Journey And Toto Rock Chicago

Rob Grabowski caught Toto and Journey In The Act during show at at the Allstate Arena on Monday, May 2, 2022, in Rosemont, Ill. Check out Rob's great photos and Tom Antonson's review!

This past Monday rock superstars Journey washed away the "Monday Blues" to a sold-out crowd at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. They were joined by legendary rockers Toto on the Freedom tour, which has been making its way around the country for the past few months. The arena was full to the brim, which is impressive since Journey just did a club show at the Aragon Ballroom and then went on to headline Lollapalooza just last summer.

The group consisted of legendary guitarist Neal Schon, who earned his stripes playing with Santana at age 15, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, who wrote the monster hit "Don't Stop Believin'", drummer Deen Castronovo, bassist Todd Jensen (of Schon's solo band Hardline) & Jason Derlatka on keyboards. We also cannot forget the beloved Arnel Pineda, who has been covering Steve Perry's vocal duties since 2007. Pineda was found by Neal Schon on youtube in the Philippines and was invited to try out for the band. He has been giving Steve Perry's soaring vocals the respect they deserve for the better part of almost 15 years.

Arnel also was like a shot of adrenaline to the entire band. Even at 54 years old, Pineda was jumping and twirling all over the stage while nailing his vocal duties. Pineda's energy was contagious as the band thumbed through their novel of hit songs in their 19 song set list. This included a few surprises such as "Don't Stop Believin'" being played third, "Mother Father", which was sung by Deen Castronovo, "Girl Can't Help It" being performed for the first time this millennium (sung by Jason Derlatka). As well, they debuted "You've Got the Best of Me", a song off their upcoming "Freedom" album. Overall, Journey wowed audiences with a stage presence bigger than their catalog of hit music.

Supporting Journey were legendary rockers, Toto, who also put on a show. Whether it was Steve Lukather's thunderous guitar work, or the band's immaculate instrumentation, the audience was in for a treat.

While the group is led by Lukather on guitar and frontman Joseph Williams, they have the blessing of co-founder, David Paich. Based on their legendary performance, we can definitely see why. Their supporting members had played with a laundry list of people including Prince, Huey Lewis & more. They gave Toto's hits the justice they deserved. Whether it was "Hold the Line", a cover of "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Rosanna", or the legendary "Africa", Toto truly put on a show.

Overall, this was truly an amazing and high-energy night that will live on in attendees' memories for quite some time. It is amazing to see some of the biggest stars of the 1970's and 1980's out there killing it for sold out crowds to this day!