On a late spring night in St. Paul, Minnesota, where eels were performing to a capacity crowd in the 1000-seat Fitzgerald Theatre, the last thing anyone expected was that one of rock's most elusive and reclusive figures would break 19 years of silence and join the Los Angeles-based alt. rock band onstage.
So when group leader Mark Everett introduced Steve Perry during the band's second encore, the audience applauded reflexively, not quite knowing what to expect. After all, Everett is well known for his dry sense of humor and, let's face it, the idea that Steve Perry would make his live concert debut in, of all places, St. Paul is about as far-fetched as things get these days.
So when the man emerging from the wings turned out to really be iconic Journey singer Steve Perry, who joined eels for a beautiful version of "It's A Motherfucker", the crowd was hanging on every sweet, melodic syllable, all the while wondering if their friends would believe them. If only someone had a video camera...
Perry and the band went on to play two more songs; both from the Journey catalog - "Open Arms" and "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin", proving quite emphatically that Perry was still in fine voice. Sure, he may not be capable of reaching the soaring high notes for which he was known in the '70s, but anyone who didn't get a shiver down their spine at hearing Perry wrap his voice around Mark Everett's "It's A Motherfucker" was a supreme joy to witness.
A reliable source has revealed that eels have been quietly working on an album of their best-known songs sung by the likes of Steve Perry, Beck, and Chris Isaak, which explains how Perry and the eels happened to find themselves onstrage together. It still doesn't explain why that stage was in St. Paul. Minnesota, but who's complaining?