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Old-School Arena Rockers To Tour
Journey will warm up June 2 with a slot at Junefest in Las Vegas. Then Frampton will hook up for the tour beginning June 5 in Albuquerque, N.M. Waite is expected to join in at that time as well but his itinerary has not been confirmed.
The extensive outing in major and secondary markets will run at least through August, and more dates are expected to be added.
Journey headlines the whole shebang, replete with Steve Perry look-and-sound-alike Steve Augeri handling vocal duties. Perry dropped out with health problems just before the band’s 1998 reunion tour.
Augeri completed that tour and fronted Journey on a 1999 outing with Foreigner. With his inclusion in the 2001 touring band, it certainly appears the replacement is permanent. Also relatively new to the lineup is drummer Deen Castronovo, who played with guitar virtuoso Neal Schon in the post-Journey outfit Bad English.
Peter Frampton has seen his career take some twists and turns on its journey, particularly in the years following his solo pinnacle as a 1970s pin-up boy with his smash Frampton Comes Alive.
The biggest-selling live album in history reaches its 25th anniversary this year, complete with a special edition of the disc including four bonus tracks not included on the original.
Despite years of work with established bands such as Humble Pie, session work on George Harrison’s opus All Things Must Pass and Harry Nilsson’s Son of Schmilsson, he had a hard time overcoming the backlash to his solo success until he began working his way back up as a live performer in the 1990s.
John Waite has some history with and after the 1980s version of Journey.
When Waite fronted The Babys, the band opened for Journey on its 1980 Departure tour – and later provided Journey with a keyboardist and songwriter in Jonathan Cain. In addition, Waite has a shared past with Schon and Castronovo as lead singer for Bad English – which he left in 1995 to pursue a solo career.