Day on the Green Journey Escape and Frontiers Shirts

Never imagined these two would be together here in this very spot. The Escape one (note the little flying scarab the dog is pestered by) is from the Hawkeye collection (I bid on it and lost, the buyer never paid, and the seller was kind enough to contact me to buy it after I had already bought a bunch of the others he was selling). The other is from Backstage Auctions and was pricey but never seen it before, though I do have the staff ringer version. This collecting stuff never gets old.

Absurd haul of 80s Journey vintage concert and record promoter shirts

More incredible finds thanks to Hawkeye, the roadie that somehow was willing to sell his goodies. Got a Canadian slant on a couple of these. Challenge: find the typo in the light blue Frontiers shirt. See previous two posts for other rare ones that have been procured from said gentleman.

Absurd haul of Journey Frontiers tour roadie shirts

See previous post on how giddy I am about these rare shirts from Hawkeye collection. Varilite was the lighting company for the band, and note the stains on the John Watkins Special Effects explosives shirt that I like to think were blast marks from when he got too close when the Line of Fire gunshots echoed through the town.

Frontiers tour Florida Jam Journey concert shirt gotten

I have  been wanting one of these jerseys for a long time. Love the sunglasses on the robot! These come up pretty frequently, but usually way overpriced. I got this one for $60 on eBay after the seller relisted it for a way higher price - I mentioned to them what I would pay and they relisted as a buy it now. Got it before someone else did. I think its a pretty fair price for this. Also there is a California version of this shirt (with sunglasses) I will be trying for next.

Journey Frontiers Tour Shirts All Posted

So, 1983 is wrapped up. They are all below. Have a lookey. Frontiers was really the end of all that was good, and at the same time the beginning of the crap. Songwriting on this album is super, especially the title track - it never got enough credit. I actually got to see Steve Smith a few years later at a drum clinic and he played the drum line from Frontiers and i just remember myself and the rest of the auditorium moving to the edge of their seats to see him play it. At the end i got his autograph on an album and stole a pair of his drumsticks. I dont feel too bad about it. He also explained how "Perry" (he wouldnt call him Steve) recut the tracks with another drummer without telling him, so that's why he quit the band for ROR.

Onto the bad - the outfits they wore on that tour were absurd, even for casual observers of the day. They broke away from the beetle theme to address the rampant technological advances unfolding before our eyes. Then of course they broke up and Raised on Radio made me hang my head in shame - especially because of Johnathan Cain's freakin long neon splattered jacket and permed mullet and that lame portable keyboard thing. Artwork for that sucked then and it sucks now, as does the weak title track. My collection may not be as complete as others since I refuse to buy anything from that tour. I did get to see them third row center though - that was cool except when a colorfully huge Randy Jackson got too close. "Girl Cant Help It" is a pretty good song, I guess. I hate to be critical, but i wish they were still together and making great music as evidenced by the really good Trial By Fire. And still using Stanley Mouse for the artwork. Oh, welps.

Anyway, gonna start posting Escape stuff next, the meat of the collection. The Meat!
And if anyone wants to quit holding out and sell me the shirts that Neal and Steve S are wearing in the above picture, that would be great.

One Last Random Frontiers Sweatshirt

Got this dirt cheap on eBay, probably because its sorta ugly and very scratchy and uncomfortable. Very 80s style was given to staff working the JFK stadium shows seen on Frontiers and Beyond video. Its very rare, only seen this one time. Not an official band issued thing, but its still nice to have.

The Only Original from Youth Times

It has been through a lot since 1983, but I never stopped loving it. Its the only shirt I own from my original experience at a Journey show. Didnt buy a shirt at the Escape show the year before - opted for the giant poster for my bedroom. So this is all I got. It is very thin, with tears down the side from my burnout days. I was so excited to wear it to school the next day, and i remember the dudes saying stuff like "that's the one i'm gonna get tonight" and other such jealous lies.

This commonly appearing shirt doesnt get worn anymore, but it will stay with me forever as my sweet memories do - like making an "Edge of the Blade" album cover for art class by copying the front shirt image. And hating to have to leave the Richfield Coliseum early from the second night because my friend's dad wanted to beat the traffic. I dont really recall any other specific moments while wearing the shirt. Alas, oh well.

