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JOURNEY MARKS 30TH ANNIVERSARY WITH APPEARANCE ON VH1 CLASSIC’S “CLASSIC ROCK’S MAIN EVENT” TOUR WITH REO SPEEDWAGON AND STYX The arena and amphitheatre trek launched May 10 in front of a capacity crowd at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. Originally slated to end July 26 in Atlanta, the tour has now been extended into August due to the overwhelming response. Dates are forthcoming. Before the tour got underway, after years of campaigning by the group’s loyal fan club in the Bay area, JOURNEY was honored in their hometown of San Francisco on April 25 by the California Music Awards with a commemorative plaque on the city’s Rock ‘N Roll Walk of Fame outside the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Only six other artists hold this prestigious tribute: Santana (of which JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon was a member from 1970-1972), Metallica, Bill Graham, Janis Joplin, John Lee Hooker and the Grateful Dead. Founding member Greg Rollie and former drummer Aynsley Dunbar were on hand for this special event, which was hosted by Mayor Willie Brown, a huge fan who spoke to the crowd in attendance of his personal experiences at JOURNEY concerts in the past. The night after the ceremony, JOURNEY treated their most loyal followers to a benefit concert at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, with the proceeds going to Camp Okizu, a summer camp for Northern California’s children with cancer and their families. The band had some old friends there to help with the evening’s festivities. Aynsley Dunbar joined the band on drums for “Wheel In The Sky,” while Neal Schon took over lead vocals and brought up former fellow Santana members Mike Carabello (conga drums) and Jose Chepito Areas (timbales) for a rousing version the Santana classic, “Black Magic Woman” (on which all three members originally played). The mini-Santana reunion also included “La Raza Del Sol” from JOURNEY’s TIME 3 box set and the Top Five song “Everybody’s Everything” from Santana’s 1971 SANTANA album (Neal’s first album with the band). Interesting side-note: on the original version of the song, Neal actually played lead guitar while Carlos Santana played bass. Next up to lend a hand on guitar was Sammy Hagar, who got the crowd rockin’ with a hell-raising rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock & Roll.” Over the course of the evening, JOURNEY also played current hits in addition to older crowd favorites that they hadn’t performed since the early 80s, including a medley of “La Do Da”, “Dixie Highway,” and “Line of Fire” from the CAPTURED album, “Rubicon” from FRONTIERS and “Precious Time” from DEPARTURE, on which Jonathan Cain made his performance debut as a harmonica player. Meanwhile, to satisfy fans hungry for new JOURNEY songs, the band recently released a four-song EP entitled RED 13 (Red Distribution). It was written, recorded, produced and mixed by the band entirely at Jonathan Cain’s home studio. RED 13 is also available on the band’s website (www.journeytheband.com) and at all of the band’s shows. Also available on the website is an inspirational instrumental called “Showdown”--written and performed by Neal Schon--which fans can download for $1.49. The proceeds go to the San Francisco V.A. Medical Center, which benefits veterans from all wars. Founded in 1973 in San Francisco by Santana members Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie, with the assistance of Ross Valory, George Tickner and Prairie Prince, JOURNEY’s legacy has spanned 30 years with 18 U.S. releases and over 50 million albums sold. Their music is artful, intense, melodic rock played with passion and superb musicianship.
* Dates subject to change.
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