Time:7:30 p.m.
Tickets : $70-$110 p.m.
Journey http://www.journeymusic.com/journey-on-tour/
Members: Neal Schon (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jonathan Cain (keyboards, backing vocals), Ross Valory (bass, backing vocals), Deen Castronovo (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Arnel Pineda (lead vocals)
In 2008, Journey introduced a new singer to the world, Arnel Pineda, with the release of their 14th studio album ("Revelation")
and an extraordinarily successful world tour. It was the latest chapter
in a rock ‘n’ roll saga that started more than 35 years ago and has
produced some of the best-known rock songs of the 1970s and ‘80s.
Journey's story begins in Northern California with guitarist Neal
Schon, a child prodigy who dropped out of high school to join Santana
just prior to the San Francisco band recording its third album. Schon,
while in high school, had been jamming with Santana keyboardist Gregg
Rolie, who ultimately would follow Schon into Journey.
The
union of Santana and Schon was short-lived, but in that time period,
Schon would meet a man who believed that a band formed around his guitar
work would be a viable entity.
When Schon left Santana, he
explored the idea of a power trio with two former members of Sly and the
Family Stone, drummer Greg Errico and bassist Larry Graham. Playing
funk, however, limited Schon's amount of soloing, which prompted him to
look for another musical vehicle.
Walter "Herbie" Herbert, a
guitar tech for Santana who had added management duties to his job,
approached Schon in early 1973 about forming a guitar-centric band.
Herbert has said Schon was “the quintessential guitar expressionist of
the time” and to further his career, Herbert connected Schon with two
members of the popular local act Frumious Bandersnatch, former Steve
Miller Band bassist Ross Valory and guitarist George Tickner. They
enlisted drummer Prairie Prince, a member of the Tubes, and the
all-instrumental act began performing as the Golden Gate Rhythm Section.
They developed a local following, one that was strong enough for San
Francisco FM station KSAN to hold a contest to see if a better name
could be given to the GGRS.
The contest yielded the moniker Journey. New name in place, Rolie joined the band in the summer of 1973.
The first edition of Journey developed a largely instrumental
progressive rock sound. The first change in personnel came in early 1974
when Aynsley Dunbar, a British drummer who spent time in the bands of
Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa and John Mayall, took the place of Prince, who
decided to stay with the Tubes.
CBS/Columbia Records signed
that lineup in November 1974, but by the time "Journey," their debut
album, was released, Tickner had left to attend medical school. Tickner,
whose compositions were the backbone of Journey's earliest repertoire,
was not replaced, making the band a single-guitar outfit.
Each
of the band's first three albums - "Journey" (1975), "Look Into the
Future" (1976) and "Next" (1977) - charted higher than the previous
release. And the band maintained a grueling touring schedule, staying on
the road nine months per year performing music that Schon has referred
to as "a rock ‘n’ roll version of the Mahavishnu Orchestra."
But sales were not as strong as the label had hoped and the band was
asked to hire a full-time lead singer. (Rolie had handled vocals from
behind his keyboards).
The first vocalist brought in was Robert
Fleischman, who joined the band for a summer tour in 1977. While his
songwriting contributions to the band included “Wheel In The Sky” and
“Winds Of March,” personality clashes resulted in Fleischman promptly
leaving the band. A young drummer and singer, Steve Perry, who had
contacted Herbert several times, also received an endorsement from CBS,
leading to him being tapped as Journey's new lead singer in October
1977.
Not all of the members were sold on the idea of bringing
the singer into the fold. But at their first meeting, in a hotel room,
Schon and Perry collaborated on what would eventually become the song
“Patiently.”
Roy Thomas Baker was hired to produce their fourth
album – and first with Perry - “Infinity,” which quickly went platinum
after its release in April 1978. The album remained on the charts for
more than two years, peaking at No. 21, and would ultimately sell 3
million copies.
In September 1978, Steve Smith, who had been
Journey's drum roadie and a member of several hard rock and jazz-fusion
bands, replaced Dunbar, who had joined Jefferson Starship.
“Evolution,” which would become their second million-selling album, was
released in May 1979. In October, they scored their first top 30 single
with "Lovin, Touchin', Squeezin'."
Maintaining a torrid pace in the
studio as well as on the road, it was only 11 months later that the
band registered their first top 10 album. “Departure,” which featured
the leadoff single “Any Way You Want It,” reached No. 8 on the Billboard
album chart.
A live double album, “Captured,” followed, becoming their fourth consecutive disc to go platinum.
