Band nails the sound of Journey during its 1980s fame
By Scott Daniels
September 20, 2016
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In the 1980s the band Journey was inescapable. The group found a distinctive sound early on, fronted by the one-of-a-kind voice of lead singer Steve Perry. Journey cranked out hit after hit, many of them seriously catchy tunes, which stuck easily in your head for weeks. Their songs were in heavy rotation on just about every pop and adult contemporary station in the United States for over a decade, so much so that they became a bit overexposed as they say.
Steve Perry became somewhat parodied, and I remember MTV in the days when the network still aired music videos, holding an on-air party when several Journey music videos were permanently removed from rotation.
All this came flooding back to mind Saturday night, Sept. 10 at the Kent State Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center when Resurrection - A Journey Tribute took the stage. I came into the show wondering just how close anyone could come to replicating Steve Perrys voice.
Perry is the owner of a particularly high, soaring tenor range, made even more distinctive by a way of flattening his throat that made his voice dominate every note of every song. The combination of that voice with the bands unmistakable sound left me curious about Resurrection - A Journey Tributes ability to pull it all off. The band should come close, yes. You need a drummer, someone on keyboard and a couple of guitars, and youre there, but the singing was another matter altogether, I thought.
From the moment Resurrection - A Journey Tribute started to play, Journey was in the house, fully and completely. Remarkably lead singer Ryan Christopher absolutely nailed the Perry sound without the slightest waver or off-moment.
Closing your eyes, you could not distinguish between the real thing and this tribute replication. Backed up by an equally perfect band with exact Journey-sounding harmony, the overall impression was stunning. Songs familiar to anyone alive in the 1980s were performed with the sound, look and feel of the real thing.
Resurrection - A Journey Tribute has only been performing as a group for a couple of years. Founded by Christopher and keyboardist Vic White in 2013 following a 2011 first meeting, the band has quickly gained a national reputation for their work. The group is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and began performing in 2014.
It was clear that the band enjoyed the electrifying effect they brought to the almost full house at the PAC. White, between songs, urged the audience to take pictures, post them to the bands Facebook page during the show, and share their thoughts and comments. Christopher, for his part, started off the first set letting the audience know they were welcome to sing along, cheer and dance in the aisles if they felt moved to do so.
The audience had no hesitation in showing their appreciation for the bands work: cheering, singing and rocking to hit after hit.
One unexpected effect I experienced personally made me somewhat glad when the show ended. That high tenor voice is rapturously wonderful nestled inside other tunes by say Madonna, Hall & Oates and Michael Jackson. More than an hour of it in undiluted form can become too much of a good thing and a little strident for ears long past their 80s-rocking years.
And now after a 20-year hiatus those Journey songs are again stuck in my head.
Resurrection - A Journey Tribute continues its Highway Run tour the remainder of this year.
