Journey frontman Arnel Pineda offers to quit band following fan backlash
Journey frontman Arnel Pineda has stated he will depart the band if the fans wish for him to leave. His comments come following a bout of complaints the band received for one of their live shows earlier this month.
Pineda’s performance during the band’s live show at Rock In Rio in Brazil received backlash mainly concerning the singer’s inability to reach certain high notes during songs, such as ‘Don’t Stop Believin‘. This was exacerbated by a video of the performance that went viral on social media.
Pineda responded to the video by expressing his embarrassment and explaining how he has “suffered” but is willing to give fans a chance to boot him out of the San Francisco rock band “for good.”
“No one more than me in this world feels so devastated about this,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “Its really amazing how 1 thousand right things you have done will be forgotten just cause of THIS,” he continued.
Pineda then stated “mentally and emotionally, ive suffered already, and im still suffering…[…] I am offering you a chance now to simply text GO or STAY right here… and if GO reaches 1million… im stepping out for good.”
Despite the public humiliation, it appears fans are still attached to the singer, with more writing “stay” under the post than “leave.” This proves that the video’s popularity was likely nothing more than the expected cyclical cynicism attached to narratives criticising those in the spotlight.
Pineda joined Journey in 2007 but rose to prominence in the 1980s as an exceptional singer following his appearance in the Philippines leg of the Yamaha World Band Explosion. His covers of various Journey songs appeared online in 2007, which caught the attention of the band’s Neal Schon, who contacted a fan for Pineda’s contact information. The singer then debuted as Journey’s new singer at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival the following year.
More recently, the band cancelled dates scheduled for the UK and Irish leg of their 50th anniversary tour, which included one at London’s O2. It’s uncertain why these shows appeared as cancelled as fans were notified by a simple email and statement that read: “Due to circumstances beyond the band’s control, Journey’s UK and Ireland tour is unfortunately cancelled.”
Around the same time, it was revealed that Jonothan Cain had filed a lawsuit against Schon, claiming that his “exorbitant” spending had caused the band to enter a “deadlock” over their potential financial difficulty. However, things seem to have smoothened somewhat following Schon’s decision to enlist an impartial figure to help.
Despite the various recent struggles, however, it seems Pineda will be an integral part of the line-up for a little longer, with the latest vocal mishap merely an unfortunate setback in an otherwise celebrated career.
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