Here is a bit of what Rockndeano has to say: "Lead singer Steve Augeri, has had some serious vocal problems the last year or so, and after many hundreds of man hours breaking down concert bootlegs and analyzing 'live' songs from different venues, I have levied the charge against my once favorite band....They use tapes for lead vocals. Yes, you heard that right. Journey has resorted to using tape for lead vocals live."

Here is one example he cites: "Chain Reaction, done in Los Angeles at the Greek Theatre, October 9th, 2005. The song is basically 6+ minutes long. Augeri actually 'goes live' at 5:50. Quick math tells me that's about 95% of the song NOT being sung." If you care to learn more check out the link below. If you are one of those that following the band faithfully, don't stop believing no matter what accusation gets tossed out; that seems to work for most Clay Aiken fans. Then again, maybe they can hire Clay to sing for them. Say what you want about Aiken, but he can sing and Journey seems like a good fit.

http://www.escape-to-tape.blogspot.com/

Update: Svante Pettersson posted a lengthy message about his experience with this in the alt.audio.pro.live-sound newsgroup. Here are some excerpts: I am just back from Sweden Rock Festival, one of Europe's biggest hard rock festivals. At the festival, I was working for Swedish Radio as a producer for some of the live recordings done for the radio. Normally, I am a live sound engineer but once a year, I tag along with my old friends at Swedish Radio to have some fun on this great festival.

When I got into the truck, our engineers was making funny faces and saying things like, "poor guy!" Lead singer Steve Augeri could not sing at all! No, it's not the old rethoric of calling a singer with a bad day someone who "can't sing". Steve Augeri was constantly out of tune and when he tried to reach the high parts, his voice just died in a sad croak. But didn't it sound good in the PA out front? I went out to check again. Yes, the vocals sounded terrific. Was I going insane?

I went back into the bus and the engineers started to question my sanity too as nothing could be done out front to fix this disaster. The main project manager for our business at the festival showed up and was as surprised and puzzled as I was when he heard what was coming down that vocal line to the truck.

After a lot of running back and forth and scratching of heads, one of the recording engineers plugged in a pair of headphones into the CD recorder that was recording Elson's house mix. In that mix, the vocals were perfect. With one headphone on and the other listening to our feed in the bus it was obvious that something fishy was going on.

We looked at our surveillance camera on stage and noticed a guy sitting a bit out of place to the left of the drum tech. I went up on stage to have a look and there was a guy with two digital multitrack recorders, apparently sending a prerecorded, correct vocal to the house mix but not to our bus. There were also some prerecorded synth pads and backing vocals but we got those to the bus.

Former band members, roadies and I have all talked about this, Journey is riding the Gravy Train. George Tickner (original founding member and guitar monster, writer of Topaz & Mystery Mountain etc.) said to me yeterday "It's pathetic, they're only in it for the money." Former Production Manager Allen Craft agrees "You can't stop the gravy train. This train is de-railing itself! They should let Deen Castronovo spread his wings,play drums and sing, but no, they don't want people to know he's such a great talent, it would steal the thunder from the remaining original members. My wife said to me (she's seen several Journey Shows over the years) "They're a bunch of has-beeens trying to re-live their Glory Days."

Former band members, roadies and I have all talked about this, Journey is riding the Gravy Train. George Tickner (original founding member and guitar monster, writer of Topaz & Mystery Mountain etc.) said to me yeterday "It's pathetic, they're only in it for the money." Former Production Manager Allen Craft agrees "You can't stop the gravy train. This train is de-railing itself! They should let Deen Castronovo spread his wings,play drums and sing, but no, they don't want people to know he's such a great talent, it would steal the thunder from the remaining original members. My wife said to me (she's seen several Journey Shows over the years) "They're a bunch of has-beeens trying to re-live their Glory Days."

Don't despair, there are a few people who do believe any "accusation that gets tossed out".