ALLENTOWN, Pa. — When rock band Journey in November announced its current tour, which stops Thursday, June11, at Allentown's PPL Center, it said it would be the band's last.
That announcement had the extensive Final Frontier Tour starting Feb. 28 in Hershey and scheduled to wrap up July 2 in Laredo, Texas.
The Allentown's show was to be near the end of the tour, with just 12 shows afterward.
This month, Journey announced another leg of the tour, adding 42 more concerts through Nov. 28, when Journey will play San Francisco, California, where the band formed 53 years ago.
Perhaps that homecoming is a signal that the tour truly will end there.
Or not.
Plenty of musical acts have announced their final tours, only to change their minds and continue on.
But Journey insists this tour — however long it lasts — will be its farewell.
"For me, it is the final goodbye to our fans and the way to thank them for 45 years of being 'the faithful' — continuing to follow us through the many seasons of our band’s amazing run," keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Jonathan Cain said in a statement.
A publicist for Journey said members weren't available for interviews, but provided written statements from them.
"This tour is our heartfelt thank-you to the fans who've been with us every step of the way — through every song, every era, every high and low. We're pulling out all the stops with a brand-new production — the hits, the deep cuts, the energy, the spectacle. It's a full-circle celebration of the music that's brought us all together."Journey founder and guitarist Neil Schon
Cain and founder and lead guitarist Neil Schon are the only members remaining from the band's commercial peak.
Lead singer Arnel Pineda joined the band in 2007, replacing Steven Perry, the vocalist on the band's biggest hits.
Other current members are drummer Deen Castronovo, who first joined in 1998; keyboardist Jason Derlatka, who joined in 2020; and bassist Todd Jensen, who joined in 2021.
"This tour is our heartfelt thank-you to the fans who've been with us every step of the way — through every song, every era, every high and low," Schon said in a statement announcing the tour.
"We're pulling out all the stops with a brand-new production — the hits, the deep cuts, the energy, the spectacle. It's a full-circle celebration of the music that's brought us all together."
The concert, set to start at 7:30 p.m., will be in "An evening with" format — two sets by Journey with an intermission, with no opening act.
Tickets, starting at $126.65, remain available at the PPL Center websiteor the box office at 701 W. Hamilton St., Allentown.
Journey's history
Journey released its self-titled debut album in 1975, but had its biggest success from 1978 to 1987, starting with its triple-platinum fourth album, "Infinity."
That disc included two double-platinum hits: "Wheel in the Sky" and "Lights."
Its next two albums, 1979's "Evolution" and 1980's "Departure," also both sold triple-platinum, and produced the double-platinum hit ""Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" and the four-time platinum "Any Way You Want It," respectively.
It was the tour for "Departure" that first brought Journey to the Lehigh Valley, to play Lehigh University's Stabler Arena in 1980.
The band had its peak success with the 1981 album "Escape," which sold 10-times platinum and gave the band the hits "Who's Crying Now" (double-platinum) and "Open Arms" (triple-platinum).
The album also included the song "Don't Stop Believin'," which has sold 26.5 million copies, making it the best-selling song of the 1980s.
That success continued through the six-times platinum 1983 album "Frontiers," with the six-times platinum hit "Faithfully," and the 1986 double-platinum album "Raised on Radio."
A 1988 Greatest Hits album sold 18 times platinum.
More shows in the Lehigh Valley
Journey's success waned after that, but it returned to the Lehigh Valley to play Allentown Fair in 2002.
Then it had a popularity revival when “Don’t Stop Believin'” was used in the series-ending sequence of the popular HBO drama “The Sopranos” in 2007.
And when the song was used on the TV show “Glee” in 2009, it sold more than 4 million new downloads.
The band's 2008 album "Revelation" became its first platinum disc in a dozen years, and it again played Allentown Fair in 2011, then its first show at PPL Center in 2016, in a co-headline show with Santana.
The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
It played Wind Creek Event Center in 2019, then returned to PPL Center for its own headline show in 2023.
PPL Center General Manager Brian Krajewski said that when the current tour was announced as a farewell run, "I was very much in conversation with [promoter] AEG early on to be sure we were at least on the radar for it.”
“What I’m hearing is if there’s a farewell tour, they’re playing a lot of venues," Krajewski said.
“We pursue every show here. Being close to venues in Hershey and Philly, there’s always that competition."
Truely the end?
After the tour, it's not entirely clear what will happen to Journey or its members.
Cain last month said in an interview that he will leave the band at the end of the tour to concentrate on his Christian ministry and music.
"There are so many [memories], but hearing an entire stadium sing “Don’t Stop Believin’” louder than the band for the first time really hit me. That’s when I realized the songs weren’t just ours anymore — they belonged to the fans. That’s a powerful feeling."Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain, in a statement
"There are so many [memories], but hearing an entire stadium sing “Don’t Stop Believin’ louder than the band for the first time really hit me," Cain said in a statement.
"That’s when I realized the songs weren’t just ours anymore — they belonged to the fans. That’s a powerful feeling."
Pineda has said that he even tried to back out of the tour, fearing the demand on his voice, and other issues.
But earlier this year, Schon posted an image with the words "Journey Beyond" on his social media pages and has filed a trademark application for the phrase, suggesting there could be some sort of Journey project for him in the future.
Asked whether he thought Journey's farewell tour would actually be the last time the audience would see Journey live, Krajewski, the PPL Center general manager, laughed and said, “Who knows?"
"Anecdotally, I can tell you in my previous building in Tulsa [Oklahoma], we had the Eagles on their Long Goodbye Tour," Krajewski said.
"And then going into it, we were told it was no longer the Long Goodbye; they had to get rid of that. And they continued touring — and they’re still touring.
“I mean, I would have no way of knowing.”
