Former Journey frontman Steve Perry surprised the audience at rock band Eels' May 25th show in Saint Paul, Minnesota, joining the band to perform the Journey classics "Open Arms" and "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'". It was Perry's first time on stage in 20 years. Fan-filmed footage from the show can be seen below:

As the news of Perry's performance began to circulate, current Journey frontman Arnel Pineda posted two messages on Twitter (here and here) celebrating Perry's return to the spotlight:

"He should come back. His voice is still there. Missed that voice."
"He can take over, too. It's his righteous (rightful) place anyway. Wanna see them happy together."

According to a report from Classic Rock, Perry says "People have been putting two and two together – but this wasn't about a reunion with Journey. There is no reunion. I was just having fun. "In a world where it's hard to keep a secret, it felt so much fun to walk out there to an unsuspecting crowd."

E, real name Mark Oliver Everett, introduced him by explaining he'd walked away from Journey because "it didn't feel right." Perry says: "I couldn't have put it better – that's exactly what happened. It had run its course."

He says of his moment in the spotlight: "When E announced me I thought I’d take the piss and hang back a while. But finally I’m out there; the audience saw me, and I hadn’t experienced that kind of emotion in quite a while. It was beyond exhilarating. I was so grateful that they were so loving and happy to see me. I was just as happy to see them. I had forgotten how much I’d missed it.”

Asked if he was happy with his performance, he replies: "Well, I hadn’t sung in 20 years – I sounded more like Otis Redding than I did in Journey; and I love Otis, so that’s not a bad thing. But after twenty years, wherever you hit that golf ball is where it lands. I just wanted to go out there and hit the ball. I was pretty pleased with what I pulled off.

"I’m not the person I was thirty years ago; that person is gone."