Journey playing Mandalay Bay along with Steve Miller Band

Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” is enjoying a long run as a favorite on TV and in movies. (Courtesy)

Steve Miller Band (courtesy)

Although classic-rock bands such as Yes (due in town Aug. 15) leave fans divided when they replace original singers with younger ones, no one can argue the undeniably good years Journey saw after recruiting Arnel Pineda as a sound-alike for Steve Perry.

“We like his energy. He’s brought a lot of heart and soul to this band,” senior member Johnathan Cain noted in 2011.

It also didn’t hurt to have “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” take on a life of its own, becoming even bigger than it was in 1981 thanks to movies and TV shows such as “Glee.”

“Journey’s sort of ageless in that sense,” Cain said. “We’re not like some old creeper band from the ’80s with long hair that nobody cares about.”

Journey is touring this summer with two other San Francisco area stalwarts, the Steve Miller Band and Tower of Power. In recent years, the Steve Miller Band has given a new limelight to Sonny Charles, who was part of the Checkmates during the Strip’s lounge heyday of the ’60s.

“A lot of people have said to me, ‘Boy what a great thing you did for Sonny,’ ” Miller said in 2010. “And I say, ‘Let me tell you man, Sonny did a great thing for us.’ ”

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.