April 10, 2009
Red Robinson Show Theatre
Coquitlam, BC
Picture & Review by Patti Mullen
The Red Robinson Theatre in Coquitlam, BC (yup that’s Canada) was a nice size venue with just over 1,000 theatre style seats. It was named after Red Robinson who is a British Columbia broadcasting legend and has the same owners as the River Rock in Richmond BC where Rick played back in 2006. The lighting was to die for! Small cameras were permitted but larger ones were asked nicely to be checked (Canadians are very nice). Red Robinson came out and did the intro with a gal from 96.9 JACK FM (sorry I didn’t catch her name). Did I mention the lighting?
The intro with Rodger on drums bathed in white lights flashing off and on is really cool to witness. Rick started off with Mr. PC. For you clothes watchers…he was wearing a plaid shirt (an updated version of the Billy Bob type) underneath the black China Wall leather jacket with the white skulls along the right side. Love that jacket. Pants you ask? He wasn’t wearing any! Kidding. He was wearing the sexiest jeans (4 out of 5 women said so-okay 5 out of 5). They were made to look worn by having holes strategically placed and having that slightly dirty look. Very cool! He was sporting some black and white sparkly tennis shoes that only a few men could pull off. It took a song or two but people began to fill up the floor space between the stage and front row. It definitely boosted the energy.
Between songs Rick told us that he was sick, on medication, and that he didn’t like to cancel unless his voice was completely gone. He also said that we may have to help him with the words as the medication was scrambling his brain (I’m paraphrasing). He mentioned the new lullaby cd with songs he wrote for his kids when they were small. He said his kids were in their 20s now. The songs were recorded long ago and put on a few cds that they gave to friends for their children. They never expected them to come out like this. He also said they aren’t really the kind of songs that work for a concert. If they put anyone’s kids to sleep let him know.
Rick broke a guitar string (I don’t remember during what song). He asked “who wants a string?” Two people said yes who were right in front of the stage. Rick said he could split it up for them. He said he had to do this all the time without tools when he was a kid. He worked the string back and forth until it broke. He then gave each person a part.
Just before DTTS he told everyone that if they didn’t want to get sick they should use the microphone he was raising in the air. However, if they did want to get sick they should use this microphone (displaying the one in his other hand). He then said “how often can you say you caught a cold from Rick Springfield”. Of course Rick picked on a security guard standing at the stage for DTTS. Rick said that girls dig guys who sing and the guy sang with no prodding. I saw his eyes go huge when Rick said he was going to sing (it made me giggle). Then he chose one woman in the audience who was named Muriel and later revealed to be 77 yrs old. He said that nobody would be named that today. They would be named Brittany (in a funny voice). He asked who she was with and she pointed her daughter out to Rick. He either asked what with or if she spanked her kids before saying that electrical cords were what was used on him.
Some where in the middle of the show Rick asked if anyone had heard of "The Shadows" several people yelled. And Rick played a little snippet from "The Shadows" and then said he could do that in America because no one there knows who they are.
Rick got mic’d up by George N. (who turns out is a fairly good pick flicker). He came out into the audience for Human Touch and I was fortunate to have gotten some. He stood on my chair! This could be when my brain turned to mush and all those moments I was keeping in my memory banks to write this blog rushed away like a flash flood (instantly). It was so cool of my friend Susan F. to let go of Rick’s back long enough to get a picture of this. A serious sacrifice on her part. Did I mention how hot those jeans were?
Venus in Overdrive rules if you ask me. I love to hear the funkiness of it live. I noticed a bunch of people getting into it that I knew had never heard it before. Although Rick’s voice cut out a few times most concert goers didn’t really notice. People were dancing or bopping in their chairs and genuinely entranced with the whole Rick Springfield concert adventure ride they were on. Okay so was I.
Set List:
Mr. PC
What’s Victoria’s Secret?
Affair of the Heart
Living in Oz
I’ve Done Everything For You
Allyson
Venus in Overdrive
I’ll Miss That Someday
Love is Alright Tonite
Snippet from "The Shadows"
Crossroads
DTTS
Medley
Love Somebody
Human Touch
Jessie’s Girl
Encore
Wasted
Kristina
I believe this is the full set list in the approximate order, feel free to comment if you remember differently.
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