Overview
- Journey invited Hugo Valenti onstage in Fukuoka to sing the ballad “Faithfully,” a cameo that took place on Aug. 29 and came late in the group’s set.
- Valenti has fronted Journey tribute acts for decades and was briefly considered as a replacement for Steve Perry in 1998, a possibility Neal Schon later said was dropped because Valenti’s resemblance to Perry felt “a little too weird.”
- Fans and video from the road show that Valenti returned for a second guest spot in Tokyo where he sang the deep cut “Keep on Runnin’,” marking back-to-back appearances on the Japan leg.
- The band is in the middle of its Final Frontier farewell tour and keyboardist Jonathan Cain has suggested the final San Francisco shows could include surprise guests, comments that have fed public hopes even though Perry has said he will not rejoin Journey.
- The cameo underscores how tribute performers can blur the line between nostalgia and a band’s legacy and could increase demand for surprise appearances and guest spots during the remaining farewell dates.