Arnel Pineda ‘devastated’ after Brazil performance, offers to quit Journey

Arnel Pineda. Image: Facebook/Arnel Pineda

Arnel Pineda, lead vocalist of the American band Journey, said sorry after his poor performance at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He also asked his fans to decide whether they wanted him to stay or leave the band for good.

Pineda caught the attention of music fans after Behind the Songs shared a clip of Pineda struggling to reach the high notes of the band’s hit song “Don’t Stop Believin” on Facebook, on Saturday, Sept. 21.

The singer-songwriter apologized to his fans for the incident in a Facebook statement on Sunday, Sept. 22. He said that more than anyone, he, too, is devastated about how his performance turned out.

“Once again, [thank you] so much everyone who came to @journeyofficial show since February this year. I appreciate [you all], and not only that, every time that I’m on stage [with] the band, I feel this immense gratitude, humility, and honor. I am very aware of this. No one more than me in this world feels so devastated about this,” he said while sharing a link to the performance.

The musician then asked fans to decide whether he should stay or leave the band for good by responding to his post with either stay or go. “Mentally and emotionally, I’ve suffered already and I’m still [suffering]. But I’ll be okay. So here’s the deal here now.”

“I am offering you a chance now (especially those [who’ve] hated me and never liked me from the very beginning) to simply text GO or STAY right here,” he continued. “And if ‘Go’ reaches 1 million, I’m stepping out for good… God bless all of you and thank you once again to all of the fans and friends who believed in me since Day 1.”

Pineda replaced Steve Perry as vocalist of Journey in 2008 after answering an email from band guitarist Neal Schön inviting him to join. In accepting the offer, keyboardist Jonathan Cain described Pineda as “the future for our franchise.”

In 2023, Pineda was accused by Schön and his wife of ditching the idea of bringing back the rock band’s founding member and vocalist Greg Rolie for their celebratory tour.

The feud started in November 2022 after Schön was involved in a legal dispute with Cain, which led to Pineda making cryptic posts three months later, hinting that he’s unhappy with the treatment within the band.