Journey is going their separate ways. Here’s your last chance to see them at Rupp
“Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
It’s one of those quotes. Anyone with passing pop culture interest can hear the words unravel in their head. But Journey, the hall of fame pop rock group, has recast the quote with a new meaning as the band prepares to play Lexington’s Rupp Arena one last time.
In television lore, William Shatner’s recitation fades into the theme music for “Star Trek” and we’re off into what late 1960s Hollywood viewed as intergalactic adventure. Journey, however, has co-opted the term “Final Frontier” as the title of a 60-city trek of its own. Only this time, when the band says “final,” they mean it. This is the last go-round for the storied, multi-platinum selling pop-rock troupe.
But Journey’s Final Frontier differs considerably from the Enterprise’s eagerness to go warp speeding to into the cosmic unknown. The whole point of Journey’s last tour is to give its still-considerable fan base one last evening of the purposely familiar selection of radio friendly tunes, most of them major hits, that ruled the charts and airwaves between 1978 and 1986.
Journey’s history and concert setlists
The band’s full history encompasses some 53 years. But the journey that Journey will take its audience on this weekend at Rupp will be a more succinct trip. The band will boldly go where every fan knows every tune by heart. When you’re a legacy act like Journey, familiarity is both the point and the selling point.
If setlists from recent shows are indicative of what Rupp is in for, Journey’s Final Frontier concert will reach back as far as “Just the Same Way,” a hit from the band’s 1978 recording “Evolution” – its fourth album overall, but its first with the then-young California singer Steve Perry. The tune featured a call-and-response chorus between Perry and Journey’s original vocalist, keyboardist Gregg Rolie. This was essentially the launch of Journey’s juggernaut era.
The Final Frontier shows’ set lists have been stopping at 1986, specifically with a pair of songs from “Raised on Radio” (“Suzanne” and “I’ll Be Alright Without You.). Some of the gold had worn off for Journey by the time the album was issued. Perry had already released a solo record and the longtime rhythm section of bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith had been jettisoned from the band. The history gets a bit shaky after that.
After finishing its “Raised on Radio” tour, Journey vanished until a 1995 reunion album with Valory and Smith titled “Trial By Fire” surfaced. Beset by health issues that included a hip condition, Perry balked at touring and left Journey for good in 1998.
How Journey came to be
Journey’s first lineup was a spin-off of Santana. Rolie was the keyboardist and vocalist for much of the psychedelic-leaning Latin rock band’s early music, from its famed performance at Woodstock in 1969 through Santana’s ultra-trippy, self-titled third album, a record that brought in a 17-year old Schon as second guitarist.
The two exited after Carlos Santana reshuffled the band lineup and shifted the band’s course to spiritual-leaning jazz for its fourth (and arguably finest) album, “Caravanserai.” Rolie and Schon formed Journey with Valory a year later. Several drummers performed with the trio, but the musician that kept the beat for Journey’s first four albums was Aynsley Dunbar, a musician with a miles-long resume that included work with David Bowie, Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa and many others. Smith succeeded Dunbar as drummer in 1978
The sound of early Journey was a prog-savvy brand of jazz-fusion with Rolie on vocals. It was several civilizations removed from the pop-friendly environment created with Perry’s arrival and cemented by Jonathan Cain, who took over for Rolie on 1981’s “Escape” album. That final alteration was the clincher. “Escape” wound up selling in excess of 10-million selling copies and yielded the unkillable radio hits “Open Arms,” “Who’s Crying Now” and, of course, “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
The band after Steve Perry
When Perry left, Journey went through three new frontman/vocalists – Steve Augeri (from 1998 to 2006), Jeff Scott Soto (briefly from 2006-2007) and finally Filipino singer Arnel Pineda, who has remained the voice of Journey for nearly two decades.
Journey has released five albums of newer material since Perry’s departure. The bands songs have been largely – and, in some cases, completely – absent from the Final Frontier shows performed so far. When Journey last played Rupp in February 2023 (its first Lexington show since May 1983), they played only one post-Perry song, “Let It Rain” (from its then-current album, “Freedom”).
Journey’s Final Frontier, in this case, is more like a final chapter, a victory lap for a band whose eight year hit spree attracted a devout fan base that withstood key personnel shifts. It never waned even as the hits faded. From 1980 onward, Journey has embodied the genre “arena rock” because it has seldom played venues smaller than what the tag suggests.
What’s next for Journey’s members?
What is next for Journey’s members? Cain has voiced his readiness to focus on faith-based projects and Christian music. Schon has discussed a new project called “Journey Beyond.” Details haven’t been revealed, but he apparently favors the name so much that he has secured a trademark for it.
Vocalist Pineda may be the biggest question mark. While online rumors spread last year that he might not be taking part in the Final Frontier shows, Pineda is occupying the lead vocal role again now that the tour is in full flight. That’s a benefit to everyone. Pineda possesses enough of the tenor gusto to empower the Perry-voiced hits along with a level of audience-friendly exuberance that made him a major favorite at Journey’s 2023 Rupp show.
Soon Journey’s bandmates will go their separate ways, into their final frontier and, eventually, into the recesses of rock and pop history. Chances are audiences tagging along for this last hurrah will be fascinated by a renewed acquaintance with the band’s decades-old music.
New world? New civilizations? Yeah, they’re fine. But a rock ‘n’ roll journey is a different experience. It’s designed for speed, built to last and established on the principle that sometimes the best kind of discovery is simply rediscovery.
Journey – Final Frontier Tour
When: 7:30 p.m. March 22
Where: Rupp Arena, 430 W. Vine
Tickets: $40.20-$762.85
Online: www.ticketmaster.com
This story was originally published March 17, 2026 at 5:00 AM.