Great Job after all these Years
by Virginia David on 6/7/26Berglund Coliseum - RoanokeJourney show was worth it! 2.5 hours. No opening act. No encore. All the hits (especially in the last hour), many with extended concert versions. Everyone who sings, and they all took their turns, still had good voice. Younger Asian lead, Arnel Pineda, who replaced Steve Perry 19 years ago, is still a phenomenal singer and showman, but older original guys did great, especially Deen Castronovo who sings while drumming and hitting all the high notes with strength. Everyone is in decent physical shape but keyboardist/guitar man Jonathan Cain comes off stiff with a Botox-kinda dead face. He did the most talking to the audience and came off like the dad at the party. Great video boards so we could see all the way in the back. Some sound mixing and lighting cues were off from time to time, but not a huge deal. I wasn't sure if Arnel's voice was giving our toward the end of the show or if the wireless mikes were failing. I wasn’t prepared for many less familiar songs in the first hour with fewer hits sprinkled in, and in the middle half hour, the many extended solos, giving fellow band members breaks off stage to change. But that's a long rock concert and they didn't skip many hits, so all's forgiven. Glad we went.