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Post by lucaze on Jul 18, 2024 23:41:12 GMT -8
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Post by CindyJ on Jul 19, 2024 6:38:40 GMT -8
Def Leppard, Journey take over Comerica Park for 35,000 as stadium tour hits DetroitBrian McCollum Comerica Park got a big dose of ‘80s rock energy as about 35,000 fans piled into the Detroit ballpark Thursday night for a doubleheader from Def Leppard and Journey. The potent pair — two of that era’s enduring hitmakers — were joined by another classic rock radio staple, Steve Miller Band, for a long, festive and sonically diverse blast of music on a pleasant summer night downtown. Detroit was just the fifth night on Def Leppard and Journey’s Summer Stadium Tour, but the show is already a well-oiled machine, which is little surprise given the long, deep touring pedigrees of the two co-headliners. Def Leppard closed the evening with a finely tuned 1½-hour set of Union Jack-stamped hard rock, a signature wall of sound layered with sheets of vocal harmonies, squalling guitars and unapologetic pop hooks. It’s an approach meant for a big setting like CoPa, and the flashy visual accompaniment on the centerfield stage drove home the point.
Vocalist Joe Elliott, now sporting an august white mane, led the proceedings flanked by his singing compatriots Phil Collen (guitar), Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Rick Savage (bass), with drummer Rick Allen typically merry and thunderous back at the kit.
Thursday night featured significantly more material from 1983’s “Pyromania” album than the band’s last Comerica Park visit, a 2022 tour stop with Motley Crue. That included fiery album opener “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop),” which also kicked off Thursday’s set. The time trip continued soon with a thick “Foolin’” and the deep cut “Comin’ Under Fire” — never played live until this tour — with the record’s milestone tracks, “Rock of Ages” and “Photograph,” closing the regular set.
There was plenty of music pulled from that album’s multiplatinum follow-up, 1987’s more polished “Hysteria,” full of chart-scaling hits such as “Armageddon It,” “Animal” and “Love Bites,” which served as instant crowd-pleasers at Comerica Park, with a rippling “Hysteria” and sticky “Pour Some Sugar on Me” saved for the encore.
One new number — the stomping, glam-touched “Just Like ’73,” a nod to band members’ formative music years — was tucked into the blend, while a quick riff by Elliott on Kiss’s “Detroit Rock City” launched an unplugged-style session at the edge of the stage’s runway.Journey delivered its own polished and hits-filled performance, grounded by expressive playing from guitarist Neal Schon and cinematic keys from Jonathan Cain, who occasionally left his grand piano to handle rhythm guitar on songs such as “Keep on Runnin’.” Sixteen years into his tenure as Journey front man, Philippines-born Arnel Pineda looks all the part of a seasoned pro, energetically working the stage in an unmissable azure blue suit. At 56, he spent much of the show seamlessly swooping to the top of his high tenor, though signs of vocal fatigue crept in as the 90-minute set wound on. Offering a tribute to members of the armed forces, Cain said he was “send(ing) this song like a prayer” as he launched into “Faithfully,” one of the slew of hits Thursday that ranged from the band’s stock-in-trade soaring ballads (“Open Arms”), yearning midtempo fare (“Only the Young”) and pulsing rockers (“Wheel in the Sky”), with room carved out for guitar and piano solos by Schon and Cain. The extended jam of “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’” prompted a sea of swaying arms and a chorus of “nah-nah-nah-nah’s” while “Lights” drew a stadium full of illuminated cell phones and, in a 2024 anachronism, a fair share of old-fashioned lighters. A show that started in daylight was headed toward sunset by the time Jonathan Cain’s seesawing keyboard lick launched Journey’s set closer, “Don’t Stop Believin’,” which at a place like Comerica Park is just a build of anticipation for the song’s second verse. Sure enough, Pineda handed vocal duties over to the crowd for mass belting-out: “born and raised in south Detroit!” Steve Miller Band opened the evening with a likable, punchy 55-minute set of hits that stretched back to Miller’s late-’60s breakthrough, “Living in the U.S.A.,” and much of his greatest-hits repertoire (“Fly Like an Eagle,” “Take the Money and Run,” “Jet Airliner”). Ahead of 1977’s “Serenade,” the silver-haired guitarist-singer paused early on for a dedication to Eminem, who recently landed his biggest hit in a decade with “Houdini,” built in part around an interpolation of Miller’s 1982 track “Abracadabra.” The Detroit rapper’s single has enjoyed big chart success, Miller pointed out, "just like Abracadabra’ … all around the world." The Summer Stadium Tour will roll on through September. A note for fans in other markets: In Detroit, Steve Miller Band went on promptly at 6 p.m., Journey at 7:30 p.m. and Def Leppard at 9:30 p.m. Visit the link for photos
