Rockin' Road Report Archive -- Main Event in the Mid-West

KANSAS CITY, MO
Kemper Arena

June 21, 2003

Main Event in the Mid-West

Another month and another road trip to catch "The Main Event". This trip started out just a little different than most. Meeting up with fellow JourneyDigest.com staff member Leslie White in Kansas City Friday night meant I would be on hand to assist in the interview of Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain. We spent an hour Saturday afternoon talking with Neal and Jonathan about a variety of subjects. Look for the interview on JourneyDigest.com!

Meanwhile, on to the show. This being my fourth show of the tour, I pretty much knew what to expect, but there is always something a little different about every show in every town. It may be a subtle difference, but the differences are there. The Kemper Arena looked to be about three-quarters full, with mostly the high nosebleed seats being vacant. Overall I'd say the crowd was average, not wildly energetic for the entire four and a half hours, but not unenthused either.

REO was up first and went through the same set and the same stories as they've been doing all tour. Other than Kevin Cronin slightly modifying his "Playboy Mansion" story there was nothing new or particularly different in their set. I love their songs and the crowd did too, so the show kicked off in enthusiastic style.

The more I see Styx, the more I enjoy their show. I am extremely glad that they are out on the road with Journey this year and that I am getting the opportunity to see them so often. The energy those guys put out on stage is unbelievable and I have to remind myself I need to conserve some of my energy or by the time Journey hits the stage I will faint from exhaustion. As has been happening all along, the response to the tunes from Cyclorama get a fairly lackluster response since they are so unfamiliar (with the exception of Glen Burtnik's running through the audience "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" of course.) And for the second time in the four shows I've seen, Styx was joined for a few songs by original bassist Chuck Panazzo. (This puts Glen Burtnik on guitar and I tell you, having three guitars going for a couple of songs is amazing.)

Time for Journey to come on stage. They've changed the opening and now instead of coming on stage to the Red 13 Intro, they are using the intro from the DVD. This works better going in to "Separate Ways" than Red 13 did, but it's a bit of a bummer that now there is nothing from the EP in the set at all. I was able to move up from my twelfth row seat to the fourth row about halfway through the set and so experienced the phenomena of having totally different sound during one set. It may be a little easier to see in the fourth row, but it was definitely easier to hear in the twelfth! (Just a reminder for those who find the sound a problem -- take a note of where you are sitting and how it relates to the building and the set up, it DOES make a difference!)

There were a couple of treats for me in this set list -- all of "Dixie Highway" and "Where Were You" (woo hoo! more songs I've never heard live before!) both of which rocked! The only down point in the show was when Jonathan's monitor died right after he introduced "Feeling That Way/Anytime". The show came to a halt for about a minute while his rig was put back on line. (Yikes!) Ross, ever the clown stepped up to his mic and said "We are experiencing technical difficulties, please stand by". A good move to distract the audience momentarily while the road crew fixed the problem. Once back underway, the pace was quickly regained. During "Feeling That Way" I noticed someone was handing Steve a Bammies Walk of Fame pin -- since I had brought some of the extras I had from that weekend to the fan gathering before the concert I was amused to see it now pinned to Steve's jacket. (By the way ladies, white leather jacket, no shirt!)

The show ended all too quickly (even though Journey did run a little long due to the technical difficulty) and soon it was time to say good bye to most of the Kansas City crowd I'd met during the day. This looks to be my last "regular" Main Event show... next stop, Chicago and Loopfest...

P.S. The video for "Faithfully" is fantastic -- they're using pix of the band's and crew's families. Wonderful!

SET LIST

Set lists in order of appearance:

REO:

Ridin' the Storm Out

Keep Pushin'

Can't Fight This Feeling

Don't Let Him Go

Keep on Lovin' You

In Your Letter

Take it on the Run

In My Dreams (acoustic)

Time for Me to Fly

Back on the Road Again

Roll with the Changes

Encore:

157 Riverside Avenue

Styx:

Too Much Time on My Hands

Grand Illusion

Waiting for Our Time

Lady

These Are the Times

Blue Collar Man

Kiss Your Ass Goodbye

Fooling Yourself (w/ Chuck Panazzo)

Miss America

Come Sail Away (w/ Chuck Panazzo)

Encore:

Renegade (w/ Chuck Panazzo)

Journey:

Separate Ways

Stone in Love

Wheel in the Sky

Star Spangled Banner (Neal solo)

Dixie Highway

Lights

-- Jon solo --

Open Arms

Where Were You

Feeling That Way

Anytime

Don't Stop Believin'

Ask the Lonely

Escape

Be Good to Yourself

Any Way You Want It

Encore:

Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

Faithfully