This summer’s stadium rock (long) weekend came to a close Monday night as the triple bill of Def Leppard, Journey and Steve Miller Band filled Target Field with more than 35,000 nostalgic fans, some of whom also caught one of Metallica’s two shows at U.S. Bank Stadium or Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins Saturday night at the Twins ball field in Minneapolis.
One can’t help but wonder if Monday will be the last time we see Journey on the road. The famously litigious band has had a particularly rough few years starting with guitarist and founding member Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain firing longtimers Ross Valory (bass) and Steve Smith (drums) and suing them for “attempted corporate coup d’état” in 2020. The parties later settled out of court, but Schon and Cain — whose political differences have led to public feuding — suing each other over misusing the band’s credit card.
Oh, and Schon also served Cain with a cease-and-desist order after he performed “Don’t Stop Believin'” at a Donald Trump event, saying Cain “has no right to use Journey for politics.” That said, there weren’t any obvious tensions between the pair Monday night, most likely because they completely ignored each other for the 90-minute performance. The widely grinning Schon spent much of the show up front and center with vocalist Arnel Pineda.
For his part, Cain stood off to the side, donned a Twins jersey and praised the Twins for three World Series championships (the fir.