Journey - Recollections
Here's a trio of blasts from the past - these are scans of very old prints that have seen better days, but bring back memories.
Evolution U.K. Tour, Sheffield City Hall, 24th March 1979.
The band shot is not great, but the close-ups are a reminder of what was hair today, gone tomorrow...
The Gregg Rolie shot is zoomed from a box seat, and from memory may even be the Glasgow date of 22nd March, but is just as likely to be Sheffield.
Many bands loved the Glasgow Apollo, the atmosphere, and the Glaswegian (or 'Weegie') crowd, and one of the many who cited it as one of his favourite gigs to play (if not the gig) back in the day was Sammy Hagar.
I was at the Glasgow gig but not Sheffield, and these photos were by a concert photographer I used to keep in contact with (whose name sadly escapes me - if you're reading this please get in touch), but he did all the 'name' bands from the mid seventies to at least the mid eighties as I recall - he may well still be doing it. And having bought & paid for the prints I trust images of them appearing on this site for fans to enjoy/ view is of no consequence.
Here's a trio of blasts from the past - these are scans of very old prints that have seen better days, but bring back memories.
Evolution U.K. Tour, Sheffield City Hall, 24th March 1979.
The band shot is not great, but the close-ups are a reminder of what was hair today, gone tomorrow...
The Gregg Rolie shot is zoomed from a box seat, and from memory may even be the Glasgow date of 22nd March, but is just as likely to be Sheffield.
Many bands loved the Glasgow Apollo, the atmosphere, and the Glaswegian (or 'Weegie') crowd, and one of the many who cited it as one of his favourite gigs to play (if not the gig) back in the day was Sammy Hagar.
I was at the Glasgow gig but not Sheffield, and these photos were by a concert photographer I used to keep in contact with (whose name sadly escapes me - if you're reading this please get in touch), but he did all the 'name' bands from the mid seventies to at least the mid eighties as I recall - he may well still be doing it. And having bought & paid for the prints I trust images of them appearing on this site for fans to enjoy/ view is of no consequence.
I used to have a serious amount of prints and photos of live acts from this period - however other than a few Todd Rundgren / Utopia shots (from Hammersmith Odeon 1975 and Knebworth 1979 respectively - and I don't even know where I've put those) these are the only ones I kept from back in my day of championing and promoting bands such as Journey in the U.K. via contacts with p.r. personnel, tour managers, radio stations, music mags, journalists, fan clubs, and sometimes the bands themselves.
This was part of the era that was, for me, the very definition of Journey as regards their commercially creative peak, personnel, the musical chemistry within the band, and I still cite that Glasgow Journey show as one of the best rock concerts I've ever attended.
That's partly because of the overall sound and quality of performance, but primarily because of the crisp and brilliant playing of Neal Schon and the vocal histrionics of Steve Perry (and it didn't hurt that The Pat Travers Band were part of that double-headlining show - another favourite).
And in retrospect these images, three decades on, can be seen as a visual interpretation of part of my 'Personal Journey'...
Thirty years on and there's a new JRNY audience (along with a percentage of the long-time fans), but for others like myself Journey can no more function as 'Journey' (in musicality, creativity and progression) without both Neal Schon and Steve Perry being part of the equation (and Perry of course wasn't an original member nor even their first lead singer).
Their individual abilities as combined talents, along with their creative energy, helped produce what was a genuine phenomenon in both rock music and Journey's live performances.
They were the Heart & Soul, or possibly more accurately the 'Fire & Friction' that truly made Journey work, whilst fully acknowledging the Journey legacy and 'classic' sound is also due to the contributions of musicians such as Ross Valory, Gregg Rolie, Steve Smith, and the song writing skills of Jonathan Cain.
For many, the name is not important. For others, it means particular individuals within a collective, a fondness, a music that - try as they might - will never be heard or created exactly that way again, and memories of 30 years ago...
Thirty. How the hell did that happen?
Ross Muir
October 2009
This was part of the era that was, for me, the very definition of Journey as regards their commercially creative peak, personnel, the musical chemistry within the band, and I still cite that Glasgow Journey show as one of the best rock concerts I've ever attended.
That's partly because of the overall sound and quality of performance, but primarily because of the crisp and brilliant playing of Neal Schon and the vocal histrionics of Steve Perry (and it didn't hurt that The Pat Travers Band were part of that double-headlining show - another favourite).
And in retrospect these images, three decades on, can be seen as a visual interpretation of part of my 'Personal Journey'...
Thirty years on and there's a new JRNY audience (along with a percentage of the long-time fans), but for others like myself Journey can no more function as 'Journey' (in musicality, creativity and progression) without both Neal Schon and Steve Perry being part of the equation (and Perry of course wasn't an original member nor even their first lead singer).
Their individual abilities as combined talents, along with their creative energy, helped produce what was a genuine phenomenon in both rock music and Journey's live performances.
They were the Heart & Soul, or possibly more accurately the 'Fire & Friction' that truly made Journey work, whilst fully acknowledging the Journey legacy and 'classic' sound is also due to the contributions of musicians such as Ross Valory, Gregg Rolie, Steve Smith, and the song writing skills of Jonathan Cain.
For many, the name is not important. For others, it means particular individuals within a collective, a fondness, a music that - try as they might - will never be heard or created exactly that way again, and memories of 30 years ago...
Thirty. How the hell did that happen?
Ross Muir
October 2009