Voyage brings its Journey tribute to Wind Creek Event Center on Jan. 30

A five-piece built around a Broadway bassist and a Perry-range frontman plays Bethlehem’s 3,750-capacity casino room on a Saturday night in late January.

Late January in the Lehigh Valley is long, gray and in need of a key change. Voyage has one planned: the Journey tribute plays Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2027, at 8 p.m., with tickets from $42.75 to $300 through Ticketmaster.

The date was announced Oct. 19 and sits on the band's Ticketmaster tour page under its full name, Voyage – Celebrating the Music of Journey, at the Event Center at 77 Wind Creek Blvd. Presales had already opened when we checked, so if you want the good seats in a room that holds 3,750, the time to move is before the holidays eat your calendar.

Who are they? Voyage is a five-piece, and the band is upfront that it is a tribute act with no sponsorship from or affiliation with Journey or any of its current or former members, per its own disclaimer. What the players do bring is a real résumé. According to the band's site, frontman Pedro Espada is the voice the whole thing hangs on, with a range and tone the band compares to Steve Perry's. Bassist Greg Smith was principal bassist and a backing vocalist for the Billy Joel–Twyla Tharp musical *Movin' Out* through its three-year Broadway run and a year on the road. Keyboardist Lance Millard started out as a drummer, sings lead on several of the Journey songs in the set, and also leads the Elton John tribute Sir Elton. Robby Hoffman plays guitar and Dana Spellman plays drums, and the band says it has recorded and toured with the 1980s singer Fiona and the rock act Angel.

That mix matters in a tribute show. Journey's catalog is unforgiving: the songs live on high vocals, sharp harmonies and keyboard parts everybody in the room can hum. A band of working pros who've done Broadway eight-shows-a-week and their own records is a different night out than a weekend cover band, and the room will know within one chorus whether it is getting the real thing.

The room itself is built for this. The Event Center is the big stage at the Wind Creek complex on the old Bethlehem Steel site, and tribute nights in a hall that size play less like a concert and more like a party where everybody already knows the words. Expect a crowd that can sing the second verse unprompted, and plan to lose your voice by the encore.

It is also an easy night to make into a plan: dinner at the casino or on the SouthSide, the show at 8, home before the roads get bad. Pick a seat, bring someone who still has the cassette, and let the Valley do the singing.

Sources: Voyage – Celebrating the Music of Journey, Bethlehem, Jan 30, 2027 (Ticketmaster) (ticketmaster.evyy.net); Voyage – Celebrating The Music of Journey tour dates (Ticketmaster) (ticketmaster.com); About – Voyage (voyageband.com); Disclaimer – Voyage (voyageband.com); Wind Creek Bethlehem - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)