Arnel Pineda

Music:

Member Since: 1/14/2008
Band Website: http://www.journeymusic.com
Band Members:

Journey

(2007-????)

Neal Schon Lead Guitar, Vocals

Jonathan Cain Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals

Ross Valory Bass Guitar, Vocals

Deen Castronovo Drums, Percussion, Vocals

Arnel Pineda Lead Vocals

SET TO LAUNCH THIS SUMMER’S HOTTEST TOUR

ALONG WITH HEART AND CHEAP TRICK

STARTING JULY 9 IN DENVER

March 26, 2008 – Three legendary rock bands are teaming up for what is sure to be the tour of the summer. JOURNEY, Heart and Cheap Trick are heading out on the concert trail starting July 9 in Denver, CO through October 4 in Albuquerque, NM. Fans should check local listings for on-sale dates, which begin Saturday, April 5.

JOURNEY--Neal Schon (guitar), Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Ross Valory (bass), Deen Castronovo (drums) and new lead singer Arnel Pineda—is hitting the road to promote REVELATION, the highly anticipated three-disc CD/DVD package set for release June 3 exclusively at Wal-Mart stores in North America.

Here are the confirmed dates for the JOURNEY/Heart/Cheap Trick concert tour:

DATE CITY VENUE

Wed 7/9 Denver, CO Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre

Fri 7/11 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre

Sat 7/12 Lake Tahoe, NV Harvey’s Lake Resort

Tue 7/15 San Diego, CA Coors Amphitheatre

Wed 7/16 Irvine, CA Verizon Amphitheatre

Fri 7/18 Las Vegas, NV Mandalay Bay Arena

Sat 7/19 Tucson, AZ Casino Anselmo

Tue 7/22 Council Bluffs, IA Mid America Center

Wed 7/23 Oklahoma City, OK Zoo Amphitheatre

Fri 7/25 San Antonio, TX Verizon Amphitheatre

Sat 7/26 Houston, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Sun 7/27 Dallas, TX Superpages.com Amphitheatre

Wed 7/30 Tampa, FL Ford Amphitheatre

Thu 7/31 West Palm Beach, FL Sound Advice Amphitheatre

Sat 8/2 Charlotte, NC Verizon Amphitheatre

Sun 8/3 Atlanta, GA Chastain Amphitheatre

Mon 8/4 Atlanta, GA Chastain Amphitheatre

Wed 8/6 Orange Beach, FL The Amphitheatre @ The Wharf

Thu 8/7 Nashville, TN Sommett Center

Sat 8/9 Birmingham, AL Verizon Amphitheatre

Sun 8/10 Raleigh, NC Walnut Creek Amphitheatre

Tue 8/12 Virginia Beach, VA Verizon Amphitheatre

Thu 8/14 Jones Beach, NY Nikon at Jones Beach

Sat 8/16 Scranton, PA Toyota Amphitheatre

Sun 8/17 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Casino

Tue 8/19 Boston, MA Tweeter Center

Thu 8/21 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center

Sat 8/23 Syracuse, NY New York State Fair

Sun 8/24 Saratoga, NY Saratoga PAC

Tue 8/26 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center

Wed 8/27 Washington, DC Nissan Pavilion

Sat 8/30 Bethel Woods, NY Center for the Arts

Sun 8/31 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Pavilion

Thu 9/4 Watertown, NY Watertown Baseball Diamond

Sat 9/6 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center

Sun 9/7 Cleveland, OH Blossom Amphitheatre

Tue 9/9 Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre

Wed 9/10 Indianapolis, IN Verizon Amphitheatre

Fri 9/12 Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre

Sat 9/13 St. Louis, MO Verizon Amphitheatre

Mon 9/15 Kansas City, MO Midland Theatre

Tue 9/16 Minneapolis, MN Target Center/Casino

Fri 9/19 Seattle, WA White River Amphitheatre

Sun 9/21 Portland, OR Clark County Amphitheatre

Wed 9/24 Concord, CA Sleep Train Pavilion at Concord

Fri 9/26 Sacramento, CA Sleep Train Pavilion at Sacramento

Sat 9/27 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre

Tue 9/30 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre

Fri 10/3 Phoenix, AZ Cricket Pavilion

Sat 10/4 Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion

March 20, 2008

Journey: The Band From The Bay Is Back

By Valerie Nerres

I attended the Journey show here in Las Vegas on March 8th, 2008, with the U.S. debut of Journey’s new singer, Arnel Pineda. There was a lot of hype prior to this show about their previous show, in Chile, and videos of it all over YouTube.

As an intro to the new lineup, here’s a December 2007 article from Journey’s web site, journeymusic.com: “After much speculation…the wait is finally over. Journey -- Neal Schon (guitar), Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Ross Valory (bass), Deen Castronovo (drums) -- is proud to introduce fans all over the world to their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda (“pin-eh-da”). He replaces Jeff Scott Soto, who parted ways with the band earlier this year after stepping in for Steve Augeri, who had to leave the band in 2006 for medical reasons.

