Vegas....Where the hell are the stories???

[G.I.Jim]

Separate Ways now.

The Debs are there in spirit!

Damn...I'm not a Deb!

[(Crazy)Dulce Lady]

Separate Ways now.

The Debs are there in spirit!

Damn...I'm not a Deb!

you can be an honorary Deb for the evening. Debbie if you prefer

[Deb]

how are they managing to go on without us????

I know! The couple clips I heard sounded excellent! Must be Gayle, calling us back to back. You rock girl! Talked to Dan and Dean earlier today and I have a feeling Dan is feeling no pain by tonight.

[Deb]

Separate Ways now.

The Debs are there in spirit!

Damn...I'm not a Deb!

you can be an honorary Deb for the evening. Debbie if you prefer

G.I.Deb!

[(Crazy)Dulce Lady]

how are they managing to go on without us????

I know! The couple clips I heard sounded excellent! Must be Gayle, calling us back to back. You rock girl! Talked to Dan and Dean earlier today and I have a feeling Dan is feeling no pain by tonight.

it sounded like he was feeling no pain before noon.

i guess the sister likes to keep her Debs close by. hehe

[(Crazy)Dulce Lady]

Separate Ways now.

The Debs are there in spirit!

Damn...I'm not a Deb!

you can be an honorary Deb for the evening. Debbie if you prefer

G.I.Deb!

well now that just pushin it a little. hehehe

come on Jim. it ain't that bad.

[G.I.Jim]

Separate Ways now.

The Debs are there in spirit!

Damn...I'm not a Deb!

you can be an honorary Deb for the evening. Debbie if you prefer

G.I.Deb!

well now that just pushin it a little. hehehe

come on Jim. it ain't that bad.

Yay!!! I'll be a Deb tonight. I'm normally Susie, but I guess I can be a Deb!

[(Crazy)Dulce Lady]

Yay!!! I'll be a Deb tonight. I'm normally Susie, but I guess I can be a Deb!

this is a very special honor. congrats. Deb, give him his sash, crown and bouquet.

[G.I.Jim]

Yay!!! I'll be a Deb tonight. I'm normally Susie, but I guess I can be a Deb!

this is a very special honor. congrats. Deb, give him his sash, crown and bouquet.

AWESOME!!! I like Crown and coke better though!

[(Crazy)Dulce Lady]

i gotta crash, mammals. i'll come back if I get another call. the Wendys kept me up all night last night with concert calls from Howie's show. yawn. that was awesome... thanks.

thanks for hanging out.

[G.I.Jim]

i gotta crash, mammals. i'll come back if I get another call. the Wendys kept me up all night last night with concert calls from Howie's show. yawn. that was awesome... thanks.

thanks for hanging out.

Thanks for keeping us posted, and have a good night!

[Deb]

i gotta crash, mammals. i'll come back if I get another call. the Wendys kept me up all night last night with concert calls from Howie's show. yawn. that was awesome... thanks.

thanks for hanging out.

Me too, it's an hour or 2 later here in Canada then in Vegas! Been fun......goodnight! Can't wait to see some pics!

[(Crazy)Dulce Lady]

i gotta crash, mammals. i'll come back if I get another call. the Wendys kept me up all night last night with concert calls from Howie's show. yawn. that was awesome... thanks.

thanks for hanging out.

Me too, it's an hour or 2 later here in Canada then in Vegas! Been fun......goodnight! Can't wait to see some pics!

it's up to you, GI DEB. hold down the fort.

[fredinator]

Okay, my heart is in my throat--I am so excited... I think Dan sat on his cell phone by accident and called me twice --I think I heard a piece of a new song--couldn't make it out but I sure heard Neal--just fantastic! Now I guess he accidentally called back and I heard a piece of Faithfully--the crowd is pretty loud so it was hard to tell but Arnel sounded really loud and it was beautiful!! Thanks, Dan!! Love ya!! Call back!!

Even over the cell phone and through the crowd I could hear Neal's guitar just as clear as a bell. What an experience they all must be having...

[G.I.Jim]

Okay, my heart is in my throat--I am so excited... I think Dan sat on his cell phone by accident and called me twice--I think I heard a piece of a new song--couldn't make it out but I sure heard Neal--just fantastic! Now I guess he accidentally called back and I heard a piece of Faithfully--the crowd is pretty loud so it was hard to tell but Arnel sounded really loud and it was beautiful!! Thanks, Dan!! Love ya!! Call back!!

