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<\/p>\nSue-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.<\/p>\n
The court of public opinion, a packed house inside Benchmark International Arena, reveled in it.<\/p>\n
No objections noted. Except for maybe one nit we\u2019ll talk about in a minute.<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s \u201cFinal Frontier\u201d 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 \u2014 and everyone \u2014 feels better for a while.<\/p>\n
Led by guitarist-founder Neal Schon and longtime keyboardist Jonathan Cain, Journey remains a powerful force on stage \u2014 three decades after the departure of iconic lead singer Steve Perry.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s not worth reciting all the reasons.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cBe Good to Yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Six songs into the set, Schon introduced \u201cLights,\u201d the band\u2019s signature ode to San Francisco. The song tugs at my heart. I was born in that city by the bay, and Schon\u2019s opening riff evokes something every time. The audience swayed and sang along \u2014 as they would throughout a performance that showcased most of Journey\u2019s better-known hits, extended solos and a couple of deep cuts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As a younger man, Schon, 72, perfected the guitar soloist\u2019s squinty, sex-face grimaces \u2014 the same look one might flash after a process server shoves a subpoena into your chest. On Friday, he was mostly all smiles.<\/p>\n
Singer Arnel Pineda, who joined Journey nearly 20 years ago after Schon saw clips of him on YouTube<\/a>, has proven to be a more than admirable Perry stand-in. You could argue he\u2019s far more charismatic and even more fun to watch.<\/p>\n But replicating Perry takes its toll, and the setlist has been crafted to shield Pineda\u2019s pipes. He ceded lead vocals on roughly a quarterof the songs. The Perry parts were handled by drummer Deen Castronovo on \u201cJust the Same Way,\u201d \u201cLights,\u201d \u201cAnytime,\u201d and \u201cKeep on Runnin\u2019\u201d Keyboardist Jason Derlatka took the microphone on \u201cGirl Can\u2019t Help it\u201d and \u201cSuzanne.\u201d<\/p>\n The diminutive Pineda can still hit the highest of high notes. He\u2019s a max effort guy, who engages with the audience like a super fan \u2014 high-fiving and hugging everyone within reach. But his role is slightly diminished.<\/p>\n Credit to Pineda, though. He has yet to sue any of his bandmates.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean everything is hunky-dory. Just days after Rolling Stone published a story<\/a> in late March surfacing more tension between Schon and Cain as well as Pineda\u2019s willingness and readiness to perform, Journey started postponing gigs. The next month, their outdoor set at theStagecoach 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 \u201cnew chapter.\u201d Based on the backstage drama, you get the sense that everything hangs by the threads of one of Schon\u2019s well-worn high E guitar strings.<\/p>\n But, for now, Journey keeps on rolling and drawing big crowds. Their farewell tour launched in late February<\/a> and averages nearly five shows a week. They just added 40 dates<\/a> that will see the band return to Florida before the end of hurricane season.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s band at 15 and dropped out of school. Back then, Santana featured its original, and most impactful, singer, Gregg Rolie,the voice behind \u201cBlack Magic Woman,\u201d \u201cEvil Ways\u201d and \u201cOye Como Va.\u201d Schon started Journey around 1972 with Rolie. When Perry came aboard to record the 1978 \u201cInfinity\u201d album, the band took off like a rocket.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n His son by then had already co-written some of the catchiest songs of the last half century. Journey\u2019s work endures because the music was well-crafted, impeccably executed and few could sing like Perry.<\/p>\n TV shows like \u201cThe Sopranos\u201d<\/a> and \u201cStranger Things\u201d catapulted Journey\u2019s sound onto the playlists of generations of new fans who\u2019ve streamed the band\u2019s hits billions of times. But the songs have never been as edgy as the band\u2019s frayed interpersonal dynamics. On Friday, Schon and Cain mostly occupied opposite ends of the stage.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cOf a Lifetime,\u201d from the band\u2019s 1975 debut before Perry entered the picture. Derlatka sang it.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, it didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n Cain made one quick reference to their former frontman. They\u2019ve opened the door to a Perry return, even for a night, which has sparked reunion speculation. Journey last performed live with Perryin 1991 \u2014 a lackluster couple of songs at a free memorial concert in Golden Gate Park.<\/a> (I was there!) Perryhasn\u2019t 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<\/a> saying the rumors were \u201csimply not true.\u201d<\/p>\n For now, we\u2019ll happily listen to Pineda belting out \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n When Journey plays that song for the very last time, however, I hope Perry is there. Let him finish all the notes.<\/p>\n Then, and only then, you cut to black.<\/p>\n That would be divine justice.<\/p>\n Journey setlist<\/p>\n \u201cBe Good to Yourself\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGirl Can\u2019t Help it\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen You Love a Woman\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLovin\u2019, Touchin\u2019, Squeezin\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSeparate Ways (Worlds Apart)\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAny Way You Want It\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sue-happy Journey breezed into Tampa on Friday, took a nearly 2 1\/2-hour recess from their legal escapades and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116819,116822,116820,116821,115237,8371,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-273197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-arnel-pineda","tag-carlos-santana","tag-jonathan-cain","tag-luis-santana","tag-neal-schon","tag-san-francisco","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4372566d321d7137cfa8391420a6b9bc.jpeg\"\/)
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