Journey
Orlando Florida Guide
Journey
Concert Tour Dates
May 2008
 |
Neal
Schon jammin' at Hard Rock Live at Universal Studios CityWalk
in Orlando, Florida. Photo by Steven Ridenour Orlando Florida Guide All Rights Reserved. |
JOURNEY CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF MUSIC
WITH YEAR-LONG CELEBRATIONS;
BAND SET TO RELEASE ‘GENERATIONS’
IN CONNECTION WITH SUMMER TOUR
STARTING JUNE 26
The year started with a historic event on January 21, proclaimed “Journey Day” in
Perhaps the greatest surprise—not only to the fans lined up along Hollywood Boulevard, but to the band most of all—was the unexpected appearance of the group’s former frontman Steve Perry, who had not been seen anywhere with Journey since his departure in 1996 after TRIAL BY FIRE was released and earned the band’s first Grammy® Award nomination for “When You Love A Woman.”
In March, Journey finished recording their highly anticipated 13th studio album, GENERATIONS. As a sign of gratitude to their devoted fans who helped put Journey in the top 30 best-selling music groups of all time (having sold over 75 million albums worldwide), copies of the GENERATIONS CD will exclusively be given away free with the purchase of a ticket at most of the concerts along the tour route. A worldwide retail release once the trek concludes is currently being planned.
The 30th anniversary celebration of the 1975 release of their self-titled debut album continues this summer with the launch of a U.S. tour, dubbed “The concert that takes you back…and into the future,” commencing June 26 in Irvine, CA and lasting through October. Dates are still being confirmed at press time and a large number of shows are going on sale the weekend of May 7. Tickets for the show at Wolf Trap in
Journey has teamed up with iloveallaccess.com to offer a variety of VIP ticket packages. For more information, visit the band’s website at www.journeymusic.com and follow the links.
Keeping with the title of the tour, fans can expect nothing short of a spectacular concert event—complete with fantastic visual and audio flashbacks--as the band brings to life a three hour feast of classic hits, as well as some of the hidden treasures taken from the band’s entire career.
As Neal Schon guarantees, “No matter what kind of Journey fan you’ve been, this is going to be the show to see. We’re covering the spectrum of our entire catalog. We’ll play songs from the very first record and the other three pre-Steve Perry ones, and everything else from there on out, including music from the new album. Then we’ll end the show with a bang and play our greatest hits like we always do. We’re going to be taking fans through a time trip here. It’s going to be very interesting to dive into the past, dive into the future and dive into what we’ve been doing for the past eight years.”
“No one should be worried,” bassist Ross Valory continues. “Yes, we’ll be playing ‘the dirty dozen’ in there somewhere, those favorite songs that have made us popular and have made people happy over the years.”
GENERATIONS was recorded at the Record Plant in
“The new record is a real retro record for Journey,” Schon continues. “It’s a rock record with some great ballads. What I like about it is that it’s very guitar-driven and there’s more rock and soul on this record and less pop. So I’m happy about that because I prefer rock and soul.”
The band turned to an old friend, Kevin Elson, to produce GENERATIONS. He’s the man responsible for the band’s multi-platinum ESCAPE, DEPARTURE and FRONTIERS albums, as well as their double-platinum CAPTURED live album. It was Schon’s idea to enlist Michael Fraser (Metallica, AC/DC, Aerosmith) to team up with Elson to engineer the sessions.
For Cain and the rest of the band, working with Elson and Fraser proved to be just the ticket with Journey. “This album happened fairly effortlessly in the sense that we recorded all the basic tracks in a week,” he says. “We made the album with Kevin kind of the same way we made ESCAPE. We rehearsed diligently and recorded everything live, so the whole band got everything done really quickly. We went into the studio and just played together as a band with very little overdubs. And it was a laid-back atmosphere. Nobody was on anybody’s case while we were making this album. Nobody got the primadonna award.”
“We mixed the album in
The album title, GENERATIONS, represents the constancy of Journey’s followers old and new throughout the past 30 years. “There’s a whole new generation that has become fans of ours,” says Valory. “For the last seven years in particular, I’ve been noticing that there are younger fans at the shows. Being that Journey has been popular for so long, there are at least three if not four generations of Journey concert-goers and listeners. We find people older than us and kids in the front row. So many of the lyrics on the album address the lives of these people.”
With new song titles like "Faith In The Heartland," "Place In Your Heart," and “A Better Life,” “the band has come full circle” according to Jonathan. “We’ve been going in different directions in the past. I think it embraces the elements of FRONTIERS again, our rock roots, it has a bit of a soul and Motown sound to it. The harmonies that we’ve created are strong and have a melodic sense, and yet it has a playfulness about it. It’s fun and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. There are serious things that we touch upon. We’ve got a song about the soldiers over in the
In an interesting twist, GENERATIONS will be the first Journey album in which all the band members get a shot at being the frontman. “Everyone is singing at least one, if not two songs on the new album,” says Valory, “we’ve been doing that on the past few tours and the audiences love it. We’re spreading the talent around. I like to think of it as a blossoming of new singers who’ve just been playing their instruments before.”
