Journey, Styx, and REO Speedwagon tour must have been a sight to see. The three bands had gone on a tour together in 2003 and worked together in many different locations during their benefit concerts for victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Everything was going well, right until before the shows started.
How the Rumor Came Up and How Neal Schon Reacted
There had been some rumors about Journey members belittling the other two bands. Apparently, the rumor did not come out of fans or others, but it came out of one of the band’s members.
Those rumors were eventually denied by the Journey founder himself. In 2003, before the start of the tour, Neal Schon appeared in an interview to answer questions about the Rocking the Arena summer tour, he revealed the rumors:
“You know Kevin Cronin from REO, I’ve just read something that he had said on the internet that we said that each band will be flip flopping and changing positions from night to night which is completely untrue. Our manager came to us… It’s so weird, I’ve turned out to be this big malicious devil, that has a tremendous ego and all I will do is close shows, people are saying on the Styx site, the REO site… But we’re completely the opposite.”
Styx and REO eventually ended up opening for Journey. Similar to the two bands, Journey has opened for many bands earlier as well. So, did Schon have a problem with that? He explained:
“I don’t have a problem to ever opening up for anyone and I even said in an interview that I would love to go to Europe and open up for Bon Jovi because they’re big over there, or Toto or whoever…”
The Change of Plans Caused The Rumors
Well, it turns out it was neither Kevin Cronin nor Schon himself. Although Journey’s plans for the shows were different, there was one factor that made them change their plans completely. Schon revealed:
“This is the management call, where they say, ‘No, Journey is always the headliner and you guys will never do anything but close.’ And we say, ‘OK, because you’re my manager, and you tell me what to do.’ So it’s not a Neal Schon call, it’s the manager call and we are closing the show every night and REO and Styx are gonna be flip flopping, opening positions every night.”
So, it can be said that it was just a misunderstanding caused by the management.
