Journey is back with its 50th-anniversary tour, headlining arenas this spring before spending a chunk of the summer on a stadium tour with Def Leppard.
Guitarist and founding member Neal Schon and keyboardist/guitarist Jonathan Cain say that today’s band has never played better.
“Finally, it sounds like the Journey everybody knows,” Cain said of the group, which formed in 1973 in San Francisco. “It’s back to the ’80s, that’s what it sounds like.”
Journey with special guest star Toto is coming to Scope Friday.
Schon and Cain are the two remaining members going back to the early 1980s when Journey was churning out hits like “Don’t Stop Believing,” “Any Way You Want It” and “Open Arms.” The two reflected on the band during a recent video interview, including on recent lawsuits, disputes and personnel changes, and regaining a level of popularity that has Journey back on the road.
In 2020, long-time bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith (a member during Journey’s 1980s peak) were fired after they sued to gain rights to the Journey name – a move Schon and Cain termed an attempted coup. The suit was eventually settled. A revamped lineup was soon in place with drummer Narada Michael Walden, bassist Randy Jackson joining Schon, Cain, singer Arnel Pineda (who joined in 2007) and keyboardist Jason Derlatka. This version of Journey produced the 2022 studio album “Freedom” and was on tour with drummer Deen Castronovo (a Journey member from 1998 to 2015) replacing Walden and Todd Jensen joining on bass.
But there were more issues to come – this time between Schon and Cain. Schon sent a cease-and-desist letter to Cain after Cain joined a sing-along of “Don’t Stop Believing” at a November 2022 event for former president Donald Trump. Cain’s wife, Paula, had worked as a spiritual advisor to Trump. Schon took offense to Cain’s performance, noting that Journey never was and never would be a political band.
Then last year, Schon and Cain traded lawsuits over a financial account for the group. The bandmates hashed out their differences without the courts, they said.
“All we really did was get fed up with the legal and having legals talk instead of us,” Schon said. “We talked for a couple of hours and we talked through it all. I think that’s what fixed everything.”
Now Schon and Cain are leading Journey (with Pineda, Castronovo and Jensen) on one of the band’s biggest touring years. Fans can expect to hear Journey’s biggest hits — the “Dirty Dozen” as the band has nicknamed them — with a handful of new or deeper cuts. This makes crafting set lists a challenge but it’s a problem many bands would welcome.
“We just have a massive catalog,” Cain said, “with so many great songs that we don’t get to.”
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If you go
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Scope, 201 E. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
Tickets: Start at $49.50
Details: sevenvenues.com
