Gig review: Journey, Whitesnake and Thunder, Glasgow

Themed musical package tours are no fresh innovation but as the nostalgia market folds subsequent generations of music lovers into its comforting embrace, there is hope for any old act with a couple of hits in the bag to face an arena full of fans once again.

Journey, Whitesnake and Thunder - SECC, Glasgow

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The 80s soft rock package tour is uniquely placed here, in that this is music made for arenas, replete with bombastic arrangements, masturbatory guitar solos, corny lyrics and, principally, strong melodic hooks delivered by singers with athletic vocal ranges.

Unless you happen to be Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale. Though a king in the soft rock aristocracy, his voice is now sandpaper hoarse, meaning his bandmates did most of the heavy lifting when it came to delivering the high hooklines of Is This Love, Here I Go Again and Fool For Your Loving.

In addition, they provided drum solos, guitar duels and harmonica interludes, all dispatched with more of a metallic glint than likeable curtain-raisers Thunder, while Coverdale officiated with leonine charm.

Journey’s youthful, trendy frontman Arnel Pineda has the effortless vocal capacity but not the commanding charisma. In mitigation, the band brought the wall-to-wall rousing tuneage, although only a handful of their songs could be considered anthems. The opening Separate Ways (World Aparts), fabulously overcooked ballad Open Arms and prog pomp anachronism Wheel In The Sky were all fine examples of this maligned genre but nothing else could hold a candle to the unabashed, air-punching uplift of Don’t Stop Believin’.