Awesome! I'm more excited about the new songs than anything else! I can't wait to hear them. Hopefully we'll hear more tomorrow. I've gotta hit the hay myself! Talk to you later.

[fredinator]

Night-night .

[YoungJRNY]

Here with a report.. uhhh it's 6:00 in the morning and Me, my brother, Gayle, Melissa, and Lynn all just got back from grabbing a bite to eat. I honestly don't know how I'm even typing right now, but I'll do my best.

This whole trip is coming to an end and it really sucks to see everyone go. This had to be the craziest and funnest time you could ask for. Def. the coolest people you could ever meet in a lifetime. Very entertaining and jaw dropping experience with these guys (and gals.) Ttango,Maui Tom, Gayle, Melissa, Deano, TIME, St.John Rhiannon, Rick, Rokken, Gator, the list goes on...thanks for the great time, never will forget it.

Let me get to the concert. I'm sure this is speaking for about everybody since everyone had the same reaction coming out of the gates. Arnel is a madman. Plain and simple. He was all over the place, stage presence was one thing, but the singing of the songs just blew everybody out of the water and it showed as the packed house went in a frenzy. He hit virtually every note in every song tonight, the only iffy part was 2 notes at the end of DSB where he kind of went a tone down and sounded like his voice was dry. Other than that, dead fuckin' on.

I was shocked to hear they threw in Faith in the Heartland, surprising to most of us sitting there, sounded excellent.

The new songs was the icing on the cake. Pure rock n roll. The first ballad they did was just WOW. The energy with these newbies are really action packed with good vocals and lyrics. People didn't take these songs to go for a bathroom break, they were that good.

My throat was shredded on the 2nd song, (Only the Young) and its starting to set in now.

Deen sang After the Fall behind drums. Everyone knows what to expect from him...golden.

After the show they had 2 encores, and re-singing faithfully. Be good to yourself and Lovin touchin squeezin was the closers. They also came back out and sang a new song towards the end, so they came out back out a couple times. Crowd ate it up.

I think it's safe to say Journey found the right man. Plus the way they interact on stage, they seem like teenagers out there.

After the show the gang met at Hearts Bar, and Ross met with and partied with us mainly all night. Crazy Mofo, outgoing and just out there. Fans loved him.

Me and Time got on stage and received a drumstick from Deen, very cool.

The DVD and CD will both be released as a double disc set in June so we all should be stoked about that. Really put there foot in the ground and let us know they are here to stay. This could get better. As for now, I'm hitting the sheets..Plane out at 12:00!

Cheers

[Rip Rokken]

Here with a report.. uhhh it's 6:00 in the morning and Me, my brother, Gayle, Melissa, and Lynn all just got back from grabbing a bite to eat. I honestly don't know how I'm even typing right now, but I'll do my best.

Yo! You did great, man, and he speaketh the truth -- we were all blown away by the show. We are up early, too, at the airport, with a couple of hours to wait. We'd been warned about traveling here on Sundays, but it was EASY -- we were completely checked in and past security within 15 minutes. Amazing, because there were a ton of people here for other airlines. And FREE WIFI here... woo hoo! Also great to see a normally-prices Starbucks, in the airport no doubt!

Ok, back to the trip. Mrs. Rokken and I had a BLAST meeting everyone, and all were incredibly cool. YoungJRNY and his brother should both be fashion models, but were so incredibly down to earth. Talked to those guys for quite a while! We started off 3/8 with breakfast with Deano, Lula and Wyatt and had a great time, then went exploring with Rick and his wife for a good part of the day. At the pre-show, we sat with Wix (who is a super cool guy), and Wix made me feel a little more comfortable for also wearing a pretty loud shirt -- I loved it! Frank Martinez and his crew were there as well, and Frank is an incredibly generous and fun guy -- loaded me up with goodies! Thanks, bro! So many people and too many to list, but we mingled with folks from MR, the BT group, and even some of the Arnel supporters from the Philippines, which by the way came out in FORCE to represent! Oh, by the way, T-TIME is the COOLEST, and is truly the life of the party -- he kept us more than entertained, and also went searching for us in the venue to make sure we got some of his Vegas Journey T-shirts. You know, let me say this especially for T-TIME -- if the world had more people as thoughtful and considerate as this guy around, it would be a much better place to live in. That really goes for everyone we met. We need more Journey fans!

