New Billboard Article : Neal Schon vs. Everyone

[SoonerThunder]

Saw them in Memphis November 1986. Hands down the best Journey concert I've seen, and one of the best shows I've seen overall. They we're on fire that night.

+1, MidSouth Coliseum, no opener just 2 hrs of awesome!

later~

That's right. Glass Tiger was supposed to open. Wonder why they dropped off the tour?

They were back by December, unfortunately

[jestor92]

Saw them in Memphis November 1986. Hands down the best Journey concert I've seen, and one of the best shows I've seen overall. They we're on fire that night.

+1, MidSouth Coliseum, no opener just 2 hrs of awesome!

later~

That's right. Glass Tiger was supposed to open. Wonder why they dropped off the tour?

Maybe they hit the floor when they were dropped

[Monker]

That's right. Glass Tiger was supposed to open. Wonder why they dropped off the tour?

Maybe they hit the floor when they were dropped

Too bad they were not Glass Tigger. Then they would have bounced around on their rubber heads and springy tails.

[ebake02]

On one of Neal's recent posts, someone asked about dates in England and Neal seriously said they wanted to but didn't have the money to get over there. This band has been selling out 20,000 seat arenas for the last 2 years and they can't afford even a small handful of dates across the pond?

[Memorex]

On one of Neal's recent posts, someone asked about dates in England and Neal seriously said they wanted to but didn't have the money to get over there. This band has been selling out 20,000 seat arenas for the last 2 years and they can't afford even a small handful of dates across the pond?

Could it be more of a math thing? Maybe it would take $x to get over there and tour and yadda yadda, but they think they would only be able to sell $y and it just doesn't make sense? Not enough profit?

Seems to me if a promoter was to say they can guarantee more than enough money to cover it all, then it would be an easy decision.

[The_Noble_Cause]

On one of Neal's recent posts, someone asked about dates in England and Neal seriously said they wanted to but didn't have the money to get over there. This band has been selling out 20,000 seat arenas for the last 2 years and they can't afford even a small handful of dates across the pond?

Park avenue shopping sprees ain't cheap!

[jestor92]

On one of Neal's recent posts, someone asked about dates in England and Neal seriously said they wanted to but didn't have the money to get over there. This band has been selling out 20,000 seat arenas for the last 2 years and they can't afford even a small handful of dates across the pond?

England needs to convince Lady Mooch to come over. Once that happens Journey will follow.

[Monker]

Are they nearly as popular in England/Europe? It seems through their career, they only toured the US and Japan...only since Perry left did they try to expand past that. I would guess that they not only would have to finance it, but also find a touring partner who could headline for them. I don't think they could headline a tour, or tour on their own, in England/Europe.

[Archetype]

They headlined in the UK in 2011 with Foreigner and Styx opening

[youkeepmewaiting]

They can definitely co-headline some decent size arenas in England

Though I'd be much happier if they played smaller places again like the Apollo in Manchester so they had more stage time

[ebake02]

They can definitely co-headline some decent size arenas in England

Though I'd be much happier if they played smaller places again like the Apollo in Manchester so they had more stage time

Past tours in England seemed to well received and sold well so I’m not sure logistics or popularity are an issue over there. The fact that they can’t financially pull it off tells you just how dysfunctional they are now.

[TageRyche]

Are we sure that the reason they aren't touring England is because the numbers don't work? From everything I've been reading, touring over there has seen prices for everything go up just like it has here in the US.

If they can't make a profit off the England tour, why would they go just to lose money?

I'm curious, I just don't know so that's why I'm asking.

[Art Vandelay]

Neal and Arnel were going at it a bit last night on Twitter.

It was too effed up for me to follow or really care about. Tweets going around about Neal saying that Arnel would be a Nobody without Journey. Arnel calling him out on it. Neal saying it's not true. Ariel saying peace and love to all.

Shit. Show.

[Monker]

They can definitely co-headline some decent size arenas in England

Though I'd be much happier if they played smaller places again like the Apollo in Manchester so they had more stage time

Past tours in England seemed to well received and sold well so I’m not sure logistics or popularity are an issue over there. The fact that they can’t financially pull it off tells you just how dysfunctional they are now.

Yes, but that was three bands, with Styx and Foreigner. And, it was not too far from Revelation during the Eclipse release. I doubt very much the sell what they did back then.

