Steve Perry: Boston Globe November 1994

"I heard a rumor you retired," he mused. "I heard a rumor you had lost your voice. You don't look bad for all the miles you have on you."

Of course, Perry wasn't talking about the old costume he once wore with the much loved and villified '80s power-ballad pioneers Journey. He was talking about himself. After all, it had been eight years since the singer last set foot on a local stage - for a Worcester Centrum show with the last remnants of Journey.

Eyeing the suit on its hanger, Perry said, "Maybe we'll leave it up to Boston. What do you people think?" As if there was any doubt, cheers erupted, he slipped on the outfit, let down his ponytail and launched into "Lovin', Touchin' Squeezin'," his first Top 40 single with Journey from 1979.

The near-soldout crowd of 2,750 (including plenty of fans old enough to remember Journey) picked up on the "Nah, Nah, Nah, nah, nah" chorus, and Perry was

ready to roll on a Journey hit parade. His band flailed into "Any Way You Want It," "Separate Ways" (with 23-year-old guitar find Lincoln Brewster smoothly re-creating the solo), "Don't Stop Believin'" (with Perry ad-libbing a line about the girl being born and raised in Boston) and "Faithfully," a salute to faithful fans that began in true power-ballad fashion with a keyboard-backed soliloquy.

Of course, the faithful had to wade through over an hour of Perry's solo-comeback power trip before they got to that point of last night's near-two-hour show.

Oh, there were other oldies sprinkled through the set, including Journey opener "Only The Young" (a concept that should have been applied to Perry when it came to how he looked in his tight, torn-knee jeans) and his 1984 solo hit "Foolish Heart," delivered with more sensitive emotion.

There was no question that Perry still wields a powerful, distinct voice, but it's how he overuses it that can grate. Especially when he balanced his crescendoes with fan-teasing pauses, as he did in "Oh, Sherrie" last night. What was worse for most of the show was that his straightahead band added to the

bombast by being louder than his vocals. Perry became almost unbearable when he gave an evangelic slant to "Somewhere There's Hope," though the boyish Brewster infused the tune with an extended bluesy solo that went beyond his usual slick, vibrato pondering.

Perry's keening voice cut through the mix better to backing from the dual keyboards on "Missing You" (if you could overlook lyrics like "If I could remember how you felt the pain"). And rocking followup "Listen To Your Heart" (also from Perry's schlocky new CD "For The Love Of Strange Medicine") at least found the singer and band hitting their stride - before Perry went off into one of his crowd-patronizing raps. The energy level also climbed with "Wheel In The Sky" (to roving light beams) and "Dixie Highway," with both Brewster and keyboarist Paul Taylor cutting loose on guitars in Dixie Dregs fashion.

The concentrated Journey trump card soon followed, if a little late.

Sass Jordan warmed up with compatible mainstream rock 'n' roll that didn't pander, recalling the Black Crowes in the guitar-slashed "Believer," but also displaying lilting melodicism in new single "Sun's Gonna Rise."