Sue-happy Journey breezed into Tampa on Friday, took a nearly 2 1/2-hour recess from their legal escapades and delivered a crowd-pleasing set of classic rock.
The court of public opinion, a packed house inside Benchmark International Arena, reveled in it.
No objections noted. Except for maybe one nit we’ll talk about in a minute.
The group’s “Final Frontier” tour has been somewhat overshadowed by more infighting, postponements and crises of confidence. But band members exhibited no outward signs of discord. Quite the opposite. It shows what can happen when all the focus is on the joy of making music. Everything — and everyone — feels better for a while.
Led by guitarist-founder Neal Schon and longtime keyboardist Jonathan Cain, Journey remains a powerful force on stage — three decades after the departure of iconic lead singer Steve Perry.
The internal conflicts have been well documented. Schon sued Cain. Cain sued Schon. Schon and Cain sued former members. Schon issued a cease and desist order against Cain. Perry sued the band, too. It’s not worth reciting all the reasons.
But Friday night, Cain v. Schon melted away. As if it were some kind of therapeutic tone-setting message to promote group healing, Journey led with a stout version of the 1986 hit “Be Good to Yourself.”
Six songs into the set, Schon introduced “Lights,” the band’s signature ode to San Francisco. The song tugs at my heart. I was born in that city by the bay, and Schon’s opening riff evokes something every time. The audience swayed and sang along — as they would throughout a performance that showcased most of Journey’s better-known hits, extended solos and a couple of deep cuts.
As a younger man, Schon, 72, perfected the guitar soloist’s squinty, sex-face grimaces — the same look one might flash after a process server shoves a subpoena into your chest. On Friday, he was mostly all smiles.
Singer Arnel Pineda, who joined Journey nearly 20 years ago after Schon saw clips of him on YouTube, has proven to be a more than admirable Perry stand-in. You could argue he’s far more charismatic and even more fun to watch.
But replicating Perry takes its toll, and the setlist has been crafted to shield Pineda’s pipes. He ceded lead vocals on roughly a quarter of the songs. The Perry parts were handled by drummer Deen Castronovo on “Just the Same Way,” “Lights,” “Anytime,” and “Keep on Runnin’” Keyboardist Jason Derlatka took the microphone on “Girl Can’t Help it” and “Suzanne.”
The diminutive Pineda can still hit the highest of high notes. He’s a max effort guy, who engages with the audience like a super fan — high-fiving and hugging everyone within reach. But his role is slightly diminished.
Credit to Pineda, though. He has yet to sue any of his bandmates.
That doesn’t mean everything is hunky-dory. Just days after Rolling Stone published a story in late March surfacing more tension between Schon and Cain as well as Pineda’s willingness and readiness to perform, Journey started postponing gigs. The next month, their outdoor set at the Stagecoach Music Festival in California got canceled when powerful winds literally blew the band off the bill. The following day Pineda dropped a confounding post on social media about embarking on a “new chapter.” Based on the backstage drama, you get the sense that everything hangs by the threads of one of Schon’s well-worn high E guitar strings.
But, for now, Journey keeps on rolling and drawing big crowds. Their farewell tour launched in late February and averages nearly five shows a week. They just added 40 dates that will see the band return to Florida before the end of hurricane season.
The last gig scheduled is set for late November in San Francisco. That would be the most appropriate place to wrap up their storied career, though there are reports they intend to keep going into 2027.
I came of age listening to this band. Schon, nine years older, grew up one town over from me in the suburbs south of San Francisco. A guitar prodigy, he joined Carlos Santana’s band at 15 and dropped out of school. Back then, Santana featured its original, and most impactful, singer, Gregg Rolie, the voice behind “Black Magic Woman,” “Evil Ways” and “Oye Como Va.” Schon started Journey around 1972 with Rolie. When Perry came aboard to record the 1978 “Infinity” album, the band took off like a rocket.
Cain replaced Rolie two years later. He introduced more button-downed power ballads that simultaneously broadened the commercial appeal of the group and spawned legions of haters. Schon has been Journey’s only constant presence. His father was a jazz musician, music teacher and band leader. I saw his dad play in a tiny club around 1981 as a member of the Full Faith & Credit Big Band. I can still picture a workman-like Matt Schon, cheeks full, busting out his tenor sax without a trace of ego.
His son by then had already co-written some of the catchiest songs of the last half century. Journey’s work endures because the music was well-crafted, impeccably executed and few could sing like Perry.
TV shows like “The Sopranos” and “Stranger Things” catapulted Journey’s sound onto the playlists of generations of new fans who’ve streamed the band’s hits billions of times. But the songs have never been as edgy as the band’s frayed interpersonal dynamics. On Friday, Schon and Cain mostly occupied opposite ends of the stage.
The group has kept pumping out albums with Pineda, though all but one of the 24 songs in their Tampa set hailed from the Perry era. The only outlier was the deepest of deep cuts “Of a Lifetime,” from the band’s 1975 debut before Perry entered the picture. Derlatka sang it.
Back to the only objection of the night. The mix on the bass drum was egregiously loud. Despite the obvious pounding and throbbing, the sound crew never made an adjustment.
At the end of the day, it didn’t matter much. Nor did it matter to the crowd who was singing. They remained on their feet for the entire back end of the show.
Cain made one quick reference to their former frontman. They’ve opened the door to a Perry return, even for a night, which has sparked reunion speculation. Journey last performed live with Perry in 1991 — a lackluster couple of songs at a free memorial concert in Golden Gate Park. (I was there!) Perry hasn’t toured in ages, though he resumed recording solo projects eight years ago. He tamped down reports he would rejoin the band, issuing a statement on Facebook in February saying the rumors were “simply not true.”
For now, we’ll happily listen to Pineda belting out “Don’t Stop Believin.’”
When Journey plays that song for the very last time, however, I hope Perry is there. Let him finish all the notes.
Then, and only then, you cut to black.
That would be divine justice.
Journey setlist
- “Be Good to Yourself”
- “Stone in Love”
- “Ask the Lonely”
- “Just the Same Way”
- “Girl Can’t Help it”
- “Only the Young”
- Lights”
- “When You Love a Woman”
- “Of a Lifetime”
- “La Do Da”
- “Escape”
- “Chain Reaction”
- “Dead or Alive”
- “Anytime”
- “Who’s Crying Now”
- “Open Arms”
- “Suzanne”
- “Wheel in the Sky”
- “Keep on Runnin’”
- “Faithfully”
- “Don’t Stop Believin’”
- “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’”
- “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”
- “Any Way You Want It”
