Journey and Toto are taking the show out on the road once again and have rolled out their 38-city, 2023 North American tour dates. The bands kick things off on February 4th in Allentown, Pennsylvania’s PPL Center and wrap up 10 weeks later on April 25th in Palm Springs, California at Acrisure Arena.
The tour is named after Journey’s latest album, Freedom, which was released last July and peaked at Number Nine on Billboard’s Independent Albums chart. The tour will double as Journey’s 50th anniversary trek.
Journey co-founder and leader, guitarist Neal Schon said in the tour announcement: “We are all thankful and overwhelmed by the success of our Journey Freedom Tour 2022 this year and have added a new run of dates for 2023. We are looking forward to hitting the road again with our very good friends, Toto! Come join us for a special evening full of fun and rockin’ good memories. See you soon, friends.”
Keyboardist Jonathan Cain added: “Excited to perform for our fans as we tour next year with Toto. The combined hits of both bands represent a couple of decades of excellence that have become a soundtrack for people’s lives. The music of Journey, along with the music of Toto, is an example of ‘certain music’ during ‘uncertain times.’”
Toto’s co-founding guitarist Steve Lukather said: “On behalf of myself and the band, we are very honored and excited to do this tour with our old and dear friends, Journey. Gonna be a great night of music, and as all the guys are lifelong friends. . . a blast off-stage as well.”
Neal Schon told us that the recent resurgence of “Don’t Stop Believin’” after appearing on The Sopranos and Glee — as well as becoming the first iTunes song to reach two million downloads — is beyond his comprehension: “When the record came out, there were other songs that were actually bigger than that off it on radio. Y’know, to have it this many years later just come out and be bombastic (laughs) like never before, just like all over the place and just keep on . . . It just keeps on going. Y’know, it’s just pretty amazing.”
Toto leader Steve Lukather told us the band usually shying away from gigging domestically ultimately boils down to dollars and cents: “We haven’t really worked the U.S. in all fairness. Y’know, we got beat up so bad and then we just decided, ‘y’know what man. . .’ And the offers that we were getting everywhere else in the world were huge! So, y’know, you go where people like you. And they’ve kept us so busy that, we didn’t purposely turn our backs on (the States), but there’s a big difference between making a quarter of a million dollars a night and making thirty grand a night, y’know what I mean?”
JUST ANNOUNCED: Journey / Toto 2023 tour dates (subject to change):
February 4 – Allentown, PA – PPL Center
February 5 – Charlottesville, VA – John Paul Jones Arena
February 8 – Savannah, GA – Enmarket Arena
February 10 – Columbia, SC – Colonial Life Arena
February 11 – Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Coliseum
February 14 – Lexington, KY – Rupp Arena
February 17 – Knoxville, TN – Thompson-Boling Arena
February 19 – Bossier City, LA – Brookshire Grocery Arena
February 22 – Austin, TX – Moody Center
February 23 – Lafayette, LA – Cajundome
February 26 – Jacksonville, FL – Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena
March 1 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena
March 3 – State College, PA – Bryce Jordan Center
March 4 – Hartford, CT – XL Center
March 8 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
March 9 – Quebec, QC – Videotron Centre
March 12 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
March 13 – Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre
March 16 – Buffalo, NY – KeyBank Center
March 17 – Atlantic City, NJ – Boardwalk Hall
March 20 – Champaign, IL – State Farm Center
March 21 – Moline, IL – Vibrant Arena at The MARK
March 24 – Sioux Falls, SD – Denny Sanford PREMIER Center
March 25 – Lincoln, NE – Pinnacle Bank Arena
March 28 – Des Moines, IA – Wells Fargo Arena
March 31 – Tulsa, OK – BOK Center
April 1 – Memphis, TN – FedExForum
April 4 – San Antonio, TX – AT&T Center
April 7 – Springfield, MO – Great Southern Bank Arena
April 8 – Wichita, KS – INTRUST Bank Arena
April 11 – Casper, WY – Ford Wyoming Center
April 13 – Boise, ID – ExtraMile Arena
April 14 – Spokane, WA – Spokane Arena
April 17 – Eugene, OR – Matthew Knight Arena
April 19 – Stockton, CA – Stockton Arena
April 22 – Bakersfield, CA – Mechanics Bank Arena
April 23 – Fresno, CA – SaveMart Center
April 25 – Palm Springs, CA – Acrisure Arena