Background vocalist and keyboardist on tour

[tj]

I saw this mentioned in another thread. Is the bg vocals /keyboard guy, I think his name is Travis, additional or a substitute for Jon this tour?

For several years, Chicago has had fill in guys for the horn players off and on. You never know which guys will be there. The younger guys and front men always seem to show, but I can imagine a lengthy tour for guys pushing 70yo takes its toll.

Perhaps Jon is reaching the point of not wanting to do this anymore, ala Perry 20/30 years ago?

[George_g888]

Hello everybody.. I'm new here to the site..
I wouldn't read into anything suspicious about Travis substituting for Jonathan. He is just there helping out w/background vocals because Deen obviously isn't in the band anymore. Those vocals are a huge loss.

He is just a touring musician. Journey did a private gig in Vegas in February and Travis was all the way in the back.. You could barely notice him.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Hello everybody.. I'm new here to the site..
I wouldn't read into anything suspicious about Travis substituting for Jonathan. He is just there helping out w/background vocals because Deen obviously isn't in the band anymore. Those vocals are a huge loss.

He is just a touring musician. Journey did a private gig in Vegas in February and Travis was all the way in the back.. You could barely notice him.

George,

If you follow Cain's social media feeds, it would not be hard to imagine him leaving the band at some point. Creatively, he has talked about being done with new Journey music since Arrival flopped. For Journey fans desiring new tunes, only Schon can make it happen.

[Eric]

That version he did of "I'll be Alright Without You" is pretty good......

https://anewdayproductions.bandcamp.com ... ey-tribute

[tj]

I get the need for bg vocals. It makes me wonder why Neal doesn't seem to sing much. In the videos I have seen over the years, it seems like he always has a mic, but rarely is singing.

[tater1977]

With Smitty out after the 2017 tour.
AP talking of doing his solo work and asked his fans if
they would come to the PI to see him after the 2017 tour
is over.
Jon doing his thing.
With Travis being a tribute singer as Arnel was...
Anything Is Possible

[RumTumJM]

Really, what is the point of hiring a backing vocalist/keyboardist? We all know they use stacked, vocal backing tracks. Do they really need another person on stage. Deen was primarily the drummer; they gave him a mic because he happened to sing, as well. But why hire someone else?

[scarab]

a good gig for this kid, but why do they need backing vocals? They still have Neal, Ross, and Jon.
Unless maybe this is Jon's replacement.

[brywool]

Neal, Jon, and especially Ross are not really singers and definitely not tenors. Sure, Neal and Jon sing on their solo albums and a few minor Journey tunes. However, the Journey background vocals sound is tenor vocals. A higher voice is absolutely necessary. The question for me really isn't "Why is there a background vocalist on stage with them?" (That's kind of obvious).
The question really is "Why is there another keyboard player?"

I keep wondering if because Jon is working with Deen, if Deen will be back after Steve's tour. Jon, I'm sure, is checking Deen out at this point, not to mention helping him stay on the straight and narrow by giving him some Christian stuff to play and sing. But the band never said (unless I missed it) that "Deen's out forever, he's a creep, blah blah blah". They were pretty supportive (as much as they could be without looking like they condoned what he did) of Deen. I know Arnel has been supportive of him. Jon, funny enough, at first seemed like he was anti-Deen, but that was only based on a small comment about "he was given many chances" or whatever.

[tj]

I am fine if they want to use additional musicians to fill out the instrumentation or vocals to better match the album sound. I am even fine if they want to try different arrangements of old tunes from time to time using the additional musicians to round out or add to the sound.

To me, it is more realistic than using canned audio of the instruments or vocals. Crap, isn't that what got them into a mess with Augeri? I know that a lot of bands do it and have for years.

Once it is down on tape (or digital these days) it is exactly how you want it, there are no surprises in missed notes, pitch, timing, etc. But anymore, most of the concert footage seems like an American Bandstand show where you know that they are not playing live. Even when they are playing, you hear the notes and instruments that obviously aren't there. $400+ for front row to see that? No thanks.