Styx step up first to a decent turn out so early
on in the night. Their set is lively and full
of energy the way rock music should be performed;
with attitude and confidence, absolutely terrific
fun. Every so often their logo will appear on
the digital screen behind them and their keyboardist
spins around effortlessly with his spinning keyboard.
They even bring out their original bass player
to run through a few tracks which is quite a surprise!
They amble around the stage full of attitude and
confidence with a dedication to putting on a great
show, at one point the guitarist threw all of
his picks away without realising and had to play
with his fingers, now that’s dedication.
8 tracks from the band and after an enjoyable
set they depart and the setup begins for the legendary
band which is Foreigner.
Foreigner bring out the big guns with a set of
some truly astonishing hits. Stage setup is terrific
with a different animated sequence for the screens
to accompany each individual song including their
logo at the end of each one. For a band that’s
old as these guys are the lead singer definitely
has some youth with him shown by  the fact he flings
himself over the front barrier and sets off running
around the audience before returning to the stage
to continue singing. A 9 song set including some
really old school classics like “Waiting
for a girl like you”, “Cold as Ice”,
“I want to know what love is” and
the closing song “Juke Box Hero”;
would absolutely love to see this band again,
the singer get the percussion instruments on the
go and then the guitarist comes out and really
blows us all away with his saxophone capabilities,
what a talented group of guys.
Journey whilst putting on an enjoyable quirky
show for me don’t have the power in the
material to stand up to the other 2 acts as they
warm you up to tremendously bouncy tunes and then
Journey are a bit more emotional and soothing.
That by no means is me implying that they were
bad because they gave a terrific live show but
I just feel after the first 2 bands they have
a different atmosphere. The lighting for this
was phenomenal; beams everywhere, shaped lights,
screens displaying the band and animated sequences.
The members themselves are extremely talented
musicians in their own right; guitarist shredding
up and down the stage, drummer  smashing the kit
to pieces with extreme precision and my favourite
member of all, lead singer Arnel Pineda. The man
never stops smiling and is an agile little bugger;
leaping onto and off of everything, bouncing around
like a rubber ball on speed and sprinting around
with his quirky little dance moves, he seems like
a very genuinely happy guy. The band bring in
tracks from throughout their entire career right
up to the latest album “Eclipse”,
including their encore they effortlessly ring
out 18 tracks which is very respectable in an
hour and a half set. Near enough 100% spot on
renditions of such popular tracks like “Don’t
Stop Believing”, “Anyway You Want
It”, “Wheel In The Sky”, “Separate
Ways (Worlds Apart)” and “Mother,
Father” which featured drummer Deen Castronovo
on lead vocals with some newbie’s slotted
in from the new album like; “Edge of the
Moment”, “City of Hope” and
“Resonate”. Bouncing back on stage
for an encore to perform “Lovin’,
Touchin’, Squeezin’” in which
Pineda decides to jump down to the barrier and
hug people, which spurs a lot of people to flood
down to the front row like a star struck mob.
Terrific night at the NEC with classic bands playing
tracks that take me back to my childhood!
Styx – 5/5
Foreigner – 5/5
Journey – 4/5
Review By James Webb
Photos By Robert Lawrence
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