Before the band returned to the studio Rolie departed, replaced by
Jonathan Cain of the Babys. Adding Cain to the songwriting mix with
Schon, Perry and Valory would result in Journey scoring the biggest hits
of their career.
"Escape," released in September 1981, was the
band’s first No. 1 and would eventually be certified 8 times platinum,
spending more than a year in the top 40. That album produced three of
the best -known songs in the Journey canon: "Don't Stop Believin',"
which hit No. 9; "Who's Crying Now" (No. 4); and "Open Arms," which
spent six weeks at No. 2 in 1982.
While “Don’t Stop Believin’”
would have its place in the sun years later as the final song on HBO’s
“The Sopranos” and as the theme song for the Chicago White Sox on their
way to the 2005 World Series, at the time of release “Open Arms” ushered
in the power ballad into American pop music. The first songwriting
collaboration between Cain and Perry, it quickly became the band’s
signature song at the time and would years later be covered by Mariah
Carey.
Their popularity soaring, Journey became the first rock
band to inspire a videogame. In the early ‘80s their concerts were
visual spectacles as they revolutionized the use of big screens and
computerized lighting systems.
And with the advent of MTV,
Journey's star only continued to rise. One of the few 1970s rock bands
to successfully make the transition into the video age, the follow-up to
“Escape,” “Frontiers,” sat at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart in the
spring of 1983. The album that kept them from the top slot was Michael
Jackson’s “Thriller,” the biggest selling album of all time during the
vinyl era.
During this period, Schon and Perry opted to do solo
projects as well. Schon reunited with keyboardist Jan Hammer – they had
made an album together in 1981 – to record “Here to Stay” and made a
live album, “Through the Fire,” with Sammy Hagar, Kenny Aranson and
former Santana percussionist Michael Shrieve. While Schon was
experimenting with styles that did not fit within the Journey sound,
Perry released the commercially targeted album “Street Talk.”
Between 1983 and 1986 the band landed seven top 20 hits, among them
"Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" and "Girl Can't Help It." In early 1985,
their track for the film “Vision Quest,” “Only the Young,” hits No. 9 as
the band members decided to relax their schedule.
A year
later, Schon, Cain and Perry returned without Valory or Smith, using
studio musicians on “Raised on Radio.” It hit No. 4, spending almost
seven months in the top 40, and the band toured with bassist Randy
Jackson, who would years later become a judge on “American Idol,” and
drummer Mike Baird.
The group disbanded in 1989, seemingly
for good, as Schon and Cain created Bad English with John Waite while
Valory, Smith and Rolie joined the Storm. In 1993, the band reunited,
sans Perry, for a Bay Area concert honoring their former manager
Herbert.
Perry, Schon, Cain, Smith and Valory reunited one last
time for 1996's "Trial By Fire." The dozen songs on the album were
written in just two weeks. It opened at No. 3, yielded the Adult
Contemporary hit single "When You Love a Woman," which would garner the
band their first Grammy nomination, and a 25-date tour was booked. Perry
moved to Hawaii to get in shape, but while there he developed health
problems and was eventually told he would need a hip replaced. The tour
never took place and with no fanfare, the members of Journey went their
separate ways.
Ultimately, Schon, Valory and Cain decided the
band would forge ahead. Steve Augeri was brought in as lead singer and
Dean Castronovo, a member of Bad English, replaced Smith on drums.
(Smith joined the fusion act Vital Information). Their first recording
as Journey was “Remember Me” for the “Armageddon” soundtrack.
“Arrival,” Journey's 11th studio album, was released in April 2001. A
30th anniversary tour followed the release of “Generations” in 2005. The
tour featured shows that were more than three hours long and included
material from every phase of the band’s career.
A year later,
Jeff Scott Soto replaced Augeri, whose time in the band was cut short
due to a throat infection. Soto’s tenure was short-lived and in 2007,
Journey tried a variety of ways to land a new singer. After two days of
watching videos on YouTube, they came across a video featuring Arnel
Pineda performing with a Journey cover band in the Philippines and
booked him for an audition in the States.
Within just a few
songs he had secured the job. Pineda made his debut with the album
“Revelation,” which was sold exclusively at Walmart outlets and was
certified platinum within several months of its release.
More
than a million fans have seen Journey on tour since 2008 with Pineda as
lead singer. After seven months on the road with Journey, Pineda told
the media in Asia, “This is the best job in the world and as long as my
band mates will let me rock with them, I will keep singing with
Journey.”
(403) 320-4040
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