Neal Schon has spoken up in support of Journey bandmate Arnel Pineda after the singer received negative comments for his recent performance at Rock on Rio.
In an impassioned social media post, Pineda said he’d been “devastated” over a sub-par show, and offered to quit the band if a million fans told him to go.
Guitarist Schon then made his own comments on Facebook, defending Pineda and declaring that another band had caused Journey sound problems that night.
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Sharing a video from the stage which showed fans at Rio, Schon wrote: “All this absolute garbage fabricated bullshit about [Arnel]. Does this look like nobody had a good time? I’m asking you. All fabricated, owned and bought blogs, bullshit.” He echoed those thoughts while commenting on another Facebook post about the story: “Arnel dont listen to these blogs. They are all bought. You’ve kicked ass!”
He went on to add another clip showing Journey taking a bow at the end of their Rio performance, and said the headline act had imposed control on his band’s sound output.
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“[W]e found out much later that we got extremely limited by Avenged Sevenfold,” he said. “[T]hat means… hardly any sound can get out of the PA to the audience. It’s a bullshit move.” Despite that, he added: “Check out the audience. They loved it… the rest of it’s fabricated crap.”
When a follower asked if Journey’s sound tech couldn’t have resolved the problem, Schon replied: “No,” while another fan explained that “sound equipment [can be] locked up and password protected.” Asked why Avenged Sevenfold had been the headliner rather than Journey, Schon said simply: “Politics.”
The following leg of Journey’s current tour takes them to Japan in October, while their next confirmed U.S. date is on Dec. 28 in Lincoln, CA.
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Singers may come, and singers most certainly may go, but some great songs remain.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso