This summer’s stadium rock (long) weekend came to a close Monday night as the triple bill of Def Leppard, Journey and Steve Miller Band filled Target Field with more than 35,000 nostalgic fans, some of whom also caught one of Metallica’s two shows at U.S. Bank Stadium or Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins Saturday night at the Twins ball field in Minneapolis.
One can’t help but wonder if Monday will be the last time we see Journey on the road. The famously litigious band has had a particularly rough few years starting with guitarist and founding member Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain firing longtimers Ross Valory (bass) and Steve Smith (drums) and suing them for “attempted corporate coup d’état” in 2020. The parties later settled out of court, but Schon and Cain — whose political differences have led to public feuding — suing each other over misusing the band’s credit card.
Oh, and Schon also served Cain with a cease-and-desist order after he performed “Don’t Stop Believin'” at a Donald Trump event, saying Cain “has no right to use Journey for politics.” That said, there weren’t any obvious tensions between the pair Monday night, most likely because they completely ignored each other for the 90-minute performance. The widely grinning Schon spent much of the show up front and center with vocalist Arnel Pineda.
For his part, Cain stood off to the side, donned a Twins jersey and praised the Twins for three World Series championships (the first of which was back in 1924 when they were the Washington Senators). Usually one of the most reliable classic rock singers around, something was up with Pineda Monday night. His vocals were all over the map, particularly during “Who’s Crying Now” and “Faithfully.
” He did intermittently fiddle with his in-ear monitor, so perhaps that’s why he was missing so many notes. The set list stuck to the familiar hits, save for the album cuts “Dead or Alive” and “Line of Fire,” the former of which the band has rarely played live. Schon, who told the crowd he caught Metallica live Sunday night, took two extended solos and, as he has in recent years, incorporated “Purple Rain” into the second.
Also, drummer Deen Castronovo handled lead vocals on “Lights” and sounded terrific. Wonder why they don’t use him more? As for Def Leppard, they’re still celebrating the 40th anniversary of their breakthrough album “Pyromania” and played its big hits (“Photograph,” “Rock of Ages,” “Foolin'”) and two lesser-known tracks (“Die Hard the Hunter,” “Comin’ Under Fire”). They also worked in a new one, the glam rock throwback “Just Like ’73” which came across as more Gary Glitter than David Bowie.
As usual, the dual guitar attack of Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell proved to be the band’s secret weapon, giving real heft and power to their run of power ballads and strip club anthems. The pair’s strong backup vocals, joined by bassist Rick Savage and drummer Rick Allen, helped further sell songs that the audience was buying anyway. But, oof, there’s lead singer Joe Elliott.
He has long struggled with his voice in concert and Monday was no different, although he does seem to be trying a bit harder than he used to. He sounded best during the acoustic number “This Guitar,” probably because it was on the band’s most recent album, 2022’s “Diamond Star Halos.” Elsewhere, he employed almost comical levels of audio trickery in an attempt to recapture the sound of his youth.
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