Def Leppard and Journey concert review
It was a double dose of 80's rock in Hershey on July 3, with Def Leppard and Journey hitting the stage at Hersheypark Stadium. With more than 100 million records sold between the two, the bands have provided the soundtrack for a generation of music lovers' lives, or generations as evidenced by the diverse crowd in attendance.
This review was quite a bit different when first written. But shortly after the show, Journey's lead singer, Steve Augeri, left the tour because of throat problems. And that explains everything, because in Hershey, something just wasn't firing properly. Journey, which is a much better band than what I heard, just wasn't that good.In fairness, a big issue I had is with the mix of their sound. Extremely distorted at times, Augeri's vocals were barely distinguishable throughout the show. A few times I couldn't even figure out what they were playing. They may have been playing very well, you just couldn't tell from where I was standing.
But it was Augeri who was noticeably struggling. The former Tall Stories and Tyketto singer is usually just about dead on; but was a little more gravelly and crackly this time. Last time the band played in Hershey a few years ago, he commanded the stage, this time he seemed out of place. Drummer Dean Castronovo even sang three or four songs, and keyboardist Jonathan Cain sang one.