Legal battles, failed “coup” attempts, Mar-a-Lago banquets, $104,000 worth of jewelry and clothing, off-duty cops guarding dressing rooms every night, and more — this is the world tour‘s lived in the last few years, according to a comprehensive overview in the ongoing drama of the band published by Billboard.
At the center of the story are the two remaining classic band members, guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain. In 2020, the two consolidated their control over the band after suing bassist Ross Valory (an original member since 1973) and drummer Steve Smith, who joined the group in the late ’70s and can be heard on their signature hit, “Don’t Stop Believing.” The claim of both is planned a “coup” to gain control of the band, the lawsuit ultimately resulted in settlements, as well as the departure of Valory and Smith.
Cain and Schon began to turn on each other (despite the Billboard The story seems to suggest that it was Schon who was largely to blame).
With the two involved in several disagreements – even involving their wives, Michaele Ann Schon and Paula White-Cain – tensions flared during the 2022 tour when Cain caught an assistant -snooping in his dressing room at the request of the Schons, who recently hired off-duty policemen to guard their own dressing room. In response, Cain hired an off-duty security detail of his own, which brought the conflict to an almost unimaginable level considering the two continued to perform on each other’s stage.
“That’s just the level of pettiness and control and conspiracy they believe in,” said one source Billboardspeaking of the Schons.
After decades of best-selling hits, Journey has become a huge financial machine, and, for his part, Schon seems to be in charge recently… He first became the band’s manager after Valory and Smith left the band in 2020, and was responsible for their upgrade from amphitheater tours to full-on arena tours, which were extremely successful. The band briefly hired Def Leppard’s manager Mike Kobayashi to step in, but according to Billboardit seems that he will no longer work in the band since last month.
Meanwhile, Schon and Cain are locked in a lawsuit initiated by Schon, who claims Cain “improperly” denied him access to a corporate American Express account. Cain responded by detailing Schon’s irresponsible spending, which totaled more than a million dollars in just one month and even included $104,000 for jewelry and clothes alone.
And if that wasn’t enough – above all, the band seems to have been booted by its bank, City National, last February, losing their ability to quickly operate the aforementioned financial machine that is Journey. For several weeks in February, their webpage was down (although back online now).
the Billboard The story spills many more details, including Schon’s obsession with media optics (which includes many strange, demanding requests to outlets and publicists) and his distaste for Cain’s appearances in Mar-a -Lago and Trump functions, where he sent a cease and desist letter.
However, the band ongoing tour is selling well and will continue until April (get tickets HERE), when it makes its final stop in Palm Springs, California. While they may have stopped believing, they certainly haven’t stopped making money, and their iconic hits won’t stop filling the seats anytime soon.