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Post by CindyJ on Jul 19, 2024 6:43:56 GMT -8
Classic rock heroes pour on the hits at Comerica ParkBy GARY GRAFF Fans usually go to Comerica Park expecting hits. And there were an abundance of those on Thursday night, July 18 — albeit not off the bats of baseball players. The combination of Def Leppard and Journey — who’d also teamed together during the summer of 2018 at the home of the Detroit Tigers — and the Steve Miller Band offered more hits than a team usually has in an entire home stand, to the tune of more than two dozen Top 40 singles between them. And that’s including Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” which gave birth to the non-existent but widely celebrated “South Detroit.” It was a crowd-pleasing recipe for the 35,000 in attendance, basking in memories and high-level rock ‘n’ roll songcraft — not to mention temperate weather and a near-full moon for Def Leppard’s set. It didn’t matter that only two of the combined 46 songs performed came from this century (both in Def Leppard’s set); this was material has endured well beyond its releases, mostly during the 70s and 80s, which made the night a celebration of the healthy present of a potent past. Each act was also celebrating its own landmarks — Journey its continuing 50th anniversary, Def Leppard the 40th (actually 41st) of its multi-platinum breakthrough album “Pyromania.” The Tigers were acknowledged by Journey’s Jonathan Cain and Def Leppard’s Rick Savage, who both sported the team’s classic olde English “D” jerseys on stage. Steve Miller, meanwhile, noted that he’d been playing in Detroit since 1965 and dedicated his “Serenade” to “everybody in Detroit who ever came to see a Stevie Guitar Miller show since the beginning to now.” Miller also dedicated his entire 12-song, 55-minute set to homeboy Eminem, who’s given Miller a new spotlight by sampling his 1982 hit “Abracadabra” for the Detroit rapper’s new single “Houdini.” Calling the rapper “Mr. Guess Who’s Back…,” Miller exulted that “‘Houdini’ is No. 1 almost all around the world, just like ‘Abracadabra’ was. That’s so cool.” Miller provided the first of the night’s many musical highlights off the, er, bat, starting his set with a long, jammed-out rendition of “Fly Like an Eagle” on which he traded solos with keyboardist Victor Wooten, who was also featured on many of the other songs. From there it was one crowd-pleaser after another, touching on early favorites such as “Living in the U.S.A.” and “Space Cowboy” but drawing most heavily from a 70s run that included “The Joker,” “Rock’n Me,” “Take the Money and Run,” Swingtown,” “Jungle Love” and the set-closing “Jet Airliner.” Journey did some deep-digging during its 85 minutes on stage, particularly with a mid-set combo of “Line of Fire,” “La Do Da” and “Dead or Alive.” Mostly, however, it treated the crowd to a fusillade of its favorites, starting with a galloping “Only the Young” and including furious renditions of “Stone in Love,” “Keep on Runnin'” and “Escape.” Blue-suited frontman Arnel Pineda was more physically active than tonally accurate as he sprinted around the trident-like ramp structure that took him into the stadium floor — and into the barricade to slap hands with fans while guitarist Neil Schon soloed during “Wheel in the Sky.” “Lovin,’ Touchin’, Squeezin'” was followed by a Cain piano solo that led into “Open Arms,” which along with “Faithfully” and “Lights” offered quiet breaks and plenty of arm-waving, cellphone salutes (visible even in daylight. Journey closed on a tear, too, pounding through “Separate Ways (World Apart),” “Be Good to Yourself” and “Any Way You Want It” before “Don’t Stop Believin'” — for which Pineda let the pan-Detroit faithful sing THAT line. Def Leppard, whose five members freely prowled the extended ramps throughout its 90-minute show, did have something fresh to offer during its 90 minutes — the sentimental, albeit uptempo new single “Just Like ’73.” Mostly, though, the group paid homage to the music that brought it to its third Detroit stadium date in six years. Thirteen of the 18 songs came from “Pyromania” and its follow-up, the even more successful “Hysteria,” including welcome deep cuts such as the set-opening “Rock! Rock! (Til You Drop),” “Comin’ Under Fire” and a truncated “Die Hard the Hunter” from the former.
Equally impressive was a stripped-down acoustic segment performed at the front of the ramps, beginning with frontman Joe Elliot’s brief solo rendition of “Two Steps Behind,” followed by a full-band performance of “This Guitar” from 2022’s “Diamond Star Halos” album. “Bringing on the Heartbreak” began acoustic, then morphed into its familiar electric version to crank the band back into high-octane as it blazed through the instrumental “Switch 625.”
