Saturday, May 14, 2016

Journey's Concert Ticket Evolution Through Time part 5, New Frontiers

The Frontiers Tour of 1983 was the biggest audience Journey ever brought in. The shows were sold out everywhere! Journey was a household name by this time. Children, teenagers and adults all liked this band! Only the biggest venues in each city were used and the Video Projection that Herbie Herbert created was used again. They were even renting it out to other bands.

The shows were incredible! The band even played an original keyboard instrumental to kick off the shows. It was called "Elmo's Theme. It would also play at the end of the fireworks at the end of the shows. Songs added to the setlist were Neal Schon and Jan Hammer's single "Lies" as well as the Kenny Loggins/Steve Perry hit, "Don't Fight It". The shows became a mostly "Escape" and "Frontiers" with the bands older staples used as encores, like "Any Way You Want It", "Wheel In The Sky", "Lights", and "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'".

As Ticketron continued to corner the market, prices were really gauged at this time. Face value of the tickets hadn't gone up this year, but you were very lucky if you could get a ticket for $30.00. Ticket agencies started popping up in malls where you could buy tickets, choose the seats you wanted and paid a huge service fee resulting in tickets costing anywhere from $30.00 to $100.00 per ticket or more. I like to call these places scalping agencies and my favorite was "Good Time Tickets" on Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. They seem to always have the best seats.

Oh, Sherry, the band was starting to break at the seams. Steve Perry started using his own transportation, no longer riding with the rest of the band to the shows. The shows themselves were always great and exciting, but they seemed more formulaic. They didn't veer much off the prepared set list. Steve Perry's talking to the audience seemed very much rehearsed and not as authentic as previous tours. The band members were having babies and raising families by this point. The band wanted to slow down and enjoy the success by spending time with their families.

March 2, 1983 - Budokan Hall. Tokyo Japan

April 6, 1983 - Devaney Sports Center, U Nebraska. Lincoln NB - Bryan Adams

April 9, 1983 - Hulman Center. Ind. St. U., Terre Haute, IN - Bryan Adams

April 21, 1983 - The Omni. Atlanta, GA - Bryan Adams

May 2, 1983 - Capitol Center. Largo, MD - Bryan Adams

June 1, 1983 - Market Square Arena, Indianapolis IN - Bryan Adams
June 5, 1983 - Hollander Stadium, Rochester, NY - Bryan Adams

July 16, 1983 - Mid-South Coliseum. Memphis, TN - Bryan Adams

August 5, 1983 - Los Angeles Forum. Los Angeles, CA - Bryan Adams

August 7, 1983 - Los Angeles Forum. Los Angeles, CA - Bryan Adams
The "Frontiers" album had two shining tracks suddenly removed before it went into mass production and replaced with lesser songs. "Ask The Lonely", and "Only The Young" were held back and later used in movie soundtracks.

No comments:

Post a Comment