Jonathan Cain recently played a game of "psyche" on Journey fans. Whatever it takes to sell tickets, right? The key was that while Cain didn't necessarily say that former vocalist Steve Perry was coming back for a reunion tour, Cain also left the door open for fans to dream about that.
In a February talk with Ultimate Classic Rock, the keyboardist and guitarist said, "Neal (Schon) already asked (if Perry would perform on the band's new tour), and he says (Perry's) thinking about it. I hope he comes out. It's never too late. We've got 100 shows, so he's welcome at any one of them."
Is the fact that Perry had said "no" to touring with Journey again mean Cain was lying? To a degree, yes. The "thinking about it" strained credulity and was frankly unfair to fans who might choose to buy a ticket to a show in hopes that Perry is back. He was never going to be.
Cain has backtracked on his original words now, according to Rolling Stone.
He said, "I just kind of planted a little seed out. I was trying to fish a little bit, and say, 'Well, he’s thinking about it. 'He came immediately out and said, 'No, I’m not.' I kind of did that on purpose, because there’s just so much fake AI stuff going on. You just look at it and go, 'Wait a minute, no, that’s not true. None of this is true.'"
So, yes. He lied, and he admitted to it. The AI part is even more odd when put in the context of Cain being unaware that he was only spreading the false information that he thinks AI would have done. Maybe any fans wishing to cancel their tickets based on his original words, Cain should pay back out of his own pocket.
Journey simply seems like a complete mess anyway. In the Rolling Stone report, longtime vocalist Arnel Pineda apparently tried to quit twice before the new tour began on February 28. He was afraid his voice could not hold up to yet another run of shows.
Co-founder Neil Schon was seemingly unaware that Pineda wanted to quit. The guitarist has also recently said he just wanted some "peace" from the constant Journey drama, a possible respite from him and Cain's lawsuit against one another. They have had several over the years.
Of course, there should be an easy way out for all involved: Just don't tour. Maybe the band members will lose money by not doing so, which is likely the only reason to tour at this point, but the lack of stress might be welcome too.