Journey’s Neal Schon Performs National Anthem for Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals

Journey’s Neal Schon performed the National Anthem for Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals and killed it, doing his best Jimi Hendrix electric guitar version.

The guitar player took center stage—er, center court—and began shredding in front of some 20,000 fans on hand for the beginning of the NBA final series between the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco.

Sports reporter Kylen Mills was on hand and shared thoughts about the guitar rendition, writing on Twitter, “The Bay Area’s own Neal Schon is performing a rocking version of the National Anthem tonight. Fans are on their feet and he gets a nice round of applause. @kron4news#dubnation #goldblooded.”

Check out the performance below:

In other Journey news, the band recently announced that it’s set to release its first new studio album of all-new original songs in over a decade.

The new album, Freedom, from the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, will be released on July 8. And fans can preorder it HERE. 

To celebrate the news, the band released its newest single, “You Got The Best Of Me.”

“I wanted kind of a punky rendition of ‘Any Way You Want It,’” says the Journey founder, producer, and guitarist Schon of the new single. “I usually don’t go in saying I’m going to look for something like that, but then it just came to me, like ‘Wheel in the Sky’ did years ago. It just kind of flew out of my mouth.

“During the pandemic, there wasn’t much to do,” added Schon. “I spent a lot of time in my little studio at home, learning how to play keyboards and looping. Some of those ideas ended up being songs. So it kind of came out of nowhere.”

Freedom will be the band’s first new studio LP since the 2011 album, Eclipse. Check out the track list and see Journey’s upcoming touring schedule below.

Freedom track listing
Together We Run
Don’t Give Up On Us
Still Believe In Love
You Got The Best Of Me
Live To Love Again
The Way We Used To Be
Come Away With Me
After Glow
Let It Rain
Holdin On
All Day and All Night
Don’t Go
United We Stand
Life Rolls On
Beautiful As You Are

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
4.27 – Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN
4.28 – Spectrum Center – Charlotte, NC
4.30 – Schottenstein Center – Columbus, OH
5.02 – Allstate Arena – Rosemont, IL
5.04 – Van Andel Arena – Grand Rapids, MI
5.05 – Gainbridge Fieldhouse – Indianapolis, IN
5.07 – Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse – Cleveland, OH
5.09 – Capital One Arena – Washington, D.C.5.11 – XL Center – Hartford, CT
5.13 – Scotiabank Arena – Toronto, ON
5.16 – Videotron Centre – Quebec City, QC
7.15 – Resorts World Theatre – Las Vegas, NV*
7.16 – Resorts World Theatre – Las Vegas, NV*
7.22 – Resorts World Theatre – Las Vegas, NV*
7.23 – Resorts World Theatre – Las Vegas, NV* *with symphony orchestra

For ticket info click HERE

Photo Credit: Erik Kabik