Overview
- Journey announced on Friday, November 13 that longtime drummer Deen Castronovo has stepped away from the current tour to focus on personal health matters and that the band supports his decision.
- The band named Steve Murphy as the temporary replacement for the remainder of November, citing his work with the Alan Parsons Project, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Christopher Cross and Jack Bruce.
- Murphy performed the full Cleveland show after being introduced onstage by keyboardist Jonathan Cain, marking his first gig with Journey during this leg of the tour.
- Before the formal announcement, Castronovo had missed or left recent shows with longtime drum tech Steve Toomey filling in at the Tulsa stop in early October and during the Boston show earlier this week.
- The Final Frontier farewell tour is set to resume on November 14 in Greenville, South Carolina and conclude on November 28 in San Francisco, and Castronovo’s 2015 dismissal and 2021 return offer key context for how fans and the band are processing the change.