Iconic legends rock Bangor Waterfront

BANGOR – As the old Journey song says, "the party's over." As the leaves begin to fall, the Waterfront stage is heading to the ground - but not before Bangor rocked with Journey, Pat Benatar and Loverboy on Friday night.

Loverboy, famous for the early ’80s staples "The Kid is Hot Tonight" and "Lovin' Every Minute of It," started the evening. The band’s lead vocalist, Mike Reno, can still knock out the vocals. They wrapped up with "Working for the Weekend," a suitable choice indeed for a crowd happily standing in a cold drizzle.

 80's rock band to appear with Journey and Pat Benatar

After 32 years, more than a dozen hits and sales of more than 20 million records, Loverboy is still going strong. Lead singer Mike Reno says the group’s longevity can be attributed to the fact that they retain the bond that brought them together.

Loverboy’s lineup has endured one change in its three decade history: the death of longtime bassist and Mike Reno’s best friend Scott Smith in a boating accident.

“Journey” is easy to be a jerk about. It’s practically got the word “art” sticky-noted onto its forehead. Maybe it looks better then a painting, if you don’t look at paintings. Like all “art games,” it does not focus on either substantial game mechanics or on a story; it’s about an aesthetic (like all “art games,” a pretty somber one) and it’s about getting the “player” to “feel” “something.” You can tell the developers actually used those words in interviews. It’s that kind of game.

I’m not going to be a jerk, though, because “Journey” is worth talking about, mostly for its really fascinating co-op ideas. Maybe you could argue for some value in it as a simple aural and visual piece, if you’re that kind of guy, but without this multiplayer I don’t see what more you’d get from playing it on a PS3 than from watching somebody else play it on YouTube.

Your journey is spent wandering through a desert and a cave, headed for some snow-capped mountain in the distance. Each area is a gentle bubble, wide open and populated by a handful of simple, ambiguous objects. There are no “puzzles” per se, just a couple of structures, ideas or characters floating around for you to play with until you see how to move on - how to continue the journey. A really wonderful Cracker Jack cluster of ideas appears near the end, attaining that mythic balance between aural, visual and mechanical feedback to hit what feel, maybe, like a couple pretty genuine emotional notes.