ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Nearly 20 years ago, Journey's song "Don't Stop Believin'" became best known as the song that marked the end of TV's "The Sopranos."
But through a career of more than 50 years, the power ballad-rockers have soldiered on — even through the loss of iconic lead singer Steve Perry after more than 20 years.
Now the group is on what is assumed to be its final tour — The Final Frontier, which stopped Thursday to perform for a near-sellout crowd at Allentown's PPL Center.
And the group showed why it has had that staying power: Its hits — in a sprawling 26-song, 2½-hour show, the band offered 14 gold and platinum hits — still resonate.
And the band still can play them very well — if, admittedly, sometimes not as well as 40 years ago.
But it wasn't just a greatest-hits show. Journey also played songs from its 1975 self-titled debut disc, deep cuts and others from throughout its career.
Band founder/guitarist Neil Schon was at the center of the performance for the entire night, and never disappointed or overplayed.
Singer Arnel Pineda, in a blue suit and white sneakers, who now has been Journey's vocalist for as long as Perry was, delivered on every song he sang.
But with such a long show on an ambitious tour, Pineda also noticeably took breaks in the show — with extended leaves from the stage a half-dozen time as guitarist/keyboardist Jonathan Cain, keyboardist Jason Derlatka and drummer Deen Castronovo took turns singing, even on a few significant hits.
Deeper cuts, strong performances
The show opened with the 1986 Top 10 hit "Be Good to Yourself" (it's easy to forget Journey still was putting songs in the Top 10 then, and even later), and Pineda sang so forcefully, his usually smooth voice had a rasp.
And Schon played the first of several convincing solos.
The second song was the night's first big hit, 1982's platinum "Stone in Love," and Pineda not only sang well, but was animated — as he was through the night — playing with the crowd and, at the end, jumping off a speaker (he's 58!).
But the early set was far more deeper cuts and lessor hits. Cain and Castranovo (on the high notes) sang the 1979 minor hit "Just the Same Way" and Derlatka the 1986 gold hit "Girl Can't Help It."
All were good, but perhaps a step below Journey's reputation for vocals.
After Arnel returned for the gold "Only the Young," he even turned the mic over to Castranovo for the iconic double platinum "Lights." He sang surprisingly strongly, but the song is so identified with Perry.
On "Of a Lifetime," a song from the debut album also sung by Derlatka, Schon played a long and entertaining solo that elevated the song.
The show's centerpiece was an eight-minute "Lă Do Dā," a deep cut from the 1978 "Infinity" album that included minute-long interludes from Led Zeppelin's "How Many More Times and a Castranovo drum solo, an impressive Pineda scream and a series of flame blasts.
Saving hits till the end
The second half of the show also started with lessor-known songs: A strongly performed title cut from the 10-times platinum 1981 album "Escape," and that disc's "Dead or Alive," and the deep cuts "Chain Reaction" from 1983 and "Anytime" from 1978, which Cain sang.
But from then, it was big hits — all of them excellently played and sung.
A long piano intro by Cain stretched the 1981 double-platinum "Who's Crying Now" to four minutes, and Pineda asked the crowd to sing along to the 1984 four-times platinum "Open Arms," which they loudly did.
And the band's breakthrough hit, the 1978 double-platinum "Wheel in the Sky," stretched to 13 minutes — including a six-minute solo intro by Schon as Pineda ran through the audience before returning to stage to finish with a long, high note.
Cain, who donned a Lehigh Valley Phantoms jersey, played a three-minute into to the 1983 six-times-platinum hit "Faithfully," which held up very well.
So did the 1979 double-platinum "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'," to which Pineda again had the audience sing along on the "Sha Na Na Na" chorus.
Hidden meaning in ending?
With "The Sopranos" establishing "Don't Stop Believin'" and a closer, you might have expected it to end Journey's show, but it instead came earlier.
Of course, a song that has sold 26 million copies is hard to not play well, but the five-minute version Journey played Thursday was very good, and Pineda again went into the audience to lead the inevitable sing-along.
"It's not permanent. If you want us back, we'll oblige."Journey singer Arnel Pineda to PPL Center crowd.
Instead, Journey opted to close with another song referenced in the final scene of "The Sopranos."
After running through the four-times platinum 1983 hit "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)," the band burst into a celebratory version of the 1980 four-times platinum "Any Way You Want It," complete with cannon shots of streamers and tons of confetti.
In "The Sopranos," that song appeared on the jukebox when Tony Soprano chose "Don't Stop Believin'," leading some to theorize it was telling the reader to decide for themselves the series' unexplained ending.
Was closing the concert with that song a similar hint about Journey's Final Frontier Tour?
After the music stopped Thursday, Pineda told the PPL audience, "It's not permanent. If you want us back, we'll oblige."
