San Diego, CA
RIMAC
December 13th, 1998

Ryan:

This show was even better than the LA show! I was in the 4th row, right in front of Neal which was very cool. They played better than the night before, but only did 1 encore instead of 2 due to how little the crowd was into the concert I think. Most of the time, everyone was sitting, even during all the rockin fast songs like Seperate Ways and such. Only towards the end of the concert after "Wheel In the Sky" did people stand and stay standing longer than a minute. I thought they played flawlessly as there were no mistakes except for Jon's Infinity intro again... I got to meet them again after the concert and got some more things signed and had a chance to talk to Neal for a little bit which was cool. Steve recognized me from the night before when I handed him the Tall Storied CD to get signed. Overall, a cool concert and I'll be looking forward to the new CD and when they tour next. Journey rules.

Jim:

Being a Huge Journey fan, I was not sure how Augeri would be as the front man. Just one word, AWSOME!!!!!!!! He did'nt miss a note, range was great, and sound was good. Over all he, in my mind, was just as good, if not better than Mr. P and Neal put it in the concert. This was an early Christmas present from my wife, the tickets were fourth row center. Great seats. The band played all of their old stuff, and a couple of new things, and of course some instrumentals including a Christmas tune. Deen on drums also was featured in one of the instrumentals and he was just great! To conclude, if you are not sure about seeing them just because Perry is no longer with them, you have to go! They were awsome.

Jean Roberts:

I went to the San Diego show last night and have to say I was disappointed. I did not know in advance that Steve Perry was not with the band and I don't think I would have gone (or spent the 80$ for two tickets) if I had known. He is Journey for me. The new guy, on his own merits, is a good singer, and did a very good Steve Perry impression. Sang all the songs with the same emphasis as Perry, did not try to alter them or make them his, but I really felt there was something lacking. STEVE PERRY!! I don't know what the real reason for him not touring is, but I don't think the other members should tour as Journey without him. He is the reason they made it to superstardome and I think they are simply caching in on it. The band did sound good (musically) they played each tune flawlessly and had a very big sound (for a fairly small venue). But I felt cheated..... Guess I should have researched it before purchasing, but I assumed they would at least have the person who is Journey. A new drummer, no big deal, but this was too much to try to put over on the fans.