Rick Springfield Rocks Ohio!

July 18, 2008
Fraze Pavilion, Kettering, OH
Review & Picture by Darla Gerken

The night began with a local band called “Stranger”. The band played 80’s music, warming the crowd up for Rick. The temperature was in the high 80’s, so the crowd was already “warm”. They played a great collection of songs, mentioning that they had to seriously change their set list since they play quite a few Rick songs.

At 9:15pm, Rick casually strolled out on the stage wearing a leather jacket. That was pretty brave as warm as it was, but it projected the “Rock Star” image and it REALLY worked! He belted out Who Killed Rock ‘N Roll to the crowd’s enthusiasm, leading into Wasted and Affair of the Heart. About this time, the leather jacket was off to reveal a sleeveless black plaid shirt. There were several rose explosions. Rick asked if Bucky passed out the roses because they had duct tape wrapped around the stems. He said, “Can’t you bring roses to the concert anymore?” “I can understand firearms, but not roses”.
Alyson came next followed by I’ve Done Everything for You with the usual “point” from Rick. To be the recipient of the “point”, makes a woman’s heart beat a little faster. Rick made a comment about it being hot and that sweating was good for the skin. After singing Rock of Life, he mentioned that he had a new CD coming out and said that it had a song called What’s Victoria’s Secret. Rodger must have said something to Rick because he said Rodger doesn’t want to play it right now. So, he led into Fire, after that Rick sang What’s Victoria’s Secret. The crowd loved it and cheered loudly. It’s a song that has a Jessie’s Girl twang and it sticks in your head after it’s over. I know it’s going to be a hit!
Red House was next on the agenda. Somewhere around this time, Rick asked for a new shirt since the one he was wearing was drenched with sweat. He said to close our eyes and he would count to ten while he changed. He counted slowly, but of course, we didn’t close our eyes to our delight.
Don’t Talk to Strangers came next with Rick pointing the microphone to a couple people, who graciously sang DTTS before he asked if there were any kids who wanted to sing. Three young girls stepped on stage; Rick pointed to Matt and said I’d like you to meet my son. Matt got down on his knees and walked over to the girls. Rick asked the girls how old they were and also asked Matt, to which he did a “plug” for the new CD. Rick asked the mother of the older girl to also come on stage. The two older girls and mother sang with no coaching. The smallest of the girls appeared to have stage fright, Rick knelt down and talked with her about singing, finally she looked up at Rick with the cutest smile and sang DTTS. The crowd gave her a huge cheer. When the others were leaving the stage, Rick was still holding the younger girl’s hand and asked where her mother was, when there wasn’t a quick response, he said, “I’ll keep her”.

The medley came next, followed by Love Somebody. Rick asked the crowd how many saw it when it first came out and if they were under 18 at the time. He said then they saw his “naked butt” when they were minors. At this point he was crowd surfing and went into My Generation. Before Human Touch, Rick asked for a cell phone. Someone handed him her phone. He asked who he should call and she said her husband, Travis. Unfortunately, he did not answer. Rick left a message. He said Christina, Chris, Christy, (he couldn’t get her name right) was with him. Laughing, he said something suggestive about why he couldn’t understand her name. I won’t repeat what he said. Rick was being very naughty, but we still love him! Quite a few received the Human Touch, but not this one; which ended with Rick back on stage for Jessie’s Girl with a beautiful red guitar in his hand. After changing shirts again for the encore, we heard I’ll Make You Happy and Love is Alright Tonight. The guitar toss at the end of the show was successful with no injuries, unlike last weekend. It was a great “Rick Night” as usual.