Arnel struggles in Dallas for why one might not think about.

[Marzdog]

Saw Journey and Toto for the second time in 8 days, this time in Dallas. I was curious to hear how Arnel sounded after a flawless performance in LA.

Well...he struggled, especially at the outset, however, I believe the dreaded North Texas allergies are what was hindering him last night. When the camera zoomed in on him, you could see his sinuses were swollen, and a few times, i saw him going to a tissue box placed for him to the side of Deen's drum riser.

As the show went on, I felt that things were loosening up for him and it got better in the second half of the show.

Couple of notes/questions...

1. Why they choose to NOT introduce Deen before singing Mother, Father , yet choosing to introduce Jason before GCHI is beyond me.

2. Several transitions between songs are not smooth and it feels like the momentum in the building goes down.

3. Neal's Fender's sound low in the mix EXCEPT during solos. His Wolfgang WVHs sound fat and more present.

4. Last night, Deen and Todd were BOOMING LOUD. Then again, Toto was the cleanest and loudest I've ever heard from them!

5. Cain is so not into this. Went with a friend who is a casual fan and her comment/question to me was "what's his deal? He seems like he genuinely doesn't want to be here."

6. The other side of this is Neal is who extremely engaged. Love the continued use of HSAS material in his solo and during Wheel.

Here's AWYWI for anyone who wants to watch... https://www.instagram.com/tv/CcUYPACFp-Z/

[FamilyMan]

Looking at Neal's social media, he's regularly beaming about Arnel and posts pictures of the two of them. Jonathan is never mentioned or pictured. I hope they're not at odds again. How do they interact on stage when Jon's out front playing guitar?

[Marzdog]

Looking at Neal's social media, he's regularly beaming about Arnel and posts pictures of the two of them. Jonathan is never mentioned or pictured. I hope they're not at odds again. How do they interact on stage when Jon's out front playing guitar?

Neal smiles over at him while Jon's on keys or guitar, but, it's incredibly apparent that Jon is just there to cash a check.

[Onestepper]

Looking at Neal's social media, he's regularly beaming about Arnel and posts pictures of the two of them. Jonathan is never mentioned or pictured. I hope they're not at odds again. How do they interact on stage when Jon's out front playing guitar?

Neal smiles over at him while Jon's on keys or guitar, but, it's incredibly apparent that Jon is just there to cash a check.

I watched Cain a lot at the St Louis show and I was surprised to see him appearing to be having fun again. The last few times I saw them he appeared just as was described, just going through the motions.

There's without a doubt some awkwardness to the show in general. There were times when Arnel was just bouncing around to bounce around with no discipline to what was being played or the momentum of the overall performance. Maybe at this point in the tour they are just tired after not touring for so long. Who knows.

[Marzdog]

I watched Cain a lot at the St Louis show and I was surprised to see him appearing to be having fun again. The last few times I saw them he appeared just as was described, just going through the motions.

There's without a doubt some awkwardness to the show in general. There were times when Arnel was just bouncing around to bounce around with no discipline to what was being played or the momentum of the overall performance. Maybe at this point in the tour they are just tired after not touring for so long. Who knows.

I'm sure that the long time off is affecting Arnel MORE than anyone else.

People make fun of Neal and his daily IG posts, but his chops are well intact!

Jon surprised me with two genuine comments in the two shows I've seen:

1. Asking the crowd if they've missed the band, and that they've missed being on the road because of the pandemic.

2. The dedication of Faithfully to his daughter Madison and Luke's son Trev in LA on their upcoming wedding.

The only problem with the dedication was Arnel then dedicating it to all of the lovely ladies in the audience. It came across to me as stomping on Jon's balls, but, is what it is.

Lastly, Jon has really gone out of his way to mention "our last tour with Steve Perry" back in '87 while awkwardly introducing JD, and then the closing remark while introducing Arnel "this band's singer for the last 15 years; yes it's really been that long..."

[JohnH]

#3 I told Neal on FB I could not hear his solos well in Anaheim, but we heard Lukather’s loud and clear and perfectly in the mix. So hopefully he read that and it is better.
#5 I noticed that too , almost no smiling from Cain and he looks like he’s not happy . But evidently that’s just how he’s looked for years according to many posts here .