Journey boasts an embarrassment of set list riches as they prepare to jump to stadiums in July. Earlier 2024 shows featured hit after hit after hit. Yet, as shown on our list of Top 10 Songs Journey Hasn’t Played Yet in 2024, there is still room for more key cuts.
Before this next round of dates with Def Leppard and a rotating group of support acts that includes Cheap Trick, Heart and Steve Miller, Journey played a series of well-received concerts with Toto. “Any Way You Want It,” “Don’t Stop Believin'” and “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” made appearances every night, according to Setlist.fm.
The concerts also almost always featured stalwart Journey favorites “Be Good to Yourself,” “Faithfully,” “Lights,” “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’,” “Only the Young” (typically as the opener), “Open Arms,” “Send Her My Love,” “Stone in Love,” “Wheel in the Sky,” “Who’s Crying Now” and “Girl Can’t Help It.”
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Many shows included “Let It Rain” from Journey’s latest studio effort, 2022’s Freedom. Beyond that, the group occasionally mixed in tracks that included “Mother, Father,” the title track from Escape, “Ask the Lonely,” “Dead or Alive,” “Just the Same Way,” “Keep On Runnin’,” “Feeling That Way/Anytime” and “Chain Reaction.”
So what’s left? Here’s our look at the Top 10 Songs Journey Hasn’t Played Yet in 2024.
No. 10. “Where Did I Lose Your Love”From: Revelation (2008)
Playing this Top 20 Billboard adult-contemporary hit would remind fans that Arnel Pineda doesn’t need an old song to approximate Journey’s familiar arena-ballad sound. On one level, “Where Did I Lose Your Love” is very much in the style of their Escape / Frontiers era. Drummer Deen Castronovo and Jonathan Cain, who co-wrote this track with Neal Schon, even close things out with a fierce entanglement that must have brought older fans right back to “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart).” But Pineda adds a few new wrinkles along the way to ultimately move past the Steve Perry comparisons.
No. 9. “Where Were You”From: Departure (1980)
This wasn’t a hit, but it holds a unique place in their breakout era: Journey regularly opened their concerts with “Where Were You,” as heard on 1981’s Captured. The song also served as the first song on Side Two of Departure. There’s a reason for that: “Where Were You” just leaps out of the speakers. They were just coming off an opening gig with AC/DC, and clearly the headliner’s knack for outsized, riffy rockers rubbed off.
No. 8. “Only Solutions”From: Tron (1982)
Journey is already playing a pair of soundtrack songs, including “Only the Young” from Vision Quest and “Ask the Lonely” from Two of a Kind. Why not one more? The hooky “Only Solutions” would have greatly enlivened what turned out to be a letdown on Side Two of Frontiers. Instead, it became unjustly overlooked after being barely used in the film at all. Time to right this wrong.
No. 7. “When You Love a Woman”From: Trial By Fire (1996)
This probably isn’t going to happen, if only because Journey would have to trade “When You Love a Woman” for one of their other radio-favorite power ballads. They also don’t have the original session’s too-sweet string section to complete the sentimentality. Still, “When You Love a Woman” was a gold-selling No. 12 smash. Fans would love it.
No. 6. “All the Way” From: Arrival (2001)
Performing this song wouldn’t be about recalling a forgotten hit so much as resurrecting an unjustly overlooked era. As their first album without Steve Perry, Arrival had its work cut out. Journey responded by zeroing in on the successful formula they developed when Jonathan Cain joined the band in the ’80s. Cain was game, co-writing this instantly familiar love song with Schon, Michael Rhodes and the newly installed Steve Augeri. “All the Way” may not have been a big hit, but it showed Journey could still be Journey even without their famous former frontman.
No. 5. “Still They Ride”From: Escape (1981)
The song’s deep association with Perry may not be doing it any favors. Cain and Schon earned co-songwriting credits on “Still They Ride,” and Steve Smith showed off an accomplished dexterity. But the final charting single from Escape will always belong to Perry. Jesse, this dreamer who refuses to give up on his youthful reverie, was Steve Perry’s ultimate metaphoric character. Nevertheless, live performances of “Still They Ride” always gave Schon an opportunity to expand on one of his most emotive performances on guitar.
No. 4. “I’ll Be Alright Without You”From: Raised on Radio (1986)
Same here. Schon earned a co-writing credit with Cain and Perry after trying out a then-new guitar while in search of a distinct sound for this song. Best known for using a 1963 Fender Stratocaster, Schon experimented with a graphite Roland 707 to see if he could get a different, more even tone. It worked: “I’ll Be Alright Without You” remains Journey’s penultimate Top 20 hit, followed by 1996’s “When You Love a Woman.” Cain, like Perry, was going through a breakup and called this track the other half of the emotions expressed in “Once You Love Somebody.”
No. 3. “After the Fall”From: Frontiers (1983)
This song makes the first studio connection to the bassist who played on two Journey albums, including their most recent, 2022’s Freedom. Randy Jackson, later of American Idol fame, took over on “After the Fall” in order to capture the sound Perry first sketched out in the demo phase. He’d play on the Frontiers followup, 1986’s Raised on Radio and the subsequent tour – Journey’s last with Perry. Current drummer Deen Castronovo’s hero Steve Smith departed too, not before proving himself utterly invaluable on “After the Fall.”
No. 2. “Suzanne”From: Raised on Radio (1986)
This soaring No. 17 ode to unrequited love would help balance an always ballad-heavy set list. (“Suzanne” was written in tribute to an actual crush, though Steve Perry never revealed her actual identity.) Perry and Cain continued delving into R&B, with Schon sidelined from the songwriting process. The liner notes actually listed Cain as a “programmer,” in a nod to work done on his Oberheim DMX drum machine before Larrie Londin was brought in to mimic the part. Still, both vibes are very much in keeping with Journey’s most recent album, Freedom.
No. 1. “The Party’s Over (Hopelessly in Love)”From: Captured (1981)
What better way to end the main set before returning for a rousing encore? “The Party’s Over (Hopelessly in Love)” heralded Journey’s transformation into sleek hitmakers just before Cain entered the lineup. This Top 40 hit studio song was tacked onto a live record after Perry began ruminating on bass backstage in Detroit. He already had Schon’s guitar line in his head, so he sang it to him. They rounded out a temporary studio lineup with keyboardist Stevie “Keys” Roseman, a Bay Area friend who was recording nearby. Heartbreak has never sounded so offhandedly joyous.
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
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