The show was incredible, and as far as I was concerned, Arnel was as close to flawless as could be expected. Yes, Behshad, I DID wear the shirt, mainly because I saw your post saying I had to do it... haha! I'd fully planned on skipping the shirt, but it ended up being a surprise hit. Plus, I had SEVERAL people say they could see it from any point in the venue -- one even said I could land planes with that shirt... haha! So with all luck, we should be able to ID it on the DVD. Oh, also, for Mrs. Rokken, we had a custom Journey shirt airbrushed for her just for this shirt -- the guy freehanded it, and did an incredible job! Black ribbed tank top with the Generations-era Journey logo in gold (to match my colors) on the front, but with little lines coming down from the letters ala the Frontier's logo, and on the back, "Las Vegas", 3/8/08. She got several compliments on the shirt.

In the gig itself, we sat next to Dan, and Deano joined us for a while. This was for me really the culmination of so many things, with all the speculation about what was to come, and Dan, Deano and I were just on fire, singing at the top of our lungs and cheering. Dan and Deano and some others (including myself) even tried to rush the stage at one point, but we were turned back rather quickly... haha!

I'll let others talk about the set list -- this will be like a puzzle with so many people adding to it, it will be fun to see how it unfolds. I will say, as mentioned they played at least 3 new songs, and we really loved them. Great reaction from the crowd. All the performances were spot on, and Arnel was just the man -- I bet having so much Filipino support there really amped him up!

After the show, we hung out at the Heart Bar, and as mentioned, T-TIME kept us totally entertained. So many cool people we visited with, and all were great. After 3 good days of pounding the pavement in Vegas, the fatigue was really beginning to catch up with me, and I was lucky to get to meet Ross there before I left. Really was sorry I'd missed Deen and Jon the night before, but there will always be other shows. Ross is a KICK! Asked me where I was from, and recalled a story from my hometown. Another fan was there who presented him with a banner which had traveled all over the Generations tour and had been signed by tons of people. That was really cool, and the guy was so happy to be able to catch up with someone to give it to.

In closing, I just wanted to mention what a special treasure it was getting into the RE/MAX gig, because there was standing room on the floor and as I previously told, I was 4 feet in front of Arnel the whole time. I do have several cellphone pics and videos that I will try to share on my return. I think the previous estimate of how many people were there may have been low -- we went back by the MGM again yesterday and I think they said the venue holds 7,000 people -- wow! But, this was mainly convention-goers, so there may have been somewhere between 1,000-2,000. They were spread all over the place, and the floor also had many dining tables set up, so it made the place look more full than it was. The lady at the MGM told me they completely customize the floor layout for each event.

Ok, that's it for now -- really looking forward to all the other stories. And for everyone we met there -- cheers, and thanks for all the great memories!

[stranger7800]

I'll just say that it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to! And believe me, that's coming from a guy who has seen literally thousands of concerts/gigs. It was 2 hours and 20 minutes of pure Journey party!!!

Arnel, as you all know by now, is a master showman with an unbelievable voice and a super energetic stage presence almost unfathomable because if you're a performer or someone who sings (not only in the shower), you'll know that jumping and running around will surely cause you to lose your breath and cause your voice to falter especially if you're singing tenor songs like the Journey songs. Well, unfortunately, it 'kind of' happened to Arnel last night in the very high notes of Faithfully. He didn't really mess up but instead of reaching for the high notes like he usually did in Chile and with the Zoo, he went for low tones falsetto possibly caused by fatigue and/or dry mouth as pointed out by some of the people. It wasn't bad as he still managed to be in tune/in key and the crowd still roared in applause! But yes, they had to re-do "Faithfully" with Jonathan Cain explaining to the crowd that it's for the DVD. They also re-did the new song "Wildest Dreams". I'm not sure what the reason was for re-doing "Wildest Dreams" as it seemed perfect the first time. Perhaps because it's a brand new song so I really wouldn't know what mistake they did the first time they played it. Anyway, the second Faithfully was as great as any of the YouTube versions you've heard.

One of the highlights of the night was Deen on lead vocals and drums on "After The Fall" and "Who's Crying Now". Oh my gawd...so priceless!!! I just don't have any adjectives to describe his performance but...superb! If Arnel gave us chills and adrenaline rush, Deen made us fall in love with the music!

Another memorable moment was Jonathan Cain on harmonica! And he was having fun interacting with the crowd too. Sorry, I forgot what song he did the harmonica with.

