The Great Escape at Wolf Den Recreates Journey’s Arena-Rock Sound in an Intimate Room
The Great Escape at Wolf Den brings Journey’s soaring vocals, melodic guitar lines, and enormous choruses to Mohegan Sun on Friday, September 18, with one of New England’s longest-running Journey tribute bands taking the stage for a free 21+ show.
The Great Escape formed in 2008 around a fairly straightforward objective: play Journey’s music with enough precision and energy that the songs retain the impact of the originals.
Nearly two decades later, the band is still doing it.
The current group centers on vocalist Jason Paulino, whose upper-register voice made Journey an obvious fit, along with guitarist Rich Vigdor, keyboardist John Dischert, bassist and band founder Bob Wheeler, and drummer Dennis King.
At the Wolf Den, they’ll have one of rock’s deepest catalogs of recognizable songs to work with.
Journey Made the Opening Notes Enough
Some bands have hits.
Journey has songs where a few seconds can identify the entire record.
The piano introduction to Don’t Stop Believin’. The keyboard opening of Separate Ways (Worlds Apart). The guitar melody of Lights. The first vocal lines of Faithfully and Open Arms.
Much of that music came from Journey’s extraordinary commercial run from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, particularly during the years when Steve Perry, Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, Ross Valory and Steve Smith formed the band’s best-known lineup.
Journey’s 1981 album Escape became its first No. 1 album in the United States and produced Don’t Stop Believin’, Who’s Crying Now and Open Arms.
The Great Escape’s name leaves little mystery about which period of Journey provides the band’s foundation.
It Started With a Bass Player Who Couldn’t Shake the Idea
The Great Escape’s origins trace largely to bassist Bob Wheeler.
Wheeler began playing bass at about 16 after some high-school friends wanted to form a band and bass happened to be the instrument nobody else had claimed.
He taught himself, played Boston-area venues including The Channel and The Paradise and eventually stepped away from performing.
Years later, Wheeler began playing again.
During that period, he encountered an advertisement seeking a bassist for a Journey tribute band. The audition never happened, but the idea stuck with him.
Then he heard Jason Paulino sing.
Paulino auditioned for a cover band Wheeler was playing with, and when the group performed a couple of Journey songs, Wheeler realized he’d found the voice that could make his old idea work.
The two began discussing a Journey project.
In 2008, The Great Escape was born.
Jason Paulino Had the Voice for the Job
The hardest part of creating a convincing Journey tribute is also the most obvious.
You need somebody who can sing those songs.
Steve Perry’s voice wasn’t simply high. His combination of range, control, phrasing and power became one of the defining sounds of American rock radio.
Paulino has spent much of his career working in that territory.
The Great Escape’s official biography describes his voice as exceptionally close to Perry’s when singing Journey material. Earlier in his career, Paulino also appeared multiple times as a “Star of the Day” and became a finalist on the New England television talent program Community Auditions.
More recently, he has begun establishing a musical identity outside the tribute-band world.
Paulino relocated to the Nashville area and has been developing original material as a singer-songwriter while continuing to return for selected Great Escape performances.
His original single Don’t Give Up On Me earned a 2026 Josie Music Awards nomination for Song of the Year – Rock Artist, with the awards scheduled just two days after Friday’s Wolf Den appearance.
That makes this particular Great Escape show land at an interesting point in the singer’s career.
The Guitar Parts Matter Just as Much
Journey’s music would be considerably easier to imitate if the challenge stopped with the vocals.
It doesn’t.
Neal Schon’s guitar work is embedded throughout the songs, often creating recognizable melodies within seconds.
That’s where Rich Vigdor comes in.
The Great Escape describes its guitarist’s approach as recreating Journey’s riffs and solos note for note.
For a tribute band, that attention to detail matters.
A song such as Stone in Love doesn’t merely need distortion and a fast solo. Lights needs its particular melodic phrasing. Who’s Crying Now builds toward one of Schon’s most recognizable closing guitar passages.
The audience already knows how those moments are supposed to sound.
Keyboards Are Essential to the Journey Formula
Then there are the keyboards.
Journey’s early records grew from the band’s progressive-rock roots, but Jonathan Cain’s arrival before Escape helped reshape the group into the arena-rock powerhouse most listeners remember.
