December 17, 2009 – Picture yourself listening to the radio in 1984. Survivor, with the soaring voice of Jimi Jamison, was climbing to the top of the charts with its monstrous hits like “The Search Is Over” and “High on You”. This is where the crowd gathered at the Bayview Event Center in Excelsior, Minnesota this past Saturday night found themselves thanks to the eerily unchanged voice of Jamison. In fact, take out the cell phone cameras and add in a little hair (on second thought, make that a LOT of hair), and it might as well have been 1984.
Making it seem even more like ’84 was Fergie Frederiksen, the former lead singer of Toto, who joined the rock supergroup that very year. Fergie began his opening set with a string of hits from the group; impressing the crowd with his wide vocal range made famous on his debut Toto album Isolation. Jimi soon joined Fergie on stage before too long, leading a charge through hits like “I Can’t Hold Back”, and even a timely rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.
The Heartbreakers, a local Minneapolis-based band, provided excellent backing for the two voices, delivering enthusiastic performances that complimented the raw vocal stamina of Jamison and Frederiksen. In addition to Survivor and Toto radio staples, the band was well-versed on new material including “Crossroads Moment”, the title track to Jamison’s latest solo effort.
The intimate venue allowed for many shared moments between crowd and performer. Cheers would erupt as high notes were reached, and the venue became virtually silent during the more tender moments of songs like “The Search Is Over”. But make no mistake, Jimi and Fergie rocked hard for a majority of the evening. “Caught in the Game” took the excitement up to 11, while “Eye of the Tiger” ended the set with a fury of guitar. And on top of the great music, there was a larger purpose to the evening as money was raised in support of “Gifts for Seniors” – a local organization helping to brighten Christmas for isolated elderly citizens.
After finishing work on Jimi Jamison’s latest solo album, songwriter and collaborator Jim Peterik remarked that the singer’s voice was sounding the same as it had when the world first came to know him over 25 years ago. The fans who witnessed Saturday’s show know one thing for certain – Peterik wasn’t kidding.
You can view the show’s photo gallery below:
Wish I’d been at that one. I’m a big fan of Fergie’s vocals. I also enjoy Jamison’s. Did he perform, Ever Since the World Began perchance? That’s my favorite Survivor song. I know it’s from Dave Bickler’s tenure in the band, but I think Jamison is a better singer.
The set consisted mostly of songs Jimi originally sung, but there were a few Bickler tunes mixed in – Eye of the Tiger and Caught in the Game. He didn’t sing “Ever Since the World Began” I’m afraid, great song though.
My heart goes out to my friend Fergie and his speedy recovery! Love ya buddy.