Escape Tour

The Escape Tour was a concert tour by the American rock band Journey in support of their seventh studio album, Escape.

Escape Tour

Tour by Journey
Location	Japan North America
Associated album	Escape
Start date	July 27, 1981
End date	July 2, 1982
Legs	2
No. of shows	132
Journey concert chronology

Background

The tour included six consecutive sold out dates at the Pine Knob Theatre in Detroit, and four straight sold-out shows at the Los Angeles Forum, and Chicago's Rosemont Horizon. Journey also made an appearance on July 2, 1982, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California with Blue Öyster Cult, Triumph and Aldo Nova. The 8+1⁄2-month tour took Journey through Japan and North America.

Point Blank, Billy Squier, the Greg Kihn Band and Loverboy were the opening acts during the tour.

Reception

Deborah Deasy, a reporter from the Pittsburgh Press, who attended the sold out October 2, 1981 performance, gave criticism toward the band on their deliverance of fast and furious noise, even noting that there was too little 'danceable rock 'n' roll'. The reporter noted on Perry's vocals being grating and overworked, but praised the other members of Journey individually. Deborah cited on the uninspired songwriting and the chemistry, criticizing the band as 'generic rock'. She concluded her review, praising the stage work done by the technical, set and sound designers as well as the surprise fireworks, but also noted on the opening act Point Blank had, criticizing the lackluster lead singer who she claimed was "too impressed with himself".^[1] A warmer reception was had by press in the band's hometown of San Francisco, where Chronicle^[2] writer Joel Selvin gushed effusively about the band's video monitors, sound and pyrotechnics, adding that Journey delivered a "masterful triple stroke" that "set a new standard in the rock concert arms race" that makes "all that came before" it, "as old fashioned as a Model T."^[3]

