At the end of March, the rock band Journey came to Hawaii to perform on Maui, the Big Island, and three sold-out shows on Oahu. Journey’s sold over 80 Million albums and have two gold, three platinum, and eight multiplatinum albums during their long and successful career. They went on tour to promote their latest album “Revelations” which was released in June 2008, which features their latest addition to the band, Arnel Pineda from the Philippines. Arnel was found through Youtube while singing some of Journey’s greatest hits.

My friends and I were lucky to grab tickets for the third concert and I’m really glad we did. From start to finish, the concert was amazing. I had heard from someone that they weren’t considered a “show band” but Arnel definitely changed that. Arnel brought so much energy to the stage by moving around and almost got carried away by the audience. He also has such a powerful voice and I was happy that he sounded a little like Steve Perry, one of Journey’s most famous singers, but put his own small twist to the well-known songs. Throughout the two hours, the band played some of their greatest hits like “Lights”, “Wheel in the Sky,” and “Anyway You Want It.” Journey also played hits from their current album like “After All These Years,” “Wildest Dreams,” and “Change for the Better.” That was the first time I heard song from their “Revelation” album but I was not disappointed. There were also amazing instrumentals by lead guitarist, Neal Schon, and keyboardist, Jonathan Cain. The band ended with one of their greatest hits “Don’t Stop Believing” which got everyone up and out of their seats. The best part was just as the concert ended, the band ran off stage but came back to do three encores.

This was definitely the best concert I’ve ever been too and hope that Journey will come back again sometime in the near future. The only regret I have was not dishing out more money to get floor seats and being closer to the band. Although I wasn’t sitting close enough to the stage, I did get something better than front row seat. I got to ride on the same plane as Journey and took a picture with Arnel! That was probably one of the highlights of spring break.