I would think a big part of the reason is they can't put together a package that would be able to sell the larger venues, and pay for travel and tour expenses.

[Monker]

Neal and Arnel were going at it a bit last night on Twitter.

It was too effed up for me to follow or really care about. Tweets going around about Neal saying that Arnel would be a Nobody without Journey. Arnel calling him out on it. Neal saying it's not true. Ariel saying peace and love to all.

Shit. Show.

Neal isn't exactly a star without Journey either. Jonathan and Arnel should do something to remind him of that...like not tour or record for a couple years.

[Loneman1]

Neal and Arnel were going at it a bit last night on Twitter.

It was too effed up for me to follow or really care about. Tweets going around about Neal saying that Arnel would be a Nobody without Journey. Arnel calling him out on it. Neal saying it's not true. Ariel saying peace and love to all.

Shit. Show.

Well thats crappy. I saw some pics of Arnel and Neal seemingly playing off eachother on stage for the first time a quite awhile yesterday and figured maybe they had a talk and ironed some things out and decided to stop airing dirty laundry in public. That was a naive take on my part.

Such a shit show.

[Loneman1]

Neal and Arnel were going at it a bit last night on Twitter.

It was too effed up for me to follow or really care about. Tweets going around about Neal saying that Arnel would be a Nobody without Journey. Arnel calling him out on it. Neal saying it's not true. Ariel saying peace and love to all.

Shit. Show.

Neal isn't exactly a star without Journey either. Jonathan and Arnel should do something to remind him of that...like not tour or record for a couple years.

I hope a version of this comes to pass after this tour. Neal is absolutely dead set he's the center of the Journey universe, and not having their longest tenured singer and everything Cain brings to the table may have him realizing that isn't exactly the truth. I bet in his mind he thinks Arnel is just a replaceable part. MAYBE a number of years ago he could perhaps try for someone else, but as I've mentioned before, Neal is pushing 70. You don't get to have yet another rebirth of Journey (what are they on like the 5th life of this band now? ) finding yet another singer on something like TikTok this time, who sure as hell ain't gonna have the same Cinderella story that Arnel has that was a big part of the draw.

This is IT.

[Memorex]

Neal and Arnel were going at it a bit last night on Twitter.

It was too effed up for me to follow or really care about. Tweets going around about Neal saying that Arnel would be a Nobody without Journey. Arnel calling him out on it. Neal saying it's not true. Ariel saying peace and love to all.

Shit. Show.

How old are these people?

[ebake02]

Neal and Arnel were going at it a bit last night on Twitter.

It was too effed up for me to follow or really care about. Tweets going around about Neal saying that Arnel would be a Nobody without Journey. Arnel calling him out on it. Neal saying it's not true. Ariel saying peace and love to all.

Shit. Show.

Honestly neither side would have a career right now without each other. Arnel would still be play dive bars in the Philippines if Neal hadn’t found him on YouTube and Neal forgets the Journey was hanging limbo without a singer back then. Arnel’s rags to riches feel good story is what vaulted them to the position they’re in now.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Arnel’s rags to riches feel good story is what vaulted them to the position they’re in now.

Arnel, as talented as he is, walked into a pretty cushy situation. Through the band's hard work (that includes everyone - Neal, Cain, Ross, Augeri, Deen, JSS etc.), they were an established touring draw. People act like Arnel "saved the band." His first tour with the guys was with Heart! This is a far cry from the Augeri hungry years of having to put up their own money to get booked in small theatres! A combination of events (Arnel's story and the DSB-mania fueled by Sopranos, Glee, etc) fueled their continued meteoric rise with Arnel. But the band was already on a continued a trajectory of getting bigger and bigger.

Don't forget - having a rags-to-riches story by itself isn't enough to do anything. It was obvious that Azoff did a full court press to get the media (CBS news, Ellen, etc.) to cover that story. If Jeremey had gotten the spot, we would've heard a variation on this same story (" regular family man / sales rep turned rock star!") - as we did with Augeri going from the GAP to Journey.

Lastly, Neal, like alot of rock stars, needs to just get the hell off social media. Appreciate him trying to engage, but he's his own worst enemy.

[jrnyman28]

The rags to riches story really only helped Journey to weather ANOTHER singer change. The Augeri years definitely built their path that had only continued upward.