JOURNEY frontman Arnel Pineda has expressed gratitude to fans for their support following criticism of his performance at the Rock In Rio festival.
The 57-year-old vocalist, who joined the iconic band in 2007 addressed the controversy in a social media post. Last week, Pineda shared a video from the Rio de Janeiro concert, highlighting technical difficulties with his ear monitors that hindered his ability to perform at his best. Acknowledging his disappointment with the show, he offered to step down from JOURNEY if fans deemed it necessary.
He wrote: “once again,thank u so much everyone who came to @journeyofficial show since #february this year ..i appreciate uou all do kuch..anf not only that,everytime that im on stage w/ the band, i feel this immense gratitude,humility and honor..”
Pineda followed up by sharing a link to the Rock In Rio clip on the Behind The Songs Facebook page, adding: “i am very aware of this. no one more than me in this world feels so devastated about this…
“its really amazing how 1 thousand right things you have done will be forgotten just cause of THIS..and of all the place , its in Rock In Rio…
“mentally and emotionally, ive suffered already,and im still sufferring..but i’ll be ok..
“so here’s the deal here now..i am offering you a chance now ( especially those who’s hated me and never liked me from the very beginning) to simply text GO or STAY right here.. and if GO reaches 1million… im stepping out for good..
“are you game folks? let’s start…
“God bless all of you and thank you once again to all of the fans and friends who believed in me [s]ince Day1”.
Last night (September 25), Arnel shared a video message in which he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Hello, everyone. Firstly, I want to apologize for the inconvenience I have caused all of JOURNEY‘s faithful fans out there. I know the band’s not perfect right now and in turmoil, but it is not going through some bad stuff these days anyway. My friends, again, you know who you are.
“I’ve waited a while before I wanna post something again, so here I am. Bottom line, good has won, and no matter how screwed our world is, maybe it’s caused evil in us in general, or the politicians or the religious leaders that’s making us believe in their eccentric point of view are influencing us. But, yeah. Again, I said that good has won.
“I read most of your comments for my post. Thank you so much. It’s overwhelmingly humbling. I didn’t do it for some selfish reason, not to feed me with such gratifying feeling, more of a spiritual journey for me and my profound curiosity and what’s winning in his world these days. Is it a good or is it a bad? And isn’t it evident that a lot of people would just cowardly hide behind their cell phones, computers, et cetera, et cetera, to express their hatred, cruelty, bigotry, or discriminatory and racist remarks to me? Well, it’s been happening since 2007… And yet here comes the good people to my rescue. No matter what they are going through, good or bad, as soon as they saw my post, quickly and bravely they did not hesitate to send their kindness, sincerity, top-notch generosity of their precious time, just to express how genuinely caring and willing they are to fight for me, to reason with me. And they’re not even sure what kind of life or episode screw-up they’re all going through and still, yeah, there’s still so much good in this world. Really, I believe so. And I’m so grateful to each and every one of you. I’d also like to thank the ones who relentlessly exploited my imperfections for your own selfish intentions. Remember, our universe is so alive, guys, and it knows how to give back all the time, good and bad. Depends on what we all did from the past, and with god by our side, nothing could ever go wrong.
“So thank you everyone. To all the rock stars who’ve reached out and said something to defend me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now let’s all try to agree on walking with good every day. I love you all, really. Muito obrigado, Brazil. Muchas gracias, Chile, especially the whole America, Canada, Scandinavia, U.K., South America, and especially my fellow man who stood by me. Thank you really so much. Love to all of you.”
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