Ok, fess up

[treetopovskaya]

i was very impressed with his stage presence. i loved it when he told the audience to take it easy on him. he said c'mon too many times tho! HAHAHAA! }:C)

I think everyone knows he has the vocal talent and this was the first show and a pretty good show by any definition.

What really surprised me was the stage presence, what everyone thought was his weak point. I'll tell you what I was pretty suprised with the utilization of the stage and interaction with the audience. I was definately impressed.

Can't wait for Vegas

[Rockindeano]

Complete shit. I'll save my $$ to go see JSS or Frontiers.

LOL...JSS is fine, but if you want to see a tribute band cover another band, go for it. How fucking embarrassing Dave. It's fine to say Frontiers is tight and plays well, but dude, Friga and Neal drunk could smoke them.

The "Real Journey." I just think that's hilarious.


Just shaking my head....

[RocknRoll]

i was very impressed with his stage presence. i loved it when he told the audience to take it easy on him. he said c'mon too many times tho! HAHAHAA! }:C)

I think everyone knows he has the vocal talent and this was the first show and a pretty good show by any definition.

What really surprised me was the stage presence, what everyone thought was his weak point. I'll tell you what I was pretty suprised with the utilization of the stage and interaction with the audience. I was definately impressed.

Can't wait for Vegas

I absolutlely agree about the c'mon, but this is such a huge leap from where he was. A bit of overkill. I'm sure he'll be perfecting it with the upcoming concerts. Just wish we were able to watch these upcoming Chili concerts as well.

[journey062393]

If you remember though back in 98, Augeri sounded good, but had little stage presence. He.....for the most part......stayed in one place and the only thing he really did was all that crazy dancing, which was almost more distracting than entertaining. It wasnt until a few years later that he was running all over the stage, jumping and sitting on Cain's piano, and really "owning" all of the songs. I think 2000-2001 were his peak years.

[pinkvelvet]

Im sure the upcoming concerts will be posted in you tube. Audience seem to like him, judging from the clips and their comments on youtube.

[RocknRoll]

If you remember though back in 98, Augeri sounded good, but had little stage presence. He.....for the most part......stayed in one place and the only thing he really did was all that crazy dancing, which was almost more distracting than entertaining. It wasnt until a few years later that he was running all over the stage, jumping and sitting on Cain's piano, and really "owning" all of the songs. I think 2000-2001 were his peak years.

I guess this is where technology is good or bad. Arnel has the opportunity to see an immeidate response. Unfortunately you can be judged on some mediocre recordings, but it also gives you a chance to improve.

Steve A didn't have that chance, but you know what he didn't need it. He just went out there and sang his heart out and earned the love of a huge audience.

[stevew2]

If you remember though back in 98, Augeri sounded good, but had little stage presence. He.....for the most part......stayed in one place and the only thing he really did was all that crazy dancing, which was almost more distracting than entertaining. It wasnt until a few years later that he was running all over the stage, jumping and sitting on Cain's piano, and really "owning" all of the songs. I think 2000-2001 were his peak years.

I guess this is where technology is good or bad. Arnel has the opportunity to see an immeidate response. Unfortunately you can be judged on some mediocre recordings, but it also gives you a chance to improve.

Steve A didn't have that chance, but you know what he didn't need it. He just went out there and sang his heart out and earned the love of a huge audience.

Steve A sang a hell of aot better than Arnel, period, he even put his own persona , Arnel did a bad imatation, and couldnd even sustain the high notes, They made the wrong choice I knew it was going down thank you

[Rockindeano]

Don't think for a moment Neal won'tl grab AP, steal booze out of Frig's fridge while she is in the shower, run down to AP's room. so it' will be Pineda's room all the cans can be thrown on the floor, and come look here for comment.

This place is Neal's best friend.

They did fine tonight, if not very good.

[Greg]

Not impressed at all. Maybe Arnel will improve, but it wasn't good enough to pull me back into the Journey fold. Sorry guys.

[stevew2]

Don't think for a moment Neal won'tl grab AP, steal booze out of Frig's fridge while she is in the shower, run down to AP's room. so it' will be Pineda's room all the cans can be thrown on the floor, and come look here for comment.

This place is Neal's best friend.

They did fine tonight, if not very good.

it will take more than that, he sucked and you know it

[The_Noble_Cause]

I was actually more excited for this lineup before tonight. I thought he sounded great on many of those YouTube Zoo clips. For all the manic energy, the performance felt subdued.
Even Neal's playing seemed kinda tame from what I'm used to. I say clean house and hire Kevin or Jeremey starting tommorow morning.

