KANSASish and Journey in Nashville - Report with Pics.

[lwpmedia]

Fun night in Nashville with John Elefante of Kansas along with Neal, Jonathan and a new Journey singer at Scott Hamilton's annual skating event.

The strange thing was I was sure we would hear some Elefante era Kansas songs but none were played - only the Walsh era classics.

Either way he was still in good voice and the new Journey singer is poised to become their go to guy locally as he lives in Nashville as does Cain and Schon just posted he bought a house here.

Report at:

http://www.musiccitynashville.net/fi...t-hamilton.php

[SunRunner2]

Sounds as if you had a good time.

I saw Kansas live at Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Mo, on October 17, 1980. The line up then was:
Phil Ehart – drums, percussion
Dave Hope – bass
Kerry Livgren – lead and rhythm guitar, keyboards
Robby Steinhardt – violin, backing and lead vocals
Steve Walsh – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, percussion
Rich Williams – rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocal

It was an outstanding performance with all the extended cuts from their first few albums being featured. I know this sounds old fashioned, but it is hard for me to imagine a concert performance by Kansas with no original members. I liken it to a Genesis tour with Ray Wilson on lead vocals and a bunch of other "current" members. When I think of the Livgren, Steinhardt, Walsh dynamo, I yearn for the days when they were putting our new albums and touring the Midwest.

Nothing wrong with attending their concerts now to hear the great songs from the past. But for me, it's like "drinking brandy from a dixie cup".

[Steve983]

Wait, what? Has Arnel left Journey?

[Dan Roth]

Wait, what? Has Arnel left Journey?

Nope. Arnel is still the lead singer for Journey. The OP post is a bit misleading. For years, they have employed a secondary keyboardist named Travis Thibodaux for the tours. Travis left and has been replaced by Jason Delatka. It's one background touring player replacing another.

Schon tweeted out: "Jason is an excellent musician and plays keyboards as well as very strong vocalist. David Foster hasn’t used him all these years for nothing. He will be a great addition to us. Jon and I had a blast with him yesterday. The future is bright!"

[lwpmedia]

yeah, but Jason is Nashville based and a studio technician... he looks to have a greater role in the band moving forward and he was out front in Nashville... that's a hard genie to put back in a bottle...

[lwpmedia]

p.s. - I'm a fan of Arnel but the Rock Hall induction performance was hard to watch and there are many reports that he's been uneven recently... it's a hard gig to maintain over time

[SteveSly]

p.s. - I'm a fan of Arnel but the Rock Hall induction performance was hard to watch and there are many reports that he's been uneven recently... it's a hard gig to maintain over time

I saw Journey with Arnel a few years ago and thought he was fantastic. I agree, the Rock Hall performance was a bit off, but he may have just been having a bad night.

[3LockBox]

I saw Journey last year and Arnel was flawless

[moecurlythanu]

Don't I remember reading here about some big rift between Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain over religion, or something like that? Whatever happened with all that drama?

[lwpmedia]

some clips from recent vegas run are rough, too

[flowerking]

I know this sounds old fashioned, but it is hard for me to imagine a concert performance by Kansas with no original members.

Rich Williams and Phil Ehart are still in the band. Last year when I saw them, Williams played as well as I've ever seen him play.

[SteveSly]

Don't I remember reading here about some big rift between Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain over religion, or something like that? Whatever happened with all that drama?

Yes, they had an online spat on social media, but apparently they have patched up their differences.

[SunRunner2]

Rich Williams and Phil Ehart are still in the band. Last year when I saw them, Williams played as well as I've ever seen him play.

That's good to hear; but the original post only referenced seeing Jon Elafante of Kansas and no other members were mentioned. I took it for a "new" Kansas concert appearance but I may have been mistaken. Apparently this was an appearance by Elafante only. At any rate, the three members I alluded to are no longer a part of any reunion tour.

[lwpmedia]

yeah, I posted this mainly because I really expected to hear "Play the Game" or "Fight Fire with Fire" at an Elefante gig, and got neither...

[TheH]

Please, that guy is called John Elefante.

[dlm]

I am still waiting on a proper tour of Journey Through Time with Gregg and Neal. They only played a few west coast dates but the clips I have seen were great. Deen Castronovo handled the drums and Steve Perry vocals flawlessly. They really don't need Cain.

[Dan Roth]

I am still waiting on a proper tour of Journey Through Time with Gregg and Neal. They only played a few west coast dates but the clips I have seen were great. Deen Castronovo handled the drums and Steve Perry vocals flawlessly. They really don't need Cain.

Rolie was asked about that in a recent Rolling Stone interview:

RS: You did just a few Journey Through Time shows and Neal tweeted that more were coming later in the year, but you haven’t played since. What happened?

Rolie: Basically, he got back with Journey and they’ve been out this year, so the whole thing kind of fell apart. We had a few dates that we played together, but he went on to his next thing. And that’s what happened. And that’s OK.

RS: Do you think in the future it might resume?

Rolie: I don’t know. Right now, I owe Neal a debt of gratitude because I have Deen and Marco in my own band, called New Blood. We’ve already recorded three songs that are totally different from all this stuff. If you heard it you’d go, “Holy crap, this is different.” It’s based upon what Neal started. As I said, I owe him a debt of gratitude. These guys are phenomenal musicians. The kicker here is that my son plays slide guitar on [my new solo album] Sonic Ranch. And he’s all over the DVD and the videos. It’s not all about this nostalgic stuff. I feel like Jack Nicholson. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” That’s really how I feel.