And oh yesssss, the new songs! Damn, I smell Grammy, I'm tellin' ya! Can you smell it?!? They played 4 new songs, one of which is a ballad called "All These Years". Darn, I may have gotten that one confused with the other song so I'm not sure if that's the title of the ballad or not. Then there's the "Wildest Dreams" which they played twice. You could definitely feel the spirit and legacy of Journey in these new songs! In my opinion, they have the "Departure"-esque and "Frontiers"-esque feel to these new songs. Neal Schon had a long marvelous lead guitars on the other song and boy oh boy, my jaws dropped! Well, it's Neal for God's sake but I believe he's actually better than ever! His interaction and jamming with Ross and Arnel in this concert is the best I've seen. Overall, they were just having so much fun on stage and with the crowd!

I met very very cool and beautiful people from our forum too Frank Martinez, Jrnyval, sm twn girl, tobats, nikkspar, stryder (Fred), Sandi, houstexman (Joel), Anne, Ralph, and a few others whom I couldn't remember but I definitely remember their faces. A bunch of warm, friendly, gorgeous people. Hope to see you guys again! I'm going to California when Journey plays there.

So, what more can I say? It was an amazing concert!!! Here are a few photos:









- It's me, Dandy from journeymusic.com

[brywool]

No, he is not. Hugo, Chalfant or Jeremey were obvious better choices.

I don't agree. Leave it at that.

[brywool]

whereas with Augeri, he'd do all he could to ignore him. Arnel sings the hell out of everything.

Surprising considering how great Augeri's been said to be as a person. Why do you think there was bad blood there?

Great question. I have to believe that while Augeri's a great guy, that his lack of vocal stamina was frustrating to Neal and I'm sure it caused friction.

[brywool]

Arnel rocked the Thursday show. Neal's been in the business for 39 years and to see him stop on stage, put his guitar by his side, and give Arnel a hug during a song was really cool.

... I heard part (30 seconds) of one of the new songs. Jaw dropping vocals.

VERY COOL. I saw the interaction between Neal and Arnel during the Chile show. Neal was VERY happy with the guy, whereas with Augeri, he'd do all he could to ignore him. Arnel sings the hell out of everything. He's the best choice they could've made. AWESOME.

You're a fucking dickweed....He hugged Augeri and gave him many props....You smoke too much dick!!!!

e-

Geez, like someone with a SOTO ALL THE WAY moniker is going to even give the guy a chance. You've NEVER given the guy any credit. The fact is, his range is amazing, his power is amazing as well. It's much better suited to the catalog than any other singer out there. Anybody can forget words to tunes (or even how to talk rationally as I see you're experiencing now). It happens.

Also, out of so many great people here at MR, I've found you to be such a complete waste of time. Everybody else here can pretty much keep it civil and discuss stuff like friends, but you always turn into a complete ass within the first ten letters of anything you type. If you have shitty ears, it's not my problem. Grow the fuck up.

Neal didn't give Augeri props. He did everything he could to stay away from the guy. Watch the Boca Rotan DVD, watch the Vegas DVD. At the Washington show I went to, same story.

Maybe you're not reading the posts from Vegas. Hardcore Journey fans are singing the guy's praises. You're in the minority. Look at the Youtube comments, read the reviews, look at what the majority of people here are saying. I saw the chile concert broadcast quality show and except for a few flubs, he was amazing. It was his first friggin' show. The guy is the guy whether you like it or not. If you don't dig Arnel, that's the way it goes and it sounds like you'll miss out on some great stuff, but to start slinging bullshit and insults at people who don't share your opinions is ridiculous.

Now run along, I'm sure you're late for a therapy appointment or something.

[piecesofeight]

Come on..I thought it was decided that Journey had more passionate/bigger/crazy, etc..fans than Van Halen!
The beginning of the Van Halen tour, and especially the first few shows had the numerous Van Halen boards going nuts DURING the shows with tons of updates and tons of reports afterwards.
Where are all of these here. Am I blind? I am not seeing a ton of detail about the show nor much was posted AS the show was going on?
Give us some more concert details peeps.

[The_Noble_Cause]

No, he is not. Hugo, Chalfant or Jeremey were obvious better choices.

From the live clips I've watched and heard, Hugo has little power in his voice.
Chalfant is the shoo-in due to his relationship with Gregg and being hand picked by Herbie.

[donnaplease]

Arnel rocked the Thursday show. Neal's been in the business for 39 years and to see him stop on stage, put his guitar by his side, and give Arnel a hug during a song was really cool.