Piano and synthesizer became essential parts of the sound.
The opening of Don’t Stop Believin’ wouldn’t exist without that piano figure.
Separate Ways wouldn’t be Separate Ways without its aggressive synthesizer opening.
Open Arms depends on piano to create the space around Perry’s vocal.
In The Great Escape, John Dischert handles keyboard and piano while also contributing vocal harmonies.
The rhythm section is anchored by Wheeler on bass and Dennis King on drums.
Together, the five musicians have the pieces required to recreate a catalog that is much more musically layered than its radio-friendly hooks sometimes suggest.
The Great Escape Has Been Doing This for Nearly Two Decades
Longevity separates The Great Escape from the endless cycle of tribute acts that form, play for a few years and disappear.
The band has been performing since 2008.
Its résumé includes appearances at casinos, theaters, clubs and festivals around New England and beyond, including previous performances at Mohegan Sun.
The group was also recognized as New England’s Best Tribute Band at the Limelight Magazine Awards in 2009 and again in 2013, according to the band’s official biography.
That history has allowed the musicians to spend years refining the small details of Journey’s material.
And with a catalog this familiar, small details are exactly what audiences notice.
Expect the Big Journey Songs
Mohegan Sun hasn’t published a song-by-song setlist for Friday night, so there is no reason to pretend we know precisely what the band will play.
But The Great Escape’s own material makes its mission clear.
This is a Journey tribute.
The band’s repertoire has included the songs audiences would expect from that description, with Escape, Lights and even Steve Perry’s solo hit Oh Sherrie featured among recordings on its website.
Journey’s catalog gives the band plenty more to draw from, including Any Way You Want It, Wheel in the Sky, Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’, Stone in Love, Who’s Crying Now, Open Arms, Separate Ways, Faithfully and, inevitably, Don’t Stop Believin’.
Which of those make Friday’s final set is up to the band.
The singalong potential isn’t.
The Wolf Den Makes a Very Big Catalog Feel Small
Journey built much of its reputation playing arenas.
The Wolf Den is essentially the opposite.
Located inside Mohegan Sun’s Casino of the Earth, the venue puts audiences remarkably close to performers and offers its concerts without an admission charge.
That intimacy is particularly suited to a tribute act.
Instead of watching musicians recreate an arena-rock band from the far end of an arena, audiences can see the playing that goes into recreating the music.
There is a tradeoff.
Space is limited.
The Wolf Den uses first-come, first-served seating, and Mohegan Sun specifically recommends arriving early.
Don’t Line Up Before 5 p.m.
There is an important Wolf Den rule for anyone determined to get a seat.
Guests may begin lining up no earlier than three hours before showtime.
For Friday’s 8 p.m. performance, that means 5 p.m.
One person is permitted to hold up to four places in line, but everyone must be present when seating occurs. A place in line does not allow someone to claim an empty seat for a friend arriving later.
Because seating is limited and The Great Escape is playing a catalog filled with familiar radio hits, arriving well before 8 p.m. is the safer approach for anyone who considers sitting important.
The venue is also 21 and older and non-smoking.
One Night Before a Very Different Journey for Its Singer
There is a fun bit of timing surrounding Friday’s show.
Paulino has spent nearly two decades singing songs associated with one of rock’s most famous voices.
Now he’s increasingly putting his own name on the music.
Two days after The Great Escape performs at the Wolf Den, the 2026 Josie Music Awards are scheduled at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House, where Paulino’s Don’t Give Up On Me is among the nominated independent recordings.
But first comes Friday night in Uncasville.
Five musicians.
A small room.
No admission charge.
And a catalog created for rooms many times its size.
Details
Event: The Great Escape at Wolf Den
Date: Friday, September 18, 2026
Time: 8 p.m.
Venue: Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun
Location: Casino of the Earth
Address: 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard, Uncasville, CT 06382
Band: The Great Escape
Music: Tribute to Journey
Admission: Free
Age: 21+
Seating: Limited and first come, first served
Line: Guests may line up no earlier than 5 p.m., three hours before showtime
Holding Places: One person may hold up to four places in line; guests must be present when seats are assigned
Smoking: The Wolf Den is a non-smoking entertainment venue
Phone: 1-888-226-7711
Schedule: Times and performers are subject to change
More information is available at the Event Website link below.
Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.