Saturday, October 20, 2007

Rick Springfield - Anaheim House of Blues

Rick Springfield
Anaheim, CA 10/19/07
House of Blues

photo and review by Laurie Bennett

I have many opinions about HOB the venue, most of which are not good, but tonight was different. The staff was VERY friendly and helpful and since ownership (?) has recently changed, they have revised their long standing No Cameras rule - which was true the last time I was there. It was very packed and quite hot in there, and thus the reason I usually don't do General Admission shows.
The Squirts opened up, which was a very nice treat. Matt was in a very chatty mood, introducing each song and telling a sentence or 2 about it. I believe they played 5 songs. They also started right on time. :)
After intermission, Rick came onto the stage, wearing the black shirt with the rhinestone skull on the front - one of my personal favorites. :) The set list was: Introduction snippet music, Who Killed Rock and Roll, Will I? (Yeah, a song from SDAA!), Affair of the Heart, Allyson, I've Done Everything for You, Rock of Life, Kristina (I think... now I'm wondering), Red House - with Matt's son on Drums, and doing a FABULOUS job I might add!!! - Don't Talk to Strangers, the Medley, Love Somebody - where he said if there is any tiny bit of space out there for me, let me through so I can come out there, man the crowd was tight! - My Generation, Human Touch, Jessie's Girl, and for the encore, Wasted AND Love is ALright Tonight.
A few notes - he started off with his shirt entirely buttoned, but by the time he got into the crowd about 3 people deep, it was open, and then at some point several people tried to take his shirt off, it looked like they were trying to get a good look at the hawk tattoo, but Rick was trying very hard to keep his shirt on, or at the very least, keep his relatively new and nice shirt still in one piece, on his back!; Also, Rick noticed that he got scratched on his stomach, and asked who scratched me? I thought this was supposed to be a love fest! another point someone threw some large "Lion King" style slippers on the stage. First matt put them on, then Rick put them on, and walked around a bit. Too funny. Also, when he sang DTTS, he sang How's life in the Big City of Disneyland... every man's a mouse, every girl is pretty... There were very few rose bouquets in the audience, but eventually I did see a few roses (3 or 4 bunched together, etc) and there were at least 4 bras thrown on stage too. AND, we got a semi shirtless second half of the show. :)
It was a great show and I really enjoyed myself.

No comments: