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Second Life shills Journey haven’t had the easiest time hanging onto lead singers over the last two decades of their nearly 40-year career, but they’re hoping to make it through at least two nostalgia tours with the latest, Filipino rocker Arnel Pineda. The Pineda-fronted Journey played its first show in Chile last night, and while the band’s performance on karaoke-standard/advertiser go-to/pop cultural treasure “Don’t Stop Believin’” is a little leaden, an eager and energetic Pineda gives it his all, probably because he hasn’t been playing this song every night for the last 900 years. And if Pineda’s not quite a match for Steve Perry’s schlubby charisma, his voice is uncannily Perry-esque in places. After the jump, a fuzzy, fan-captured version of the band’s sensitive standard “Faithfully,” where you can still sometimes manage to hear Pineda over the delighted screams of Chilean classic rock fans.
Journey – “Don’t Stop Believin” [YouTube]
Journey – “Faithfully” [YouTube]
Neil Schon is still a badass.
“That was a really poor song choice for you.”
/Simon
To quote a former Journey bass player: “A little pitchy in spots, but a good start, dawg.”
Apparently in Chile, audience members’ facial reactions have no obvious connection to what’s happening on stage? It kind of looks like they were edited it from an entirely different event.