As the stadium resounded with the first E major chord of “Don’t Stop Believing” the RodeoHouston crowd let out a unified roar Friday night that briefly distorted the Journey song itself.
Someone a few seats from me yelled “that’s what we’ve been waiting for!” as if we weren’t only four songs in. Lead singer Arnel Pineda sang the verses just like his predecessor, illustrating the stage presence that earned him a spot in the band to begin with.
But the chorus of the widely known song never came. Instead, mid-verse, at approximately 9:35pm, the sound, and most of the video displays above the stage, cut out, leaving the enormous crowd to sing the next several lines a cappella. Pineda did his best to interact with the fans as they sang, despite his now useless microphone. He walked to the edge of the stage as he made exaggerated motions toward the crowd, as if conducting the tens of thousands of singers that had now replaced his band.
Soon the singing stopped and confusion ensued. An announcement was made that the stage techs were doing their best to diagnose the issue, and that there had been some kind of power outage. The band left the stage, and so too did the entirety of the soundboard’s personnel. A few audience members began to leave, but by and large the crowd stayed where they were, hopeful for the band’s return.
It didn’t happen. Instead, it was an abrupt and very unwelcome end to the much awaited return of Journey to the RodeoHouston stage. Saying there’d been an electrical fire, an announcer told fans the show was over.
Before the dismaying end, the concert had started on a much brighter note.
Neal Schon opened with a guitar solo in sun glasses and a white denim jacket. He picked at his black Les Paul like only the legends do: rarely glancing down at its frets. Pineda, lead singer since February of 2008, walked out in a sequined black jacket and bright white hair.
The guitar heavy intro segued into “Only the Young” from the 1985 soundtrack of Vision Quest (though originally written for Journey’s 1983 record Frontiers). It is remarkable how similar Pineda sounds to Journey’s former frontman Steve Perry. The band’s vocal harmony shines in this early ’80s anthem as Deen Castronovo, the group’s drummer, and keyboardist Jonathan Cain compliment the voice of Pineda throughout. Neal Schon plays Brian May esque fills and a solo, similar, but not identical, to the studio recording.
Pineda whipped off his jacket revealing a sleeveless black top and some tattoos, as the band began playing “Be Good to Yourself” from their 1986 album Raised on Radio (and just about every greatest hits compilation). Deen Castronovo, looking ready for RodeoHouston in an American flag T-shirt, tore through all the ’80s drum fills that make songs like this one so irresistibly danceable. But Journey will always be a piano-forward band, and Cain’s playing doesn’t disappoint.
The stage’s upper screens and back displays switched to a depiction of a repeating winged scarab pattern, the band’s iconic logo, but in blue. As the light’s turned shades of blue and teal, the band began to play “Stone in Love,” a slightly lesser known song from Escape, released in 1981.
“You want more Houston!?” Frontman Pineda teased the audience. There are few songs that elicit the response that this next song does from a live audience; few songs are so instantly recognized from their very first note. My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade” is one. Perhaps “Runaway” by Kanye West has joined this revered club of immediately identifiable classics.
To go further back you’d have to mention Bohemian Rhapsody and Stairway to Heaven. Further still, Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C# Minor, Chopin’s Fantasy Impromptu, maybe Eine Kleine Nachtmusik or the Overture from The Marriage of Figaro had this effect on their contemporaries. Conceivably there was some Gregorian chant that started it all. But no song seems to have carved its way into modern culture quite like this one.
And that’s when the system broke down.
Then came the dreaded proclamation from the loudspeakers, as if choreographed with the stadium’s upper lights switching on. “Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer bellowed, “due to an electrical fire, the show cannot continue.” If you can imagine the exact opposite reaction that the beginning few notes of “Don’t Stop Believing” evoked—a simultaneous groan—that’s what followed.
Journey did not return to the stage, and concertgoers slowly shuffled out to the concourse and lined up for the exits. RodeoHouston’s official statement, released moments later, called the event an “unforeseen electrical incident” with no mention of a fire, despite the announcement that was made in the stadium.
It was a disappointing night for many die-hard fans, and I’m sure it was no easier for the RodeoHouston organizers and staff. But I suppose If there was any note to end on it was the high one, the one that 70,000 people were singing along with.
Update: 9:15 a.m. 3-15-25: Houston Rodeo has issued a further statement on X about the Warren Zeiders concert planned for Saturday will go on as planned. And that there would be a later statement about Journey ticketholders.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
