After facing criticism for his recent performance with Journey at Rock in Rio on September 15, Arnel Pineda, 57, is giving fans the power to determine his fate. Following a video showing him struggling with ear monitor issues and hitting the wrong notes, Pineda took to Facebook, acknowledging the missteps and expressing his heartbreak.
“No one more than me feels more devastated about this,” Pineda wrote, referencing the difficult performance. “It’s really amazing how 1 thousand right things you have done will be forgotten just because of THIS… and of all places, it’s at Rock in Rio.”
Despite the struggles, Pineda has shown gratitude to Journey’s fans, but in a surprising move, he offered them the chance to vote him out. In his post, he asked fans to comment “GO” or “STAY,” promising to step away from the band for good if “GO” reached one million votes.
Journey’s guitarist Neal Schon came to Pineda’s defense, dismissing the criticism by telling him, “Arnel don’t listen to these blogs. You’ve kicked ass!”
This isn’t the first time Pineda has offered to step aside, previously saying in 2014 that he’d step down if original vocalist Steve Perry ever returned.
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