[Red13JoePa]

Didn't even bother to listen yet mainly because I KNOW Journey knows what they're doing.
Other than that, WAY too much work to hear DSB and Open Arms again.

[StoneCold]

... I thought he sounded great on many of those YouTube Zoo clips. For all the manic energy, the performance felt subdued. ...

As pointed out first by Yulog above, its really hard to judge with the crappy quality of these feeds and youtube clips. For his first major outing with the band, he did pretty good.

When I said I was underwhelmed, I was expecting the band to have setup some mock choreography for him. Workin the crowd or whatever. But it seems they just let him loose and as long as he sings good, that's all they cared about. He did move quite a bit more than from the Zoo clips.

[The_Noble_Cause]

... I thought he sounded great on many of those YouTube Zoo clips. For all the manic energy, the performance felt subdued. ...

As pointed out first by Yulog above, its really hard to judge with the crappy quality of these feeds and youtube clips. For his first major outing with the band, he did pretty good.

When I said I was underwhelmed, I was expecting the band to have setup some mock choreography for him. Workin the crowd or whatever. But it seems they just let him loose and as long as he sings good, that's all they cared about. He did move quite a bit more than from the Zoo clips.

I'm catching up with the latter portion of the show when my audio and video got all fucked up.
This guy is growing on me.
Like Augeri, he sings some songs better than others.
Faithfully, Open Arms...all the puss stuff is def. his strong suit.

[mistiejourney]

So far, I am sticking to my guns but think that Arnel needs more time to get comfortable in the role. Very hard to make a decision on the basis of one concert.

I'm thinking maybe the new music will be better because I won't have anything to compare it to and it will stand on its own merits.

[JrnySuxBalls]

I don't know, something too soft about it for me. With JSS I had hopes of it being a real rock band again. Watching the videos, I kept thinkin' Air Supply with a really good guitarist. But hey, if it makes money that's great for them.

RIP

[WalrusOct9]

I don't know, something too soft about it for me. With JSS I had hopes of it being a real rock band again. Watching the videos, I kept thinkin' Air Supply with a really good guitarist. But hey, if it makes money that's great for them.

RIP

Yeah, good or bad, he's definitely not the guy to take Journey down a slightly heavier, more rock-oriented road on their new stuff, that's for sure.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Yeah, good or bad, he's definitely not the guy to take Journey down a slightly heavier, more rock-oriented road on their new stuff, that's for sure.

Lord knows the last thing fans want is more ballads. Yet with Arnel's voice I really don't see them shying away from ballads. How could they? Watching this concert, u can't deny that that's the very material where Arnel excels.
His version of "Faithfully" is about as good as I've ever heard it done live.
Easily the best since Perry.

[texafana]

Arnel was by far better than SA or JSS's early days with Journey material. He REALLY needs to warm up his vocals better before performing. He has that classic "club voice" where he sings for 3 hours and he sounds his best in set 2 and 3. He sounded very harsh on the first few songs, but sounded GREAT on the last half of the show. I'm 100% sold on this guy now.

My biggest problem is visually, Arnel looks like a kid who won a raffle to sing with the band.

[MarcelJordan]

It didn't help Arnel's cause when the first couple of songs had the sound system not upto par. Whatever we think, I think the crowd lapped it up (the full performance) TOTALLY!

[Ratgirl]

So far, I am sticking to my guns but think that Arnel needs more time to get comfortable in the role. Very hard to make a decision on the basis of one concert.

I'm thinking maybe the new music will be better because I won't have anything to compare it to and it will stand on its own merits.

I think he'll do fine in his role once he gets more comfortable. As someone already said, he nails the ballads.. the faster songs, not so much.
Well right now anyway. I miss JSS's strong points.. the way he just had confidence & charisma oozing out. I think with AP that will come in time.
It's one thing to do a smalll club and then take the stage for a huge festival.

New music will be great for AP cause the band will cater to his voice and where he thrives the most at.

[texafana]

Not impressed at all. Maybe Arnel will improve, but it wasn't good enough to pull me back into the Journey fold. Sorry guys.

wtf? It takes 7 guys (in your Frontiers pic) to cover Journey?

[Stoneyman]

I hope all of your bosses fired you after you first day of work.
Those who wanted to see Arnel fail, saw exactly that. Those who wanted him to do a good job, saw exactly that.
It is completely unreasonable to expect perfection at Arnel's first show. If you do, then you have never performed on a stage and understand all that plays into having a steady performance. That is not an excuse, as many of you simply standing on that stage would sh1t a brick, let alone have to sing Perry's back catalog in front of that many people.

