Journey was forced to abandon their Friday concert in Houston, Texas, mid-show after an electrical failure caused a fire to break out under the stage.
The five-piece rock band was midway through the performance of their 1981 hit song “Don’t Stop Believin’” when the screens around the stage went black and the audio cut out, leaving the crowd to continue belting out the song in their absence, video footage posted by the group’s co-founder and lead guitarist, Neal Schon, showed.
“Last night at Houston TX Rodeo we had an amazing overly packed house of 79-80 thousand fans that showed up to see us!!” Schon, 71, said in a Saturday Instagram post.
“The only unfortunate thing was that after getting off to a slamming start the Rodeo had an electrical failure and fire broke out under the stage,” he revealed.
“Thank you Houston for singing ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ before we were rushed off the stage because of an electrical fire and were not able to return. I felt terrible for our fans and offered to play tonight and make it up to y’all but they were not able to make it happen so until next time – Love and Respect.”
The Houston Rodeo additionally confirmed on Facebook that “due to an unforeseen electrical incident under the stage area, we regretfully announce the cancellation of tonight’s Journey concert.”
“We sincerely apologize to all fans for this disappointment,” the statement continued. “Our team is working diligently to assess the situation, and we will provide updates regarding rescheduling options and refunds as soon as possible.”
Local news outlet KPRC 2 spoke to a concertgoer who recalled a stadium announcer telling the crowd that there was a “power outage.” They added that after the band left the stage, several people with fire extinguishers came out to inspect the area around the drums.
In an update shared Saturday, the venue said that the issue had been fixed and all events scheduled for later that day would continue as planned.
“We are excited to host RODEOHOUSTON and welcome Warren Zeiders today as scheduled,” read a statement shared to X. “The stage will be operating as normal, and we will host all activities in the stadium and on the grounds as originally planned.”
