The Pretenders opening for Journey (-Steve Perry, obviously)?!?!?

At this point it'd be simpler to list the rock bands Jett hasn't opened for.

In the 80s I personally saw her open for Robert Plant and Aerosmith (two separate shows), and about 7 years ago she also opened a festival headlined by Foo Fighters and the Avett Brothers. (The Foos played "Bad Reputation" and brought her out to sing lead.)

A quick Google search reveals she's also opened for Van Halen, Cheap Trick, Ramones, Heart, Green Day, Tom Petty, The Police, Queen, Motorhead, Alice Cooper and Social Distortion.... among MANY others, I'm sure....

 

Isn't this the same woman who went on TV 25 years ago to sing "Smelly Cat" on Friends? (She also contributed a so-so cover of "Angel Of The Morning" to the soundtrack, best known for the Rembrandts theme song and an annoyingly-catchy Hootie song.)

I mean, the woman is a living legend, but she hasn't turned down a good paycheck in several decades.

 

LOL. Luckily Chrissie isn't as snobby as some of her fans. I see no problem as they draw from the same pool - old, white people. As an aside I saw Journey's first tour with Arnel. Cheap Trick and Heart opened, I went for Cheap Trick and my wife for Heart. We thought it odd that Journey without Perry were the headliners. We decided to listen to the first song and then beat the crowd. We ended up staying until the end and it took us 2 hours to get out of the parking lot, but it was worth it. Arnel sounded incredible and we had a blast. And from our seats it might as well have been Steve Perry or Joe Perry or Perry Como up there. Relax and enjoy.

 

Saw that show in Memphis. It was great.
Chrissie came back and did a couple of great duets with Stevie.

 

Artists like Chrissie, Joan, Alice Cooper, Cyndi Lauper and Cheap Trick are great slot artists because on their pwn, they'll play theaters but each of them is dependable and has a solid enough discography that they please audiences waiting for the headliner and go over better than an unknown in the slot. I saw Joan open for Heart in August and she actually won the crowd better and there were many who left after her set

 

Sadly the Pretenders aren't the draw they once were. The band is Chrissie and Martin Chambers, due to sad histories, unless something has changed that I am not aware of yet.
If Journey, or some version there-of is going to draw some big crowds, hopefully some folks will be exposed to how good the Pretenders are.
I reckon it really ends up being a double bill, more than a support, but I guess that depends how it all plays out.
As mentioned Pretenders supported Stevie Nicks probably eighteen months ago or something like that. I saw the Memphis show and it was great. The Pretenders played a good length set, and then Chrissie came out and sang Stop Dragging My Heart Around, and another song I believe with Stevie, and they seemed to be having a great time. It was excellent.

 

I should clarify something here. I’m definitely more of a Chrissie fan than I am of a Journey fan, no doubt. But about 7 years ago, an attractive lady asked me to go see Journey with her and I did - enjoyed the show. I have Infinity on cd, and a few Journey LPs I bought circa 1980. My original post probably does make me sound snobby, but that wasn’t really what I was trying to get after here.

To me, the songs are just so different that I think it’s a weird combo. It’s like The Jam opening for Hall & Oates or something. The Smiths opening for The Doobie Brothers, or as I did say in my first post, Hendrix opening for The Monkees.

I didn’t word it well, but I didn’t mean it as a “versus” type thread. I like all those acts - they’re all in my collection, to some degree - but I don’t think they complement each other well. Journey/Styx/Boston/Foreigner? Yup.
Pretenders/Costello/Joe Jackson/Squeeze? Yup. But mixing them up just doesn’t work IMO.

Anyway, I have enjoyed the comments on both sides - it seems most folks here think this is fine, so I recognize I’m in the minority.

 

The Pretenders should end their set with the following song as Journey joins them on stage to sing along. Slow the song way down as Journey makes their way on stage. Start singing the song in slow motion, with great emotion and dramatic flair as Journey joins in:

 

I did think that also ... Gentle Giant Supporting Sabbath type thing. Love both bands, but completely different style and feel

Edit: I must point out I like some Journey stuff, but I am not as familiar with them as US folks are

 

She does what she wants needling closed minded rockers like jan weiner and greil marcus. Angel in the Morning , lots of pop ballads , digging the Carpenters. Butnow a bigger sin in snobby eyes Journey. I want a tour with Sammy Haggar.