... I heard part (30 seconds) of one of the new songs. Jaw dropping vocals.

VERY COOL. I saw the interaction between Neal and Arnel during the Chile show. Neal was VERY happy with the guy, whereas with Augeri, he'd do all he could to ignore him. Arnel sings the hell out of everything. He's the best choice they could've made. AWESOME.

You're a fucking dickweed....He hugged Augeri and gave him many props....You smoke too much dick!!!!

e-

Geez, like someone with a SOTO ALL THE WAY moniker is going to even give the guy a chance. You've NEVER given the guy any credit. The fact is, his range is amazing, his power is amazing as well. It's much better suited to the catalog than any other singer out there. Anybody can forget words to tunes (or even how to talk rationally as I see you're experiencing now). It happens.

Also, out of so many great people here at MR, I've found you to be such a complete waste of time. Everybody else here can pretty much keep it civil and discuss stuff like friends, but you always turn into a complete ass within the first ten letters of anything you type. If you have shitty ears, it's not my problem. Grow the fuck up.

Neal didn't give Augeri props. He did everything he could to stay away from the guy. Watch the Boca Rotan DVD, watch the Vegas DVD. At the Washington show I went to, same story.

Maybe you're not reading the posts from Vegas. Hardcore Journey fans are singing the guy's praises. You're in the minority. Look at the Youtube comments, read the reviews, look at what the majority of people here are saying. I saw the chile concert broadcast quality show and except for a few flubs, he was amazing. It was his first friggin' show. The guy is the guy whether you like it or not. If you don't dig Arnel, that's the way it goes and it sounds like you'll miss out on some great stuff, but to start slinging bullshit and insults at people who don't share your opinions is ridiculous.

Now run along, I'm sure you're late for a therapy appointment or something.

Neal changes like the wind. I wouldn't expect that great chemistry between he & Arnel to last. During the Baltimore show and the 2 Florida shows I attended with JSS singing I was very impressed by the obvious chemistry between Jeff & Neal (as well as the rest of the band, except perhaps Friga). Then, at the May show in Virginia it was a total 180. The band members wouldn't even look at each other, each seeming uncomfortable even being on stage. Jeff rocked the show however (I guess sometimes ignorance is a blessing). I'm so glad he had no clue as to what was brewing, it would've broke my heart to know that he had to go through that.

So although he may be feeling like a pig in slop now, I'm sure eventually all those warm fuzzies will dry up and Arnel will be the next on the chopping block. The lack of Neal's integrity is staggering to me.

[ohsherrie]

The lack of Neal's integrity is staggering to me.

I see that hug as nothing more than a big, public FUCK YOU to Perry, Augeri, JSS, and Jeremey as well as their fans. The small man is showing how pathetically little he is yet again.

[G.I.Jim]

The lack of Neal's integrity is staggering to me.

I see that hug as nothing more than a big, public FUCK YOU to Perry, Augeri, JSS, and Jeremey as well as their fans. The small man is showing how pathetically little he is yet again.

I'm a friend of Jeremey's and I see nothing negative towards Jeremey, Perry, Augeri, JSS, Hugo, the Pope or anyone else for that matter! Can't it just be that Neal likes Arnel, thought he did a kick-ass job, and was "In the moment" excited for the guy? Why do you have to be so damn negative about EVERYTHING you post about on this board???

Damn, get your ass off of that chair and seek counseling if you're that miserable!

[Lady Luck]

So, what more can I say? It was an amazing concert!!! Here are a few photos:

Nice pics...thanks for posting!

[ProgRocker53]

The lack of Neal's integrity is staggering to me.

I see that hug as nothing more than a big, public FUCK YOU to Perry, Augeri, JSS, and Jeremey as well as their fans. The small man is showing how pathetically little he is yet again.

I agree with G.I. Jim, sometimes you really come off as a major hag. Donna too.

You two need to lighten up and get ready for the next chapter of the Journey. Yeah, Neal's not an angel, but not many rockstars are. It's a cut-throat business and sometimes you've gotta be ruthless to stay in the fold.

[ohsherrie]

Can't it just be that Neal likes Arnel, thought he did a kick-ass job, and was "In the moment" excited for the guy?

Did you ever see the little man hug Perry, Augeri, or JSS? Grow up and face reality. Neal's an opportunistic asshole.

Why do you have to be so damn negative about EVERYTHING you post about on this board???

I'm only negative about the things that deserve my negativity. If that seems like the majority then it's because the majority of the stuff deserves my negativity.