In February 2017, Journey went to Japan for a special show at Tokyo’s Budokan that featured a complete performance of 1981’s Escape and 1983’s Frontiers at the request of legendary Japanese concert promoter Mr. Udo in honor of his 50th anniversary in the business. “There’s a few songs I don’t even recall playing, like [the Frontiers track] ‘Troubled Child,” Journey guitarist Neal Schon told Rolling Stone at the time. “Digging back into that stuff has been a lot of fun.”
A camera crew was there to capture the entire night and it’s coming out as a CD/DVD package on March 29th under the title Live In Japan 2017: Escape + Frontiers. The two albums feature many of Journey’s most enduring songs, including ‘Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Faithfully,” “Separate Ways” and “Open Arms,” but the show also allowed them to play tunes like “Lay It Down” and “Back Talk” that hadn’t been attempted in decades. In May of that same year, they repeated the show during a four-night stand at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.
Journey played a wildly successful tour with Def Leppard last year that packed arenas all over North America and even a handful of stadiums. They haven’t played together since a one-off show in Reno, Nevada on December 16th and say they are taking most of 2019 off, though they may play a few shows near the end of the year. In the meantime, Journey singer Arnel Pineda is keeping himself busy with a solo tour where he plays classic rock hits like “Stairway To Heaven,” “Dream On,” “Back in Black,” “We Are The Champions” and, amazingly enough, not a single Journey song.
Schon is doing the complete opposite on his Journey Through Time tour, where he’s teaming up with original Journey singer/keyboardist Gregg Rolie and former Journey drummer Deen Castronovo to resurrect songs from Journey’s earliest albums along with a smattering of Eighties hits. It begins February 22nd at the Jackson Rancheria Casino in Jackson, California.
Here’s the complete track listing for Live In Japan 2017: Escape + Frontiers.
DVD portion:
1. Don’t Stop Believin’ Intro
2. Don’t Stop Believin’
3. Stone In Love
4. Who’s Crying Now
5. Keep On Runnin’
6. Still They Ride
7. Escape
8. Lay It Down
9. Dead Or Alive
10. Neal Schon Guitar Solo
11. Mother, Father
12. Jonathan Cain Piano Solo
13. Open Arms
14. Separate Ways Intro
15. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
16. Send Her My Love
17. Chain Reaction
18. After The Fall
19. Faithfully
20. Edge Of The Blade
21. Steve Smith Drum Solo
22. Back Talk
23. Frontiers
24. Rubicon
25. La Raza del Sol
26. Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’
2CD:
CD1: Escape
1. Don’t Stop Believin’ Intro
2. Don’t Stop Believin’
3. Stone In Love
4. Who’s Crying Now
5. Keep On Runnin’
6. Still They Ride
7. Escape
8. Lay It Down
9. Dead Or Alive
10. Neal Schon Guitar Solo
11. Mother, Father
12. Jonathan Cain Piano Solo
13. Open Arms
CD2: Frontiers
14. Separate Ways Intro
15. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
16. Send Her My Love
17. Chain Reaction
18. After The Fall
19. Faithfully
20. Edge Of The Blade
21. Steve Smith Drum Solo
22. Back Talk
23. Frontiers
24. Rubicon
25. La Raza del Sol
26. Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’