Watch: Steve Perry, formerly of Journey, sings ‘Open Arms’ with Eels

If you’ve been to a Journey show recently and were sitting far enough from the stage, you may have sworn you were hearing the voice of the arena-rock band’s big-lunged frontman, Steve Perry.

In fact, you were listening to Arnel Pineda, the Filipino singer whose uncanny approximation of Perry’s style earned him a place in the group after guitarist Neal Schon -- eager to carry on with Journey despite Perry’s retirement in the late 1990s -- found clips of Pineda performing on YouTube.

Yet it was Perry himself who turned up Sunday night for an unannounced appearance at a gig by the L.A. alt-rock outfit Eels in St. Paul, Minn.

Taking the stage for what’s said to be the first time in nearly two decades, Perry sang an Eels song with an unprintable title, then followed it up with two Journey classics: “Open Arms” and “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’.”

Pop & Hiss has no idea why this happened, though it certainly seems possible that the popular revival of Journey’s music -- through high-profile placements in films and TV shows such as “Monster,” “The Sopranos” and “Glee” -- has inspired a new appetite for fame in the once-reclusive frontman.

Watch fan footage of Perry performing “Open Arms” above. Higher-grade video of his entire performance -- which had racked up nearly 350,000 views by early Tuesday -- is on YouTube, though be warned that it contains explicit language.