r/journey

Went to their United Center show and had an amazing time. They fit all their hits into their setlist but the lack of an opener meant there was a lot of room for some variety, too. I’m sure they’re all tired from the intense tour schedule, but you’d hardly know it. Arnel in particular leaves it all on the stage and is exceptional at crowd interaction.

My mom was there also and loved it, brought back memories for her. Steve Perry may not be there, but they’re still exceptional for those not too hung up on the past. I’ve only seen them once before (Lolla 2021) and am glad I was able to see them on their own at least once.

Strangely, at the end, Arnel said something about maybe seeing us later. Wonder if this is truly the end for Journey, or if they may get back together eventually.

Setlist from last night's show.

The band has basically been playing almost the same set since the tour began; there doesn't seem to be any variation anymore. The only songs they really swap out are in the ballad slot after Lights( but even that, 60% of the time it’s just When You Love a Woman and Send Her My Love), and the mid-set spots featuring Deen on vocals.

And seriously, 90% of the current setlist consists of songs they’ve already played a thousand times over the last 40 years. I get that they have to play their hits, and I'm okay with that, but I don't see why they keep playing La Do Da and Dead or Alive at every concert (they aren't exactly my favorites). Could at least drop them for a few shows to play some rarely performed tracks instead.

As for songs from the Rolie / Augeri / Pineda albums, the only ones played frequently on this tour are Of a Lifetime and recently, Never Walk Away. I love those additions, but they could have included more songs from those periods to make it worth going to see them, tracks like City of Hope, Faith in the Heartland (which they played only at the first show of the tour and haven't touched since), or On a Saturday Nite (with Jonathan and Deen on vocals), Higher Place , these were singles after all. Now they play an average of 25–27 songs a night (10 more than in the last 15 years), so surely they could have squeezed in 1-2 more non-Perry songs alongside the hits. But they seem to be ignoring those eras entirely.

I don't know, what do you guys think?