Concert review: Journey bids Vancouver fans a fine Final Farewell at Pacific Coliseum

Journey played the Pacific Coliseum Friday. Along with Boston, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Styx and Toto, Journey owned the charts through the '80s. Photo: Mike Savoia Photo by Photo: Mike Savoia /Submitted: Grandstand HQ

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Along with Boston, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Styx and Toto, Journey owned the charts through the ’80s. But the San Francisco group came from a very different pedigree from those other acts.

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Founding guitarist Neil Schon and keyboardist and singer Greg Rolie came from Santana, drummer Aynsley Dunbar played with Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention and bassist Ross Valory and rhythm guitarist George Tickner played in the first Steve Miller Band. There was never any question that these musicians could tear it up live.

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In the studio, it took the group a few albums to find its way. When singer Steve Perry joined in 1977 and the band released Infinity, everything changed.

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Journey founding guitarist Neil Schon is shredding his heart out on the band’s Final Farewell Tour. Photo: Mike Savoia Photo by Photo: Mike Savoia /Submitted: Grandstand HQ

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Now on its Final Farewell tour, Schon is the only original member left in the lineup.

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Keyboardist and singer Jonathan Cain pointed out that he’s been in the group for 45 years, ace drummer Deen Castronovo has been behind the kit off-and-on since 1998 and Arnel Pineda has held down the lead singer’s role since 2007. In other words, these are veteran members.

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Bassist Todd Jensen and keyboardist and singer Jason Derlatka joined in 2021.

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In any other band, Castronovo, Derlatka or Pineda could front the whole show. But former singer Perry had a one-of-a-kind voice that defined the band’s adult-oriented rock. Journey’s continued existence after his departure in 1998 required stacking the deck with a few singers who could hit a few of the high marks that Perry made seem easy.

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Cain is a carbon copy of Rolie as he proved in a great rendition of Just the Same Way, with Castronovo handling Perry’s backing parts.

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So Journey has had to work hard to keep the music coming up to the high standards the band set in its multi-multi platinum days and has largely managed to. When video circulated of Pineda blowing the high notes in Don’t Stop Believin’ at the band’s performance at the 2024 Rock In Rio, he was so devastated that he gave fans the option to simply text ‘go’ or ‘stay’ to his social media and if the number wanting him gone hit one million, he would leave.

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The singer made the cut and it’s good that he did, as he was in excellent form in the career-spanning set that gave fans a hearty serving of songs from both Infinity and 1981s E5C4P3 (Escape), as well as tracks as far back as the Of a Lifetime from the group’s 1975 self-titled debut. It’s a good guess that few of those packing into the Pacific Coliseum had ever heard the song or the record.

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They were there to get down to the harder rockers like the opening number Be Good To Yourself, upbeat arena jaunts like Only the Young and, of course, such tear-jerking power ballads as Open Arms. The soaring chorus on this weeper really hit the right note with a lot of the crowd, with intense gazing into the eyes of your partner action happening all over the arena. After All These Years was equally excellent at getting the cellphone flashlights swaying all over.

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Not everything landed with quite as much success.

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If there is one legacy of the ’70s that didn’t need to carry over to the present day, it is definitely the guitar solo/drum solo/piano solo sections that didn’t really do anything but give folks a chance for a bladder break. Extending the jams in tunes such as Lovin, Touchin’, Squeezin’ was all good. But Schon had been shredding all night, so his solo turn was, well, wanky.