Jonathan Cain says Journey's "Live in Japan" video showcases singer Arnel Pineda's versatility

Posted By: Staff
August 9, 2019 @ 6:00 am
Music News

Eagle Rock Entertainment

Journey‘s latest release, Live in Japan 2017: Escape + Frontiers, is an audio/video package that documents a special themed concert the band played at Tokyo’s Budokan arena in February 2017.

Keyboardist Jonathan Cain tells ABC Radio that a cool aspect of the concert, which featured full performances of Journey’s two most successful studio albums, 1981’s Escape and 1983’s Frontiers, is that it showcases current frontman Arnel Pineda‘s versatility.

“[It shows] how…he can go back there to the [lesser-known] old songs and do ’em…incredible,” Cain maintains.

Interestingly, Jonathan Cain reveals that the band didn’t initially plan to release the show. He says Journey received a special request to play the concert by famous Japanese concert promoter Mr. Udo, in celebration of his 50 years in the music business.

“He’s a big deal when he comes to your show,” Cain explains. “You feel honored, ’cause he’s kind of like a Bill Graham over there…And just a wonderful, wonderful guy.”

Jonathan notes that after checking out the concert footage, the band was delighted with the performance and decided to release out. The show was mixed at his Nashville studio with help from frequent collaborator David Kalmusky, whom Cain says “did an amazing job….It’s a real rock show…It sounds amazing.”

Cain recalls that to prepare for the Tokyo concert, Journey began rehearsing the material they didn’t usually play, while on tour the previous summer.

“It was fun [doing songs like “Rubicon” and “Frontiers”], but we had to practice them,” says Cain. “[It’s] always great to go back and…look at that [rare] stuff.”

Live in Japan 2017 is available as a DVD/two-CD set and Blu-ray/two-CD package.

Check out the band’s upcoming concert schedule at JourneyMusic.com.