Jeff Scott Soto / Jason Bieler – ‘Live at the Evening Muse: May 13, 2023’ – Concert Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

We interrupt the Jeff Scott Soto Series to bring you a new concert review for a show I attended this weekend that included Jeff Scott Soto and Jason Bieler. It was Saturday, I guess that makes it alright, so I headed down to the Evening Muse in Charlotte, NC, for another fun evening with the comedy stylings of Jeff Scott Soto and Jason Bieler…oh yeah…there was a lot of music too. What started out as two grumpy old men sitting on stage, ended with two very drunk men practically falling off stage…ok not quite, but they had a lot fun as people kept bringing them drinks all night long…as well as cookies.

The evening started at 6pm for those that bought the VIP package…and yes, I was one of those. Last year, they mostly sang, but this year they did a full on Q&A section. You had to stand up, say your name and where you are from, then the crowd said it back to you. My question was to both of them asking if we would see Solo tours from them anytime. Jason stated that he is working on doing a Baron Von Belski tour later in the year, but wants to make sure it presents those 2 Baron albums the right way. Jeff got all serious and laid down the truth. That truth is No, there will be no tour. He said there is no demand for his solo shows in the States and it would not be cost effective to pull it off. Sadly, I know he is right and that disappointments me greatly. I guess I need to keep writing the Soto reviews as the word hasn’t reached everyone yet.

After the Q&A, the boys played a few songs for us including the Saigon Kick songs “On and On”, “One Step Closer” (I think) and ‘Sgt. Steve”. All classic SK songs and performed beautifully. The two were in rare form, cracking jokes and keeping the audience in stitches and they even lost it a few times (especially Jeff). Sometimes Jeff would laugh so hard because Beiler would go off on these tangents that made no sense, but were funny as hell. After around 30-45 minutes or so, the VIP experience ended, the boys went to eat and then we waited for the show. Oh yeah, I forgot we were given a secret password and any time they said that word, we were to cheer really loudly and get all excited. They said this would confuse those that came in for the show and by the end the would start cheering and have no understanding why. The word was “New Jersey” as there were several people in the Q&A from there.

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Tuesday’s Memes – Journey

With Steve Perry back in the public eye and me seeing Journey in concert, I for some reason have neglected doing a collection of memes for the great band of Journey with or without Steve Perry.  Sit back and enjoy…

Don’t Stop Believin’…

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Journey – Concert Review (Charlotte, NC June 9th, 2018)

Yesterday, I did the review on the Def Leppard part of the show (since they opened the show they should get the first review).  Now, it is time to talk about Journey’s portion of the show.  After seeing Lep, I was really pumped and excited to finally see Journey live.  I have never had the pleasure and I can’t believe I missed them in the Steve Perry years.  Journey has survived all these years because they have something a lot of bands don’t really have and that is songs.  Journey’s hits are some of the most loved and admired songs ever.  I mean  “Don’t Stop Believin'” might be the most recognizable song around the world.

The band is still pretty much in tact.  At least the band from the era I grew up with. You have founder Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, Ross Valory and Steve Smith.  All these guys were there doing the early 80’s and their heyday.  11 years ago they added vocalist Arnel Pineda who they found off Youtube and let me tell you what a find he was.  I still wish they would have done more with Jeff Scott Soto, but oh well.  Arnel is pretty darn good vocalist.

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The stage set up was slightly different than Def Leppard’s, but not by much.  They both used the big 40 Foot screen in the back and the 3 large screens up top on the front of the stage.  Journey stripped back all the risers and platforms that Def Leppard used and had a much simpler set up.  Piano on the left, drums in the middle, Ross and Neal up front and Arnel all over the place (more on that later).

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