She never stayed in a box or was pure. Shes great.

 

with the shape of an Wilson's voice I could understand why

 

Instead of The Three Tenors, it's The Three Perrys ...

 

I think what shocks me about this is that Chrissie is someone who literally complained in the late 90s that her teenagers were listening to Britney Spears and NSYNC instead of "real music"

 

Not really, Steve's album did remarkably well (in 2019 standards) for an artist without a tour to support it as well as someone who is completely out of the streaming demographic. Steve's album performed better than any post-Perry Journey album that wasn't promoted on Oprah as a 3 disc set for the price of a single one with the new singer singing note by note renditions of the Perry hits.

 

Debatable. True that the first three albums are pretty much everything a normie would want to hear, but I'd take Break Up The Concrete over any post-Perry recording.

 

Nope!

 

While I prefer Pretenders to Journey (and I was fortunate to see them do a headliner theater show last year, one where Chrissie was able to dig into deep cuts as well as focus on more new songs that wouldn't be played in a Journey show), the bigger shock to me was last year when Journey did the headline gig over Def Leppard. I'd actually give Def Leppard the edge because Joe Elliott is still the lead singer, and in terms of popularity, Pyromania and Hysteria actually outsold any Journey studio album (whereas while Pretenders had some successful albums, they never sold the units Journey could). It feels weird that Def Lep with pretty much the classic lineup intact (sans the late Steve Clark, but Vivian has been a member since 1992 when they were still scoring hits) ends up opening for the band with the tribute band lead singer. It isn't like Def Lep isn't oversaturated as well on classic rock radio.

 

That’s a pretty specific criterion. I would say its wal-mart exclusivity had more to do with its success as other wal-mart exclusives by classic rock artists (AC/DC, Eagles etc..) were also very successful. I don’t know how many of them were on Oprah.

Also don’t know what you mean by out performed. Had a higher chart peak? I would say album charts in 2019 are pretty meaningless. It’s a lot easier to get a high chart placement than ever before.

 

well, a 70 year old lead singer of a band from 35-40 years ago who retired from touring and had been quiet for 20 years isn't going to be measured up against Drake or Post Malone. For what "Traces" was, it did very well, especially since it sold what it did without the ticket bundle that a lot of veteran artists use to get a higher album chart position.

 

Actually with streaming its the opposite. Older artists and rock/alternative acts struggle to get decent chart positions because streaming has changed the playing field because people stream mostly hip hop and pop music and predominantly under-30 artists. Steve's album going to #6 with practically zero streaming on its side was actually very impressive. One of the reasons older artists do the ticket bundle thing is because that's literally the only way many of them can still get a top 10 debut given the teens who dominate the streaming sites won't go near their music, and Steve did what he did without a ticket bundle because he had no tour.

 

This is not a weird combination.

This is weird. You must have missed it : Tears for Fears and Hall and Oates
Daryl Hall & John Oates, Tears for Fears Plot Joint Tour

Also, this: Billy Idol and Bryan Adams
Billy Idol, Bryan Adams Team for U.S. Summer Tour

later
-1

 

That’s not true at all. Many older artists have been able to grab their first number 1 albums ever in recent years (James Taylor, Weird Al, Neil Diamond, David Bowie...) or first in decades. Because albums just don’t sell much anymore, even current artists aside from a select few. So a halfway decent first week will get you high on the charts. And none of those artists I mentioned had a ticket bundle.

 

And how about this one?:
Jay-Z & The Rutles

Just kidding...

 

That’s actually good to hear. I went to the Hall of Fame ceremony, and bought my signed vinyl bundle, with the blue colored vinyl, CD, turntable mat and socks. I thought it was a great effort, but it seemed to vanish without much media coverage. But maybe you’re right, with older artists, it’s hard to stay in the spotlight unless you are touring.

 

Bowie is literally the only one of those who came after BB changed the rules in 2015 to incorporate streaming onto the album charts. And I have a feeling he wouldn't have gone to #1 if the album release didn't have different circumstances (considering Prince and Bowie are the only two older artists who actually saw a streaming boost, it shows that death is the best way to sell records if you're out of the radio demographic). Does it compute that BB changed the rules?