mall Of Asia, coupled with a free ride and a free chow landed on my lap yesterday, the 'opportunist' in me took over and grabbed it. Anyway, what I was doing yesterday could wait, so off we went to MOA. We got there at 7 PM. The concert would start at 8 PM so we still had time to eat. We ate at this really classy restaurant where you could get two cheeseburgers at the price of one.
Ten minutes before eight PM, we were already at the venue. We had tickets worth P1.5 thou each and yet there wasn’t even a single chair in our section. We would be standing for the duration of the concert. The stage was also quite far off. And to think that I was hoping that our tickets would land us in the first row. He he. The concert was obviously expensive. At around 8:15 PM, an elderly lady (in her sixties and wheelchair-bound) was wheeled inside the Gold section (ours was called Silver and the cheapest was called Bronze which was worth 500 pesos) and placed in a spot where she could clearly see the stage. Did her relatives knew what they were doing?
The concert started at around 8:30 PM. The crowd, including our group, enthusiastically applauded when Arnel Pineda and the gang appeared on stage. They kicked off the show with the upbeat rocker Never Walk Away. Few more hardrocking songs followed, Arnel Kept moving and jumping and shouting how proud he was to be Pinoy, then, at 9:30 PM, Open Arms, one of the band’s most popular songs, was performed. Another staple Journey song, Separate Ways, which got the audience into a frenzy, was played at around 9:50. Arnel, no doubt, had a great and very powerful voice, not unlike Steve Perry, who's often voted as one of the greatest vocalists of all time. The song that received the most enthusiastic applause from the crowd was Faithfully, which Arnel sang at around 10:20 PM. The crowd sang along with him with that song. Incidentally, the drummer sang two songs and his voice sounded like, well, Arnel.
The band was still playing when we left the venue at around 11 PM.
The concert will be made into a DVD which will be distributed all over the world.
It was on okay experience but there were times during the concert that my mind drifted and wished that I was watching my fave band Pink Floyd instead. That would definitely be one helluva concert experience because only in a Pink Floyd concert where you could see a plane intentionally crashing on the stage and exploding, a giant flying pig hovering over the audience and light shows that could rival the best fireworks show in the world. Unfortunately, I never fulfilled my fervent dream of seeing them live.
On our way out of the venue, I overheard a young woman gushing that Journey was the best rock band ever.
Below, some of the pictures I’ve taken with my crappy cell phone during the concert.
Comments
re: "only in a Pink Floyd concert where you could see a plane intentionally crashing on the stage and exploding, a giant flying pig hovering over the audience and light shows that could rival the best fireworks show in the world..."
pink floyd is already resting in peace after surviving several plane crashes on stage. if you miss the flying pig hovering over the audience, we can take a ride to nearby bulacan where lotsa pigs were being executed coz of ebola virus. i will lift one remaining live porky and will try all my might to throw that chubby cute thing a foot above your head.
nah, just joking, hehe.
i like journey's open arms but i'm not a big fan either. pink floyd's music is pretty interesting but my greatest band is either styx or chicago. and oh, the corrs. angela is sweet as an ice cold san mig.
ayan, nauhaw na naman ako... mag-inuman na nga tayo.
Chicago? Mas gusto ko 'yong Chicago Bulls.
Yung unang album lang ng Chicago Transit Authority, ang gusto ko. Similar bands with horn sections are : Blood, Sweat & Tears, Tower of Power, Cold Blood, Sly & the Family Stone..... you should hear DAVID CLAYTON THOMAS , lead vocals of BST, do the cover of God Bless the Child.
Still, yung mga Blues-based bands pa rin ang kinukulekta ko: ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND, GOV'T Mule, STEVIE RAY VAUGHN, JOHNNY WINTER, ERIC CLAPTON blues albums, etc..
Auggie
Ngayon ko lang nalaman na Chicago Transit Authority pala ang original name ng Chicago. Except for Eric Clapton & Stevie Ray Vaughan, hindi ako pamilyar sa music ng mga artists na nabanggit mo. But I'll try listening to them.