Journey Celebrates 50th Anniversary With a Stadium Tour
Luckily for fans, Journey hasn’t stopped believing in themselves in the last 50 years despite many challenges. Since 1974, the band has undergone lineup changes, long breaks and even lawsuits but it never stopped them from wanting to share their music with the world and their fans from wanting to hear it. They are currently doing a stadium tour with Def Leppard to celebrate their special anniversary with current lineup cofounder Neal Schon, longtime member Jonathan Cain and Arnel Pineda.
There has been drama between Schon and Cain in addition to lawsuits that led to original bassist Ross Valory and longtime drummer Steve Smith leaving. Of course, there were also trademark disputes with the original singer Steve Perry, who recently shared that he is working on new solo music. Drummer Deen Castronovo, who previously played with Schon and Cain in Bad English, revealed that “everybody has mended fences. They’ve made amends and we’re all on one jet again, and it’s all for one and one for all.”
Journey on band lineup changes & 50th anniversary tour
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Schon and Cain sat down with Billboard to open up about the anniversary, the tour and even Steve Perry. Schon said about the tour, “Our fans are so loyal to us, and we have young fans now whose parents were fans of ours and now they have their own kids who are coming to the concerts, too, and they love the music. Bands usually disband because they stop growing, but we keep growing and getting new fans. That keeps it alive.”
Remind
Journey has had a lot of changes, with around 18 members coming and going over the years, and Cain shared how they made the band work with new bandmates. He said, “The music’s bigger than [the band members]. Journey has always connected with the audience. It really comes down to the integrity of the songs and the message. It was positive music — which [critics] loved to hate. (Laughs.) A song like “Don’t Stop Believin’” has a huge connection because there are a lot of small-town girls and city boys wanting to get on the midnight train to anywhere. We worked hard to write songs [for the fans] about their lives.”
Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain talk about Steve Perry
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When asked about Perry, who wouldn’t reunite and sing with the band for the 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, Schon and Cain admitted that they love his voice and just hope they he continues to use it. “I love Steve’s voice. I just wish he continued singing. If Steve wanted to be heard, he’d be heard,” said Schon. “He came with his last solo record [2018’s Traces], and it showed hope that he was going to get out there and start doing things again. Without seeing him do it, I can’t answer something like that.”
Cain added, “I just wish the guy well. Arnel is the longest tenured of any lead singer that we’ve ever had and he has crushed it for all those years, so you got to go, ‘How lucky are we to have a gentleman like that?’ And [Perry] is always going to be judged on his contributions [to Journey] and the legacy he left behind. He wins more than he loses.”
07/25 – Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium
07/27 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PNC Park
07/30 – Cleveland, OH @ Progressive Field
08/02 – Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
08/05 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
08/07 – Flushing, NY @ Citi Field
08/12 – Arlington, TX @ Globe Life Field
08/14 – Houston, TX @ Minute Maid Park
08/16 – San Antonio, TX @ Alamodome
08/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Field
08/23 – Phoenix, AZ @ Chase Field
08/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium
08/28 – San Francisco, CA @ Oracle Park
08/30 – San Diego, CA @ Petco Park
09/04 – Seattle, WA @ T-Mobile Park
09/08 – Denver, CO @ Coors Field
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