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MUSIC: Journey, Apollo, Thurs 19 June

David Sue
11/ 6/2008

BEING a fan of Journey must sometimes be akin to supporting Manchester City.

In their 30-year career the American rock band has seen members come and go and musical directions change.

Their latest lead singer, Arnel Pineda, was only discovered a year ago – singing on website YouTube.

Nevertheless, 30 years down the line, Journey are still very much with us and selling out arenas across the world.

Journey’s biggest selling point has to be their humongous back catalogue of anthems.

They first emerged in the mid-Seventies as a jazzy prog-rock band, but only hit their stride in the Eighties when they aligned themselves with the growing stadium rock movement.

With big-hearted pop songs like Don’t Stop Believing, they struck a chord with the yuppyish, bombastic stylings of the Eighties, and alongside bands like Boston, Foreigner and Asia, they created a whole lucrative sub-genre of American stadium rock.

Three years ago, Journey were unexpectedly inducted into Hollywood’s Hall of Fame, cementing their status as one of US rock’s most overlooked bands.

Some faces may have changed, but as long as they’ve got those epic songs, this all-American journey is sure to run and run.