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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

1981 Great Gonzos! The Best of Ted Nugent Ted Nugent

1983 Wild Dogs Wild Dogs

1987 Reign Of Terror Wild Dogs

1987 Maximum Security Tony Macalpine

1988 Dragon's Kiss Marty Friedman

1989 Bad English Bad English

1989 Go Off! Cacophony

1989 Late Nite Neal Schon

1989 Varney & Shrapnel Presents Fretboard Frenzy Various Artists

1991 Backlash Bad English

1991 Infra-Blue Joey Tafolla

1992 Double Eclipse Hardline

1992 Von Groove Von Groove

1993 Hendrix Set Paul Rodgers and Company

1994 Premonition Tony MacAlpine

1995 Alien Love Secrets Steve Vai

1995 Metallurgy, Vol. 1 Various Artists

1995 Ozzmosis Ozzy Osbourne

1995 Smoke on the Water: A Tribute Various Artists

1996 Convergence James Murphy

1996 Fire Garden Steve Vai

1996 White Light, White Heat, White Trash Social Distortion

1996 Working Man Various Artists

1997 Black Science Geezer

1997 Turn of the Millennium George Bellas

1998 Flex-Able Leftovers Steve Vai

1998 Mind over Matter George Bellas

1998 Remember Me Journey

1999 Feeding the Machine James Murphy

2000 7th Song: Enchanting Guitar Melodies - Archive

2001 Anthology Jonathan Cain

2001 Arrival Journey

2002 (Beyond) Reign Of Terror plus 7 Bonus tracks Wild Dogs

2002 Ozzmosis [Bonus Tracks] Ozzy Osbourne

2002 Red 13 Journey

2003 Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology Steve Vai

2003 Mystery Tracks Archives, Vol. 3 Steve Vai

2003 Tracks Vasco Rossi

2004 World Play Soul Sirkus

2005 Generations Journey

2006 Don't Stop Believin' The Hitmaker/Deen Castronovo

2006 Tony MacAlpine Collection: The Shrapnel Years Tony MacAlpine

2007 Magna Carta Guitar Greats, Vol. 1 Various Artists

2007 World's Best Dad Various Artists