Well, folks, it finally happened. One of the all time greatest voices in rock has returned to the stage, for one of the first times since the mid 90s. No, Steve Perry has not released a new album and he is not on tour (unfortunately). He did, however, join the Eels on stage at a concert, in St. Paul, Minnesota, last night to sing one of their songs, along with “Open Arms” and “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin.” Lyndsey Parker of Yahoo writes,

Steve Perry, one of the most elusive frontmen in rock, hasn’t performed with Journey since 1991, or performed solo concerts since 1995. But don’t stop believin’, Perry fans. The rock icon finally returned to the stage Sunday night… to join indie-rock band the Eels at the 1,000-capacity Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn.

Perry showed up at first to sing the Eels’ 2000 cult hit “It’s a Motherf—er,” his voice instantly recognizable and sounding surprisingly strong considering his well-publicized health problems (ongoing arthritis, hip-replacement surgery in 1998, two melanoma-removal surgeries in 2013). Joked Eels leader Mark Everett upon hearing the Fitzgerald audience’s thunderous response: “They don’t applaud like that for me! I guess I gotta disappear for 25 years!”

Considering everything Steve Perry has been through over the past 20 or so years (hip problems, Journey problems, losing his girlfriend to cancer), his voice was rather good. Time has obviously aged it, but he sounds as if he could finally be ready to make an album and possibly do a tour. I certainly hope so.

Check out the video of him at the concert. The audio quality is poor as the video was taken with a cell phone, but it is fairly close up. And a warning about the first song he sings, it is called “It’s a Motherf***er,” so there is some profanity in it. He starts singing “Open Arms” around four minutes.