Photos and Review by Jeff Palmucci
Galleries: Def Leppard, Journey, The Steve Miller Band
A bunch of bands from my high school days played at Fenway Park last week. My wife and her high schools friends came to the show, let’s face it, mostly to see Joe Elliott. They ALL had a crush on him back then. I’ve been married to my wife now for 30 years. Would she drop me like a hot potato if Joe ever hit on her? I put the odds at 60/40.
First up was the Steve Miller Band. I’m not really a big fan of the band, but I’m a huge fan of the music. What I mean by this is during their set, they would play hit after hit: The Joker, Abracadabra, Take the Money and Run, Fly Like an Eagle. After each I would think to myself: “I love this song, I didn’t know these guys played it!” Steve Miller is now 80 years old, yet his voice still sounds incredible. I heard no sign of aging during the set, he is still going strong.
Next was Journey. Lead singer since 2007 Arnel Pineda did an admirable job belting out the the lyrics to all the classics, and did a great job interacting with the crowd. One memorable moment for me was when one of my wife’s friends started sobbing uncontrollably during Open Arms. I was teasing her about it the next morning a breakfast. She came back and said “I wasn’t thinking about a guy when that was going on, I was thinking about these friends here.” Awwwww.
Finally Def Leppard took the stage. Joe had an infection that night and his voice was not 100%. He was a bit apologetic about it. He definitely sounded a bit rough in places, but he still did a pretty good job with the vocals. Def Leppard songs are pretty taxing on the voice, and Joe Elliot has a pretty distinctive sound as a lead singer. He did remarkably well during the set, and I’m glad he didn’t do something silly like postpone the show.
During Photograph, I turned to my wife and noticed that she too started tearing up. I asked her what was up with that. She told me it reminded her of staying up late with these guys watching Def Leppard on MTV.
All in all this was a great show and I highly recommend going to see them. Even if you have to do it with a bunch of overly emotional girls.