Four more classic Journey performances from The Midnight Special have appeared online

Steve Perry singing on The Midnight Special
(Image credit: The Midnight Special)

Late last month, the freshly-launched YouTube channel from legendary TV music show The Midnight Special unveiled footage of Journey playing Feeling That Way, originally broadcast on April 28, 1978, three months after the release of the band's Infinity album.

Now more songs have emerged from the same show, with Steve Perry and Journey performing four more tracks from the album: the previous year's Wheel In The Sky single, plus La Do Da, Patiently, and Anytime

The performances come from a show hosted by the band themselves, one that also showcased music from Rita Coolidge, Al Jarreau and Eddie Money, while former Turtles-turned-comedy duo Flo & Eddie interviewed Lou Reed.

Wheel In the Sky had been written with previous vocalist Robert Fleishman, prior to Perry joining Journey. The song had started out as a poem called Wheels In My Mind by Diane Valory, the wife of Journey bassist Ross Valory, and proved to play a pivotal part in the band's story, helping to launch the Infinity album.   

“I remember clearly Wheel In The Sky being the first single," Perry told Classic Rock in 2014. "Neal and I went to this pizza place, and I went over to the jukebox and saw a Wheel In the Sky vinyl 45 in the machine – an ecstatic feeling.

“I didn’t tell Neal, I just put two quarters in, pushed the button and sat down, and the song started. Neal looked at me and started laughing. It was a monumental moment. Back then if you were started to show up in jukeboxes it was a sign that you might be finally starting to happen.”

Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.