Journey Day on the Green Staff T-shirt

One of those shocking finds in a vintage clothing store on The Haight. Its in excellent condition and very rare. There was a football jersey version of this shirt being sold on Wolfgang's Vault for a while, but those have all sold. There are still some regular white t-shirt versions, both from 1980 and 1983. Have never seen the ringer version that is shown here.

This is from the Bill Graham shows at Oakland Coliseum. Huge sorts of stadium shows that Steve Perry grew to dislike - lack of intimacy with the fans or something along those lines. I used to love those kinds of shows, but now I too find them loathesome and brutish after being spoiled by seeing great bands in tiny venues in SF for years.

Frontiers Tour Hits Hawaii

Journey did two special Hawaii shirts, this one is from the Frontiers tour. (View the other one here.) It is the most elaborately designed of the special 1983 show shirts and is rare. I don't have any of the other special show ones - they end up selling for a lot in auctions, and since the focus of my collection is on the Escape tour, I don't really need to shell out the extra dough. These are the other special ones that I have seen:

• California and Florida shows have black sunglasses on the robot guy - they say something like "California Rocks" and "Florida Jam" on them - I hope to get one of these at some point
  
• A New Orleans show has a Bourbon St. streetlight on the back
• Texas show has stars dancing around the main front image
• Others are customized by adding the city name on the back, like my only personally purchased shirt that I still own - check it out here
  

Another Standard Frontiers Shirt

The blues in this shirt really blare out. The back is especially pretty with a frosty glow about it. Got this on eBay from some woman who claimed her brother sold shirts for the band when they came to town and he kept a few extras. This thing is perfect and unworn. Very nice to find these ones that were socked away and preserved.

Sorta Sleeveless Journey Shirt from 1983

Ok, real sleeveless, but whatever. This one reuses that parked beetle logo from the Escape tour during the Frontiers tour. I really really love that parked bug, and have considered it as a tattoo before, but I rarely consider tattoos. I think most people get them for the wrong reasons, and I just need a right one.

This is a standard issue concert shirt. I think the one flaw is that the bug on all the shirts I have seen dips in the middle. Its a design flaw or structural or something, but its one of the only shirts they sold with the parked bug on the front. Remember how they show that bug on the huge banner at the end of the show on the Houston DVD? I want that banner real bad.

It makes a great undershirt, but i would never be seen with it around town as is. I just won't.

First Journey Shirt Bought as a Collector

This is the first shirt I bought as a vintage Journey shirt collector, and the first of a handful purchased at a vintage clothing store filled with silly hipsters. It was a day on the Haight, it was there, I left without buying it and after a few weeks of obsessing about it, I went back and bought it for $35. I was pretty cheap back then so it was a tough call. Anyway, it got me hooked and I can't stop buying to this day.

Its a standard issue, mass produced and non-customized to a specific show or city jersey. I always wondered why Steve Perry is standing aside from the rest of the gang, then found out years later that he felt left out, unaccepted, and sorta sad. I hope they didn't pick on him. I have seen this one with black sleeves, but most common is the blue. In general, this one is available all the time. I read they sold over 2,000,000 shirts over the years so they should be around - but there seems to be less available on ebay every year.

That Other Japan 1983 Tour Sweatshirt

This is that other version of the Japan 1983 Frontiers sweatshirt I was talking about. Its a crewneck instead of the v-neck and has the tour dates on the back. Not sure if this is a roadie-only or what. Got it on eBay from a vintage clothing store operator. It's very cool, and very rare. Never seen any others out there.

Japan Tour Sweatshirt 1983

Here is one I got from the Herbie Herbert auction - a leftover being offered at the store well after i found out about the auction at all. I am lucky to have gobbled up some scraps from that. Got a couple other things from the auction that will be up at some point.

This one took a lot of stretching to get back into form. It still looks pretty 80s with that deep scoop v-neck.

Luckily, I found another version of this on ebay that is a crew neck sweatshirt with a different layout on it. The back image of this one is on the front of that one and on the back of that one is a list of cities they hit in Japan. I will post that one too.

This one is rare - only seen two others on eBay since 2002.