Rick Springfield brings ’80s hits and his newest tunes to the State Theatre.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
By Anthony Stoeckert
When Rick Springfield takes the stage at the State Theatre in New Brunswick March 28, you can expect to hear the hits that have been radio staples for more than 20 years. No concert of his would be complete without “Jessie’s Girl,” “Love Somebody” and “Don’t Talk to Strangers.”
Those songs still mean a lot to Mr. Springfield (he says they’re like old friends) but his newer tunes are what keep him going.
”I’m always looking for new projects and just hopefully writing the best stuff I can write,” he says. “I’ve never been one to sit back on the old stuff and just tour. For me it’s really about the new songs, though the old songs are still fun to play.”
Anyone who grew up in the 1980s would be hard-pressed to imagine top 10 radio without Mr. Springfield’s catchy, pop-rock sound, but his musical career began much earlier, in the late 1960s. He had some success in his homeland of Australia, then became a pop icon thanks to his role as Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital and a string of catchy hits, starting with “Jessie’s Girl.”
That signature song helped the album Working Class Dog reach No. 7 on the Billboard charts and spawn a second top 10 hit, “I’ve Done Everything For You.” His next album, Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet, went to No. 2 on the album charts and yielded the top-10 hit “Don’t Talk to Strangers.”
After releasing a few more records, Mr. Springfield stepped away from the public eye (“I disappeared in 1985 when my kids were born,” he says, adding that he did some acting during his touring hiatus) and returned to the concert scene about eight years ago.
”I was still writing but I didn’t have the (desire) to get out on the road again,” he says. “Then my old drummer called up and said, ‘Why don’t we go out on the road?’ So we put a band together and that kind of evolved into this band and started a regular thing.”
Over the last few months, Mr. Springfield has performed on The Today Show, Live with Regis and Kelly and even The Oprah Winfrey Show. But he didn’t know his return to touring would result in so much attention.
”It was kind of a nervous time, I didn’t really know what I’d be doing,” he says. “We started out pretty small, playing clubs and going at it slowly, adding shows here and there.” He re-discovered his joy for performing and now arranges his schedule so that he plays a few concerts, then returns to his Malibu home to spend time with his wife and kids before heading back out.
”It’s a great way to do it because we (he and his band) look forward to the shows and we look forward to seeing each other,” he says. “It’s really, really fun.”
Mr. Springfield is finishing up a new album, which he expects to release in late spring. The first single from the album, “Who Killed Rock N’ Roll,” is available on iTunes and is part of his concert repertoire. His recent albums have been built around themes, a Christmas CD last year and 2005’s The Day After Yesterday, which featured cover versions of some of his favorite songs. One interesting choice for that project was the Beatles’ “For No One,” which doesn’t get a lot of airplay.
”That was always one of my favorite ones and it’s one that nobody every talks about,” he says. “But I think it’s one of Paul McCartney’s best songs, certainly lyrically it was one of his best. After I recorded it, someone sent me an old ‘Rolling Stone’ with John Lennon saying that was what he considered the most undiscovered Beatles song.”
Another special tune is the title track from his Christmas CD, Christmas With You, which was about soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan spending the holidays away from home. He co-wrote the song with his keyboard player, Derek Hilland, adding that they were both “army brats.” Mr. Springfield performed for American troops in Vietnam in the late ‘60s and visited soldiers at Bethesda Veterans Hospital last year, so the song is a special one for him.
”We have an awareness of the armed services and their sacrifices, so it seemed like a real important song to write,” he says.
His upcoming album, he says, will be more in line with his Reagan-era hits. He calls it a return to “power-pop, with tough guitar sounds” and what he says are the best songs (co-written with his bass player Matt Bissonette) he’s written in 20 years.
”You’re always looking for a good partnership,” he says. “I always wrote all the songs by myself because I thought it was a really personal thing. But Matt and I are at similar places in our lives, so we have a lot of the same things to say. It helps speed up the process, I’m a bit of a slow writer when I’m just by myself. I can take three months to write a song... Matt’s more (likely) to say, ‘OK, let’s push it through.’ Good things come out of that.”
His comeback has even included a return to General Hospital. Last year he played two roles, Noah Drake and rocker Eli Love. When Love came to Port Charles (the show’s setting) and was unable to go on stage, Drake took his place lip-synching while Love sang backstage.
”Only on a soap could there be another guy who looks exactly like you,” he says. The dual role also allowed him to speak his native “Australian” since the Love character is from Down Under.
Mr. Springfield takes pride in what he says is a special relationship with his fans. His appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show came about when the show’s Web site listed celebrities viewers wanted to see. “I got the most hits, which is very flattering,” he says. “So they set up the whole fan thing and then we played. And of course she’s very family-oriented, so we talked about families, a lot of family stuff.”
He also surprised a fan by greeting her at the hospital she works at. The woman shrieked in joy at the sight of Mr. Springfield. ”That was a lot of fun,” he says. “She freaked out... They had 30 people in the waiting area when she walked out of the elevator, so it was pretty funny.”
To further connect with those fans, Mr. Springfield is embarking on a cruise in November that will feature himself, John Waite (who scored the ‘80s hit “Missing You”) and fellow General Hospital stars Jackie Zeman and Kimberly McCullough.
”I’ve come and gone from the general public’s awareness, but the fans have always been there,” he says. “When I come back with something, I think it’s always been well-intentioned and the best that I can do. And I never put out stuff for the sake of putting it out and I’ve never toured for the sake of touring. The hardcore fans certainly know there’s a love of what I do there and I think that translates.
”Rick Springfield will perform at the State Theatre, 15 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, March 28, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $28-$125; (732) 246-7469; http://www.statetheatrenj.org/ . Rick Springfield on the Web (including information on the Rick Springfield Cruise): http://www.rickspringfield.com/
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