“Arnel hails from Quezon City in the Philippines and has been singing Journey songs -- in addition to original material -- with his band, The Zoo, for the past couple of years in clubs all over his homeland. Joining the legendary band is a dream come true for him. ‘It’s so exciting to sing with one of the best bands in the world. It’ll be a lot of hard work on my part and I’m actually looking forward to the scrutiny I’ll get from the hardcore Journey fans. I know they’ll expect me to sound exactly like “the voice” (Steve Perry), but that will never happen. I know there’s only one Steve Perry in this world.’

“When it was time for Journey to look for a new lead singer, the internet came to their rescue. Guitarist Neal Schon wanted someone new to the music business, so he turned to YouTube. After finding Arnel singing “Faithfully,” he knew he had found the perfect frontman. ‘I was frustrated about not having a singer,’ explains guitarist Neal Schon, ‘so I went on YouTube for a couple of days and just sat on it for hours. I was starting to think I was never going to find anybody. But then I found The Zoo and I watched a bunch of different video clips that they had posted. After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, “he can’t be that good.” But he is that good, he’s the real deal and so tremendously talented. Arnel doesn’t sound synthetic and he’s not emulating anyone. I tried to get a hold of him through YouTube and I finally heard from him that night, but it took some convincing to get him to believe that it really was me and not an imposter.’

“Arnel Pineda picks up the story: ‘My friend Noel picked up the message on YouTube and told me it was from Neal. I thought it was a hoax so I ignored it. Noel said, “what if it really was Neal and he wanted to offer you the chance of a lifetime?” So I e-mailed Neal back and the rest is history.’

“Arnel brings a soulful and passionate voice to Journey,’ continues keyboardist Jonathan Cain. ‘His personality is very well-suited to our music. He’s a sincere, authentic person with a great smile and a big heart. I think fans are really going to love him. With Arnel’s soaring tenor, Journey returns to our heritage sound.’ Schon agrees, ‘We feel reborn. I think there’s a lot of chemistry between the five of us. At first we were going to go into the studio and just write 4 songs, but now it’s escalated to a lot of great new and diverse material. The stuff sounds tremendous. Everyone’s so stoked about it. We feel very fortunate to have found Arnel.’”

Fast forward to Vegas earlier this month. When I was told by Journey’s publicist, Amanda Cagan, before the show that I was in for a treat, I knew that it was going to be good… but wasn’t sure how good. This being my first “Journey” show, I felt as if I really didn’t have a strong starting position in writing a review. Journey has been around for so long, I really didn’t have anything to compare it to -- and maybe that’s a good thing. But I have to tell you that once the show started, from Neal’s first guitar cord of “Anyway You Want It,” the vibe between band and audience bouncing back and forth made me set my camera down for a minute just to watch. The DVD’s recording boom mics and video cameras going around the venue added a little extra excitement, as they were filming a DVD to be released with the new album.

Going in to the next song “Only the Young,” they should have renamed it “Burning Like Wildfire” because that’s exactly what happened. Arnel has what it takes to front this band: amazing stage presence, the charisma of a frontman, and vocally he was right on the money for the perfect rock show. He’s been compared to Steve Perry, but even though he may sound like him, I think that Arnel brings a freshness to Journey. I didn’t want to see a Steve Perry impersonator, and I wasn’t disappointed. Arnel can definitely stand on his own two feet.

One of the highlights of the night was Deen on lead vocals and drums .. the Fall" and "Who’s Crying Now" -- priceless! There aren’t enough adjectives to describe his performance but... superb! If Arnel gave us chills and an adrenaline rush, Deen made us fall in love with the music all over again!

During the show, I walked around the venue to hear the sound from different vantage points and to crowd watch. The audience was probably half Filipino, all in support of their new lead singer. I sat back by the soundboard during “Open Arms” and then their classic “Mother Father.” I was basically in awe of the entire event. This is definitely a new beginning for me as well, learning to appreciate their music all over again.

They played three new songs: “After All These Years” (my choice for a new single, it’s beautiful), “Never Walk Away” and Wildest Dreams.”

We got an extra dose of the band with a whole 2 ½ hours of show time, and then they brought everybody back inside the venue after the encore. No complaints there: They had to redo “Faithfully” because the band started early and it didn’t jive with the video playing on the backdrop, since they were filming it for the DVD. Another highlight of the show was the incredible bluesy opening of “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin” with Jonathan Cain playing harmonica, which brought the crowd to their feet and had us singing along.

In summary, the “Band from The Bay” is back. Their new album, Revelation, is set to be released on June 3rd with a tour to follow. It will be a 3-disc set, with the first disc consisting of 11 re-recorded classics, the second filled with 11 new songs, and the third a live, in-concert DVD from the show. Can’t wait to see if I make the final cut!

For more information please visit www.journeymusic.com.

Story by Valerie Nerres