by Michael McCarthy
Last Friday I went to see Hugo: The Ultimate Journey Tribute.
I should begin this by stating that I’m normally not a big fan of tribute bands. Previously, the only tribute bands I’ve seen were an Abba tribute and a tribute to Elvis and Chuck Berry where they had holograms for singers. Suffice to say, tribute bands just normally are not my cup of tea. But I decided to take a chance on this one because Hugo was the singer in two 90s bands that I loved, Valentine and Open Skyz, so I already knew that Hugo was an excellent singer. And I happen to like Hugo’s voice better than that of Arnel Pineda, Journey’s singer since 2007. To be fair, I haven’t seen Journey live with Arnel but I’ve seen clips online and I just think that Hugo’s voice is more similar to that of Journey’s most famous vocalist, the legendary Steve Perry.
Truth be told, I’ve never seen the real Journey live. If Steve Perry was still in the band, I am sure I would have but to me any version of Journey without Perry is a basically a glorified tribute band anyway. I know plenty of people would disagree with me on that but, for me, the most memorable thing about Journey has always been Perry’s voice. I have nothing whatsoever against any of the other founding members of Journey but Journey without Perry is just never going to feel authentic to me.
I didn’t expect to review to review Hugo’s show, largely because I figured people would figure it was lame of me to go see a tribute band. However, Hugo’s show was nothing short of phenomenal. One of the best concerts I’ve ever been to in my entire life if I’m being entirely honest. Hugo not only sounds like Steve Perry, he looks a lot like him, too. In fact, there’s a story about Hugo auditioning for Journey and they apparently told him that they wanted to hire him but that he looked too much like Perry and that fans would’ve been disturbed by that if they’d hired him so they didn’t.
Furthermore, Hugo didn’t talk much during his show but he said that last year Jonathan Cain of Journey was offered a gig in Dubai and the guys in Journey couldn’t make it for whatever reasons. So Cain actually hired Hugo and his band to be Journey with him for the night. Hugo’s show might not be officially endorsed by Journey, but if Jonathan Cain can hire them to be Journey for a night, I think that’s proof positive that Hugo and his band are very talented guys.
Hugo opened the show with “Separate Ways (World’s Apart),” one of my favorite Journey songs, immediately captivating the audience. Speaking of which, it snowed last Friday night in New England. I was actually supposed to go to the show with my parents but they decided to stay home so I just took Uber and went by myself. I’m normally one of those people who freaks out and stays home when it’s slowing even a little, but I just had a feeling that Hugo’s show was going to be something special. And I’d been listening to Journey for the last few weeks and was rather excited about the show. I just could not miss it. Something inside of me just would not let me. I sent the venue a message on Facebook to confirm that the show was still on then I booked my ride.
I was just looking at Journey’s Greatest Hits album and I believe that Hugo performed every song on it. Seriously. I didn’t write down the set list since I wasn’t anticipating reviewing it but I am almost certain that he did every song on Journey’s Greatest Hits. Not only that, he did Steve Perry’s two solo hits, too, “Oh Sherrie” and “Foolish Heart.” I wasn’t expecting to hear “Foolish Heart” and I’m a huge fan of that song so I was super happy when Hugo performed it. Not only that, he did all of Journey’s popular ballads, too, “Open Arms,” “I’ll Be Alright Without You,” “Faithfully” and “Lights.”
I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I actually cried during “I’ll Be Alright Without You” and “Open Arms.” Those were two songs that have been a huge part of the soundtrack of my life, having deeply personal meanings for me, and hearing them live was just so powerful. But they weren’t necessarily sad tears. I was extremely happy that he did those songs. I knew he’d have to do “Open Arms” but I didn’t think he’d do “I’ll Be Alright Without You” and the second he started singing it the floodgates just opened up in me and I cried and cried. But they were largely happy tears. And crying during those songs was rather cathartic. Maybe that makes me a cry baby, I don’t know. But it wasn’t that I chose to cry. It just happened without any effort on my part. I don’t know if the people around me noticed that I was crying. My parents and I had bought three tickets, obviously, and I sat in the middle seat so the seats directly beside me were not taken.
Hugo had video playing throughout the entire show, mostly showing imagery like you would expect to see in music videos. For example, there were lots of hearts on the screen during “Foolish Heart.” I tried to pay more attention to Hugo and his band than the video footage but the video was a nice touch. The show was at a relatively small theatre, the Nashua Center for the Arts, but having the video playing all night made it feel more like a big arena show.
Most of the video footage was clearly original footage made to accompany Hugo’s show but before the last two songs the video showed Tony Soprano from the show The Sopranos, flipping through an old fashioned jukebox and stopping on “Journey: ‘Don’t Stop Believin‘” and ‘Any Way You Want It.’” Then he closed out the show playing those two songs in that order.
I just learned that Hugo is playing in Laconia, New Hampshire in June and I definitely intend to get tickets. That’s a bit far from my house but there obviously won’t be snow in June so I’ll probably get tickets for my parents and I and hopefully my dad can drive because that would be too far to go with Uber, just in terms of what such a ride would cost. (I don’t drive because I have PTSD from a bad car accident.)
Honestly, if you’re a Journey fan, Hugo’s show is one not to be missed. Like I said, he performed as Journey with Jonathan Cain last year. If that’s not a seal of approval, I don’t know what is.
I’d still like to see Journey sometime but if Hugo and Journey were both playing in my area the same night and I had to choose which one to see, I would go see Hugo. I don’t think I can give him a bigger compliment than that.
Visit Hugo’s official site for tour dates and such: https://hugojourneytribute.com/
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