Here’s the first batch of confirmed tour dates:
DATE CITY VENUE
Sun 6/26
Wed 6/29 San Diego, CA Coors Amphitheatre
Thu 6/30
Sat 7/2
Thu 7/7
Sat 7/9
Mon 7/11
Fri 7/15
Sat 7/16
Sun 7/17
Wed 7/20
Fri 7/22
Sat 7/23
Sat 7/30 Paso Robles, CA
Sun 7/31
Tue 8/2
Wed 8/3
Tue 8/9
Wed 8/10
Fri 8/12
Sat 8/13
Wed 8/17
Wed 8/24
Fri 8/26 Holmdel,
Sat 8/27
Sun 8/28
Wed 9/7
Thu 9/8
Sat 9/24 Biloxi, MS Beau Rivage Casino
* All dates are subject to change.
Check out the band’s website for the latest additions to the anniversary celebrations in the coming weeks.
Journey's Greatest Hits DVD 1978-1997 will be released on November 25th
The
DVD includes Journey's Hit Songs: Don't Stop Believin' (1981), Wheel In
The Sky (1978), Faithfully (1983), Any Way You Want It (1981), Separate
Ways (1983), Lights (1978), Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin (1979), Be Good To
Yourself (1986), When You Love A Woman (1996), Who's Cryin Now (1981),
Send Her My Love (1983), Girl Can't Help It (1986), Open Arms (1981),
Just The Same Way (1981), Stone In Love (1981), Feeling That Way (1978),
After The Fall (1983), and I'll Be Alright Without You (1986).
JOURNEY
CONCERT REVIEW AT HARD ROCK LIVE IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA
By Jeanie Thomas
9/17/03
There was a lot of love at Orlando's Hard Rock Live Wednesday night. From the second Journey came on stage and started up their show with "Separate Ways", the audience was cheering, clapping, swaying and dancing throughout the 2 ½ hour Journey-fest.
With their scarab logo in the background and framed by Hard Rock's effective multi-colored lighting, the band offered up a non-stop parade of favorites, all of which were accompanied by the audience enthusiastically singing along - a sure sign of success. "Wheel in the Sky", "Lights", "Open Arms", "Anyway You Want It", "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" were just a few of the Journey classics shared by the crowd.
It's about time they received their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year ... overdue.
One of the evening's highlights was Neal Schon's solo of the Star-Spangled Banner. Bathed in a white spotlight against a white backdrop, Neal delivered a moving rendition that would have brought tears to Jimi Hendrix's eyes ... and had everyone holding up their lighters in tribute.
Along with his powerful drumming, the solid backbone of Journey's sound, Deen Castronovo demonstrated his great voice (a perfect complement to Steve's) in a couple of solos. Jonathan Cain carried the melodies as no one else can, with piano, keyboard and even harmonica … who knew? His classical intro to "Open Arms" was nothing short of magnificent.
This being my first live Journey concert (I've led a sheltered life), I also didn't know that, aside from being a bassist extraordinaire, Ross Valory is a hoot onstage.
We all know that previous lead singer Steve Perry was a wonderful part of Journey's line-up for many years, still adored by millions for his distinguishing voice. Having said that ... get over it, people. Steve Augeri, who has been with Journey since 1997 after years of success on his own, effortlessly delivers the pure high vocals associated with this band's sound, along with a killer stage presence and a knack for interacting with the audience. Plus he has some very sweet dance moves, ladies (I wanted to take him home with me but Security wouldn't let me through).
By the way … those signature Journey harmonies still kick.
As a bonus, the band's encore featured a percussionist from Santana's band (with whom Neal played before forming Journey), leading into "Black Magic Woman" and some high-voltage Latin-flavored jamming that truly rocked the place. The final number, "Faithfully", brought the show to a sweet nostalgic end, with the band lining up, one by one, arm in arm at the front of the stage, bowing to the audience and making their exit.
This was not a "let's put on a show" concert - it was more like a "let's have a party with our friends" attitude from a group of seasoned but down-to-earth professionals who seemed to be having as much fun as we were.
But my awe didn't end there ... after the show my son Rick Navarro (more about him later … much more), bass player for Pat Travers, got me each of the band members' personalized autographs. Yes, they actually did that for a "Mom".
I'm in love.
- Jeanie Thomas - Orlando Florida Guide
Read our review of Journey's latest cd.
Visit
the official Journey web site for additional information.
Visit our Orlando Music Calendar.