Plus, if you hate them so much, why take time to come here and complain. They have already lived up to your low expectations. It seems like youre torturing yourself. For those who hate Arnel, it is not gonna get any better from a "someone else singing Perry's songs" perspective.

Oh and JSS isnt in the band anymore. All the JSS if, if, if threads dont matter. If my uncle had tits he would be my aunt.

I will see them live. Arnel has good energy and will do just fine.

[dcvader]

Complete shit. I'll save my $$ to go see JSS or Frontiers.

LOL...JSS is fine, but if you want to see a tribute band cover another band, go for it. How fucking embarrassing Dave. It's fine to say Frontiers is tight and plays well, but dude, Friga and Neal drunk could smoke them.

The "Real Journey." I just think that's hilarious.


Just shaking my head....

I think your "exotic Journey" hilarious. Have fun in Vegas.

[Lady Luck]

Anybody who writes something off after one exposure to it, and not even in a live manner, is a musical tard and undeserving of calling his or herself a music person. Or a person at all. Good things take time and work. One live show and you crucify him? Okay, go ahead and play with your walkman while the rest of us enjoy progress and growth. I'm all about seeing where this goes. It has a LOT of potential. And he sounded pretty good from Open Arms on through.

I think he did a good job considering it was the first show. Over time and as he feels more comfortable, he'll only get better.

[ForeverInBlue]

Sorry, it falls short for me. It hurts my heart that its not SP singing up there.

[lbeau12]

I was disappointed to say the least. There was nothing impressive with this show and realize this was his first show and maybe he will settle in a bit. There is a big difference between rehearsing and playing live. While I will wait to see how they progress and I hope they do. All I can say is I was at first apprehensive when Jeff took over and then I was excited about the new possibilities and then now Arnel comes along and it seems a let down. I hope they prove me wrong.

[Vladan]

Well, I enjoyed it. I showed my brother and he was impressed as well. Arnel is awesome on stage, give it some more months, and you'll be all believers. I do miss Perry, but that guy hasn't done a song with this band since 1996...

Arnel is doing just fine. The Energy was there, the vocals were top notch. I dont see what the problem is. The poll is speaking volumes.

[Tomulator]

Time to call it a "day" Journey...really.

This is just sad.

[Greg]

Not impressed at all. Maybe Arnel will improve, but it wasn't good enough to pull me back into the Journey fold. Sorry guys.

wtf? It takes 7 guys (in your Frontiers pic) to cover Journey?

I have no idea what your post means, but whatever.

First of all, this is a general statement to everybody. I'm not singling anyone out. Those who aren't impressed with this band should have just as much right to post their opinion as those who find no wrong with the band. I find it simply childish to call someone a retard or to become argumentative just because some of us found last nights performance under expectations. I have stated my opinion with as much respect as I possibly can. I'm not calling anybody stupid or retarded for enjoying the concert last night. If most of you guys liked the performance last night, that is your opinion and I respect your opinion. But, I ask you to also respect mine. I'm sure we all have different expectations that we're wanting this band to reach. Mine might be greater than most of yours, I don't know. But what I do know is that Journey has been one of my favorite bands of all time, if not THE favorite band of all time. Because of this, I hold the band to a high expectation. I'm sorry, but you're talking about seasoned professionals who have made millions making music. With that said, it's hard for me to cut them any slack.

Furthermore, before you start throwing out the "haterade" chants, let me tell you that I do not hate Arnel Pineda. He seems like a nice guy and he's living his dream. I don't wish him any bad luck, honestly I don't. The latest you tube videos before last night's concert showed that Arnel had improved on his diction. I thought he nailed Open Arms in that you tube video. And, I thought OA was probably his best song of the night. However, there were just too many issues I found in his vocals last night. Not just with diction, but just his singing in general. And yes, I know people will continue to bring up JSS's first performance with Journey and say he didn't have a good outing on that first night. Well, again, I say that's apples to oranges. Arnel had two months to practice with the band, Jeff had none. Considering the situation, Jeff did a decent job that first night....decent but not great. Of course we all know he improved greatly later on, but I digress.

There might be a very very slim chance that I can be convinced and impressed down the road, but last night was not a great indication of that happening. I'm more than willing to be proven wrong at any given moment. But it's going to take a heck of a lot of convincing for that to happen, and things are going to have to get a whole heck of a lot better in a hurry. Again, this is my opinion. You can take it or leave it, doesn't really make a difference with me. But, I think it's healthy for this forum to allow all ideas and opinions of this band.