2 Days

Two more days until Milwaukee 2007 (and just a couple of hours away from the show tonight - I love that daytime concert lighting). We are now up to Friday, May 12, 2006. Here are a few highlights from Laura's review:

Living In Oz – Rick forgot the lyrics right from the start and asked people in the audience for help. He didn’t really get back on track until the chorus but killed the rest of the song. It sounded great live.

Swingtown (Steve Miller Band Cover – Only Band Intro) – The band just started playing the song and Rick just looked at them saying “I have no idea what this is”. The crowd started singing the opening “Ohhh Ohhhhhs”, but he still didn’t get it. Matt said they had worked on it before the show and Rick said “thanks for letting me know”.
Rock N’ Me (Steve Miller Band Cover – Only first verse and chorus) – Rick said he knew this one by the Steve Miller Band.

It’s Always Something – Awesome to hear live. I haven’t heard it since the Karma tour.

Don’t Talk To Strangers – He had a couple people up front sing and then he went to another lady he called “Momma”. He had called her that earlier in the show too. I was in the balcony, so I didn’t really see what was going on, but I heard she was a high roller that was basically just sitting in the front row not really too enthusiastic about the show. All speculation of course. So Rick walks out on her table and kneels down by her for DTTS and she says she will only sing her own song. He says that’s fine and she can sing whatever she wants. I think she told him that she wanted to do a rap so Rick start beat boxing into his mic and then stops and lets her sing. She lets out a hilarious rendition of “Rapper’s Delight”. It was so funny and Rick totally busted up laughing. She did better than I ever could have though, so props to her. Next, he moved on off stage into the audience and some girls were yelling that their friend could sing really well. He scrambles over to her and lets her sing. Rick was having problems with the hand held mic again and kept shutting it off accidentally. When she finally sings, he says “I came all the way over here for that?” He helped her up on the ledge between two of the rows and let her sing again (since the mic went out). She was a little toasted and almost pulled him over and then he said that he thought he might be scaring the casino by letting the fans up on the ledge. On the way back to the stage, he grabbed a security guard and made him sing. He did it right away and Rick gave him a huge hug.

Jesus Saves - Someone gave Rick a pair of red or pink fuzzy hand cuffs and he put them on one wrist during part of the song.

Wild Thing – A couple of nights before he had done this one on stage, but I have to say that it was so much ….ummm…. hotter out in the audience. He rocked out hard to it, strolling along the ledges in between the booths….even losing his balance once and then hopping on one foot about 5 times to regain it. Toward the end of the song, he was getting very suggestive with guitar…sliding his hand up and down the neck and finally holding it above his head. At the end of the line “C’mon hold me tight”, he had the guitar above his head and did this pelvic thrust thing that had the ladies swooning.

You Really Got Me – He did the cell phone slide guitar and then decided to call “Dad”. He actually asked for dad but then asked for Jake once he found out his real name. Jake must have asked who it was and Rick screams “RICK SPRINGFIELD” and the crowd goes wild. Then Rick says that he is calling to tell him that he “digs” him. Dad asks to speak to his daughter and Rick says…”hold on a second” but then says in a fake female voice, “Dad?”…and Jake then says “Where are you”…then Rick, again in the female voice “I’m at a concert”. It was funny because Rick kept putting the phone up to his mic so we could hear both sides of the conversation. He finally gave the phone back and I’m sure the daughter spent a little time explaining to dad what the heck was going on.

Human Touch – Rick starts up to the balcony on Derek’s side of the stage (the opposite side he usually goes up). We are in front row balcony on that side and thought for sure he would walk right in front of us. He started out in climbing across the second row seats and when he got to where we were sitting, he started climbing over to the front row (woo hoo). I grabbed his hand to steady him while he stood on our seats. Then I held onto his leg (so he wouldn’t fall of course). While he had his arms up in the air over his head, clapping, the neck of his guitar kept hitting me in the head so I sort of put up my other hand as a barricade so he wouldn’t take out an eye. He then jumped down and stood leaning over the railing in front of us. A couple people held on to him a little and then security took over. Then he made his way across the rest of the balcony, again giving hugs along the way and running back downstairs.

Jessie’s Girl – He did at least half the song out in the audience. During the break between verses, he was standing on a ledge bending over when he noticed some people standing up behind him. He asked them how they liked the view from back there and commented that he had a pretty nice a** for a 56 year old. After JG, he gave a hug and kiss before leaving the stage.

It was great to hear three songs during the encore. Rick put so much energy into “Perfect”. Lost of spinning around and jumping up and down during the non-singing parts. This had to be one of the best shows of the series.

Full Set List:

I'll Make You Happy
Will I?
Living in Oz
Affair of the Heart
I've Done Everything For You
Rock of Life
Swingtown**
Keep on Rocking me Baby**
itsalwaysomething
Red House
Don't Talk to Strangers
Life in a Northern Town
The Medley
Love Somebody
Jesus Saves
Wild Thing
You Really Got Me
Human Touch
Jessie's Girl
Perfect
Wasted
Love is Alright Tonite
**not all songs were played in their entirety

More concert photos and Laura's full review can be found in the concert section.
(photo by Mike Gerken)