Tour dates

Over the course of the tour, Journey played the following dates:^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Date	City	Country	Venue	Tickets sold / Available	Revenue
Asia
July 27, 1981	Osaka	Japan	Festival Hall	—
July 28, 1981	Nagoya		Kokai-do
July 29, 1981	Tokyo		Koseinenkin Hall
July 31, 1981
August 1, 1981			Nakano Sun Plaza
August 2, 1981
North America
August 15, 1981	Toronto	Canada	Massey Hall	—
August 22, 1981	Montreal		Montreal Forum
August 23, 1981	Ottawa		Ottawa Civic Centre
August 25, 1981	Portland	United States	Cumberland County Civic Center
August 27, 1981	Saratoga Springs		Saratoga Performing Arts Center
August 28, 1981	Columbia		Merriweather Post Pavilion
August 29, 1981	Yarmouth		Cape Cod Coliseum
August 31, 1981	Cuyahoga Falls		Blossom Music Center
September 1, 1981
September 3, 1981	Hoffman Estates		Poplar Creek Music Theatre
September 4, 1981
September 5, 1981	East Troy		Alpine Valley Music Theatre
September 6, 1981
September 8, 1981	Clarkston		Pine Knob Music Theatre
September 9, 1981
September 11, 1981
September 12, 1981
September 13, 1981
September 14, 1981
September 15, 1981	St. Paul		St. Paul Civic Center
September 16, 1981	Ames		Hilton Coliseum
September 18, 1981	Kansas City		Kemper Arena	31,373 / 34,331	$316,591
September 19, 1981
September 20, 1981	Wichita		Levitt Arena	10,500 / 10,500	$105,000
September 21, 1981	Omaha		Omaha Civic Auditorium	12,000 / 12,000	$114,000
September 23, 1981	St. Louis		Checkerdome	17,517 / 17,517	$172,206
September 28, 1981	Terre Haute		Hulman Center
September 29, 1981	Rosemont		Rosemont Horizon
September 30, 1981	Champaign		Assembly Hall
October 1, 1981	Cincinnati		Riverfront Coliseum
October 2, 1981	Pittsburgh		Civic Arena
October 3, 1981	Lexington		Rupp Arena	17,652 / 17,652	$179,726
October 6, 1981	Boston		Boston Garden
October 8, 1981	Hartford		Hartford Civic Center	16,198 / 16,198	$171,975
October 9, 1981	Syracuse		Carrier Dome
October 10, 1981	Uniondale		Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
October 11, 1981	Providence		Providence Civic Center
October 12, 1981	Philadelphia		The Spectrum
October 13, 1981	Hampton		Hampton Coliseum
October 15, 1981	Jacksonville		Veterans Memorial Coliseum	11,512 / 11,512	$114,530
October 16, 1981	Birmingham		BJCC Coliseum
October 17, 1981	Atlanta		Omni Coliseum
October 18, 1981	Columbia		Carolina Coliseum
October 20, 1981	Charlotte		Charlotte Coliseum
October 21, 1981	Savannah		Martin Luther King Jr. Arena
October 22, 1981	Lakeland		Jenkins Arena	20,000 / 20,000	$199,318
October 23, 1981[9]
October 24, 1981	Pembroke Pines		Hollywood Sportatorium
October 27, 1981	Knoxville		Knoxville Civic Coliseum
October 28, 1981	Nashville		Municipal Auditorium	9,900 / 9,900	$98,460
October 30, 1981	Memphis		Mid-South Coliseum	11,632 / 11,632	$122,136
October 31, 1981	Mobile		Municipal Auditorium
November 1, 1981	Baton Rouge		LSU Assembly Center
November 3, 1981	Oklahoma City		Myriad Convention Center	14,735 / 14,735	$159,357
November 5, 1981	Houston		The Summit	34,904 / 34,904	$377,577
November 6, 1981
November 7, 1981	Dallas		Reunion Arena	38,025 / 38,025	$453,719
November 8, 1981
November 10, 1981	Albuquerque		Tingley Coliseum
November 11, 1981	Amarillo		Cal Farley Coliseum
November 13, 1981	Las Cruces		Pan American Center
November 14, 1981	Tucson		Tucson Arena
November 15, 1981	Phoenix		Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
November 21, 1981	San Diego		San Diego Sports Arena
November 22, 1981	Inglewood		The Forum	70,000 / 70,000	$729,018
November 23, 1981
November 24, 1981
November 25, 1981
November 29, 1981	Fresno	Ratcliffe Stadium
November 30, 1981	Daly City	Cow Palace	41,710 / 41,710	$443,346
December 1, 1981
December 2, 1981
December 3, 1981	Pocatello	Minidome
December 4, 1981	Seattle	Seattle Center Coliseum	44,910 / 44,910	$538,920
December 5, 1981
December 6, 1981
December 7, 1981	Portland	Memorial Coliseum
December 8, 1981
December 10, 1981	Oakland	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
December 11, 1981	Daly City	Cow Palace
December 12, 1981
December 21, 1981	Honolulu	Neal S. Blaisdell Arena
December 22, 1981
Asia
April 9, 1982	Fukuoka	Japan	Sun Palace Hall
April 11, 1982	Kyoto		Kyoto Kaikan
April 12, 1982	Osaka		Festival Hall
April 13, 1982			Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
April 14, 1982	Nagoya		Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
April 16, 1982	Tokyo		Nippon Budokan
April 17, 1982	Yokohama		Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium
North America
April 23, 1982	Vancouver	Canada	Pacific Coliseum
April 25, 1982	Edmonton		Northlands Coliseum	17,178 / 18,117	$214,787
April 26, 1982	Calgary		Stampede Corral	7,500 / 7,500	$101,105
April 28, 1982	Winnipeg		Winnipeg Arena	14,646 / 17,230	$172,116
April 30, 1982	Toronto		Maple Leaf Gardens	12,792 / 19,307	$151,146
May 1, 1982	Buffalo	United States	Memorial Auditorium	17,293 / 17,293	$176,046
May 3, 1982	Boston		Boston Garden	31,000 / 31,000	$371,242
May 4, 1982
May 6, 1982	East Rutherford		Brendan Byrne Arena	41,224 / 41,224	$482,646
May 7, 1982
May 8, 1982	Landover		Capital Centre	18,896 / 18,896	$200,109
May 10, 1982	Philadelphia		The Spectrum	37,226 / 37,226	$441,203
May 11, 1982
May 13, 1982	Richfield		Richfield Coliseum	37,221 / 37,221	$465,262
May 14, 1982
May 15, 1982	Detroit		Joe Louis Arena	39,900 / 39,900	$461,316
May 16, 1982
May 18, 1982	Louisville		Freedom Hall	19,400 / 19,400	$217,548
May 19, 1982	Indianapolis		Market Square Arena	18,178 / 18,178	$197,945
May 21, 1982	Rosemont		Rosemont Horizon	73,080 / 73,080	$865,833
May 22, 1982
May 23, 1982
May 24, 1982
May 27, 1982	Denver		McNichols Arena	33,900 / 36,000	$424,301
May 28, 1982
May 29, 1982	Salt Lake City		Salt Palace	26,259 / 26,318	$244,222
May 30, 1982
June 2, 1982	Portland		Memorial Coliseum
June 3, 1982
June 4, 1982
June 12, 1982	Dallas		Cotton Bowl	64,945 / 70,000	$1,199,310
June 13, 1982	Houston		Astrodome	65,000 / 65,000	$1,160,504
June 26, 1982	Oakland		Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	57,500 / 57,500	$957,851
July 2, 1982	Pasadena		Rose Bowl	83,214 / 90,000	$1,373,031

Personnel

• Steve Perry – lead vocals, keyboards, piano
• Neal Schon – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Ross Valory – bass, backing vocals
• Jonathan Cain – keyboards, piano, rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Steve Smith – drums, percussion

References

1. Deasy, Deborah (October 6, 1981). "Journey Concert Turns Out To Be Monotonous Trip". The Pittsburgh Press. p. B-4.
2. "San Francisco Chronicle Newspaper". San Francisco Chronicle.
3. Selvin, Joel (June 28, 1982). "Journey's Home Run In Oakland". The San Francisco Chronicle.
4. "Website Disabled".
5. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 17 April 1982. ISSN 0006-2510.
6. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 29 May 1982. ISSN 0006-2510.
7. "Billboard". 1982-05-15.
8. "The Deseret News - Google News Archive Search".
9. "Journey concert sold out". Lakeland Ledger. October 23, 1981. Retrieved January 31, 2021. Tonight's rock concert by Journey and Loverboy at 8 p.m. in the Lakeland Civic Center arena is sold out.