Hi Kevin,
Oh yes, VH were very successfull with Sammy Hagar, there's no disputing that, and I totally love Hagar's material with them as much as I do with Roth, but let's not forget on a worldly basis it took 2 albums for Hagar to be fully accepted, so I just think that Gary Cherone wasn't given a fair chance.
Lets also not forget that Ed and the boys are still friends with Cherone and in an interview they said that they haven't ruled out working with him again as Ed and Gary see eye to eye musically, at the same time the only reason Gary was ousted from the band was because of the bands label who said "Get Hagar or Roth in or loose your record deal", afrter the poor sales of VH3, but you know I think that was a sign of the time, that album wasn't pushed by the label as much as the others and it was the first VH album with no single here in the UK. So after I read this statement it was pretty obvious that the VH boys are just doing this reunion gig for the money to keep their deal, where if it had been really about the music, they would have continued with Gary and would have picked up a major deal with another label without any problem. Let's face it Hagar ended up on MCA records with his last album "red voodoo", so if he can get a major deal, I'm sure the band could have said get stuffed to their current label.
As for Journey, well let's hear the album first when it cmes out and then be judgemental. Fans have only seen Augeri on a LIVE front, so how can they welcome him into the band without hearing new material first apart from the Armageddon song??
I hope Journey come full circle here, but I doubt they will tour and get pushed in Europe, with only the magazines doing the promotion work for them rg- reviews etc, How many magazine will actually get interviews with them I wonder as they are most difficult?
By the way it was John Waite who tour up Bad English and the reason for their split
c-ya dude
Nick