Journey has the enviable “problem” of having too many hit songs to put into their concert set lists. While some bands feel trapped into playing a “greatest hits” set, Neal Schon says he’s looking to change things up in a big way.
In a new conversation with Rick Beato you can watch below, the guitarist acknowledges that the Journey hits take up half (or more) of the San Francisco group’s set list at a typical show. As usual, he’s got a wild streak when it comes to that topic. “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t [structure the set that way],” he says. “[But] it’s not. It will be sometime.”
“I like the surprise attack on the audence, I really do. That’s more where I’m coming from,” he explains. “I loved what [Led] Zeppelin used to do….they played the songs, but they didn’t play them exactly like the record. They jammed and it was all of those segues and bits and pieces to get to the song.”
‘The Riffs are Ass-Kicking and They’re Meant to be Played Live’
He says he is discussing ideas with his longtime bandmate Jonathan Cain. “This next tour, we’re finally going to put in some rehearsal time. I said, ‘Man, we’ve got all of these great riffs — even if they’re not hit songs — from albums we’ve done,'” he shares. “[They’re songs] nobody really knows, but the riffs are ass-kicking and they’re meant to be played live. So I want to find a way to utilize all of the bits and pieces — not to play the whole song, because it didn’t turn out great as a song, but there’s some ass-kicking riffs, man, that I know will really come [across] live.”
READ MORE: Ranking All 52 Journey Songs From the ’80s
‘It’s Going to Be a Very Different Show’
The Journey cofounder’s most recent comments echo similar thoughts he shared during an interview with Eddie Trunk in late September. “It’s going to be a very different show, and it’s going to entail many of our albums,” he said then. “[We] won’t go all of the way back to the very, very beginning. But I’d say from ’78 on, we’re going to dig deep — and the sets are going to be much longer.”
What to Expect From Journey in 2026 and Beyond
As Schon told Trunk, the band has “tons of stuff” coming starting in the new year. “We have about 120 shows [booked] and we’ll probably add to them,” he sald. “Half of [them will be] in ’26 and the other half [of the concerts will follow] in ’27.”
They’ll also begin the process of saying goodbye to Cain, who announced in October that he is going to do his final tours with Journey in 2026 and 2027. He plans to focus on his solo career fully from that point forward. “I feel a calling there,” he shared at that time. The keyboardist is also planning to release a new solo EP by the end of this year. “We will have a great couple of years,” Schon commented, after his bandmate detailed his exit strategy. But as fans might expect, he won’t be putting down his guitar. “I’m nowhere near done!”
Journey’s first announced concert of 2026 will happen April 25 at the annual Stagecoach Music Festival.
Watch Neal Schon’s Interview With Rick Beato
Ranking Every Journey Live Album
They’re seemingly always on the road, but the shows haven’t necessarily been well-documented. So, we took a more expansive look back.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