Even that quieter section kept the crowd on its feet, however — not surprising for a parade of anthems that included the likes of “Foolin’,” “Armageddon It,” “Rock of Ages” and “Photograph.” Guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell traded licks during a lengthy encore rendition of “Hysteria,” and Elliot’s repeated query of “can you feel it?” was met with a decidedly affirmative response from the crowd — especially when the quintet cranked into an ebullient “Pour Some Sugar on Me” for a sweet ending to a winning night at the ballpark.Source
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Post by CindyJ on Jul 19, 2024 6:47:32 GMT -8
Def Leppard, Journey, Steve Miller perform a rare Comerica Park tripleheaderBy Edward Pevos DETROIT - It’s not every day fans are treated to a tripleheader at the home of the Detroit Tigers. Def Leppard, Journey and Steve Miller rocked for hours at Comerica Park on Thursday, July 18. There was no humidity at the ballpark on this night. Only hit rock music from three living legends. Steve Miller kicked things off at 6:00 p.m. as half of the fans were still filtering into the stadium from the long security lines. He did what he usually does, which is play a solid set of hits for just under an hour, performing “Fly Like and Eagle,” “Abracadabra, “Swingtown,” “Take the Money and Run,” “The Joker” and “Jet Airliner.” Journey took the stage at 7:30 p.m., performing many of their hits with a few lull moments. It started with high energy with “Only the Young,” a song which immediately showcased Arnel Pineda’s strong vocals. Then came an unusual spot for a Neal Schon guitar solo. One of two too many on the night as he has guitar solos already built into many of Journey’s hit songs. Fan favorite, “Stone in Love” was next, but things once again went away from what was working. Just as the crowd was into it, the band played “Keep On Runnin’” with drummer Deen Castronovo on lead vocals, followed by another non-hit from the “Escape” album with the song of the same name. Things picked up from there, only to lull again as Pineda was showcased with "Faithfully” and “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’.” The crowd once again went from up to down with a Jonathan Cain piano solo before going into another super ballad with “Open Arms.” That followed with a couple more non-hits and another guitar solo before the show finally kicked into gear and didn’t let up on the gas pedal with “Wheel in the Sky,” “Lights,” “Separate Ways, " Be Good to Yourself,” “Any Way You Want It” and “Don’t Stop Believein’.” This wasn’t one of Journey’s best setlists. We know they can’t just play the same exact songs every single show, but there were multiple “bathroom break” spots which should never happen when a band with Journey’s catalog and talent is on stage. Just as the sun went down, Def Leppard brought the energy back up with a solid 90-minute set of mostly hits and a tribute to the 40th anniversary of their third studio album, “Pyromania” as the band performed most of it in its entirety scattered throughout the evening, starting with the first song from the album, “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop).”
Then came one hit after another with “Rocket,” “Foolin’,” “Armageddon it,” “Animal” and “Love Bites,” followed by their catchy new tune, “Just Like ‘73.”
More Pyromania followed with “Comin’ Under Fire” and “Too Late For Love” before the band did a little acoustic set with “Two Steps Behind,” “This Guitar” and “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak,” which went from acoustic to full band mid-song.
A strong ending capped off a powerful night of rock with “Rock of Ages,” “Photograph,” “Hysteria” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”Despite mostly hits and a few swing and misses on this big evening of rock, most fans felt like they caught a home run ball. Source
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Post by CindyJ on Jul 19, 2024 6:48:42 GMT -8
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Post by Shawn on Jul 19, 2024 7:46:54 GMT -8
DEF LEPPARD - July 18th 2024 Detroit, MI (Comerica Park) The Summer Stadium Tour 2024
1. Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) 2. Rocket 3. Foolin' 4. Armageddon It 5. Animal 6. Love Bites 7. Just Like '73 8. Comin' Under Fire 9. Too Late for Love 10. Die Hard the Hunter 11. Two Steps Behind 12. This Guitar 13. Bringin' On the Heartbreak 14. Switch 625 15. Rock of Ages 16. Photograph 17. Hysteria 18. Pour Some Sugar On Me
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Post by CindyJ on Jul 19, 2024 8:26:29 GMT -8
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Post by CindyJ on Jul 19, 2024 11:02:54 GMT -8
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Post by CindyJ on Jul 19, 2024 14:41:22 GMT -8
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Post by CindyJ on Jul 19, 2024 15:39:12 GMT -8
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Post by CindyJ on Jul 19, 2024 17:08:48 GMT -8
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Post by CindyJ on Jul 24, 2024 11:43:23 GMT -8
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