Rick Springfield....hot and hotter in IL

August 13th 2009
St Charles, IL

Arcada Theatre
Review by: B Dahl
Picture by: Cyndi O'Hora

* There was an opening act, Frank and Dave, a local acoustic duo, who play weekly at the restaurant owned by the theatre owners. They were actually very good - good vocals and harmonies- but, of course, once Rick took the stage, all about their performance was forgotten. Also, in what has become an Arcada tradition, Johnny belted out "New York, New York" right before Rick took the stage. Johnny is a theatre employee who Rick requested to sing his first year at this theatre, after Rick was talking with him on the ride from the airport and discovering his big voice.

* The venue is an older vaudeville theatre that was refurbished and reopened for concerts and theatre shows in 2005 - but I think they forgot to add air conditioning, because the theatre was sweltering hot before Rick even took the stage. The benefit of this for fans was that Rick spent most of the concert shirtless!

* I never get tired of hearing Rodger beat on those drums to open the concert, with the lights flashing on him. It really sets the tone for a high energy concert.

* IGE without a girl under the guitar. After the first verse, Rick paused briefly, and looked at the band; I thought maybe some fans might rush on stage at this point, but no one did. (Though there had been a big rush to the front of the stage at the start of the concert.)

* Rick mentioned a couple times about it being his birthday soon, and that he would be 30 twice. He led the audience in singing "Happy Birthday" to him, with lots of arm movements directing and pointing to himself.

* Two cover songs: "Jet" - which Rick really screams out on!, and "Crossroads" - that really highlights his guitar playing abilities. No freakin’ medley.

* While introducing "something from the new album - and not the lullaby record", Rick mentioned that Les Paul had died today, so he was dedicating this concert to him. He asked how many people even knew who Les Paul was, then said it was "a guy thing", and how Les Paul had invented the greatest guitar of all.

* No "YEAH" guitar for "Venus in Overdrive" - but the audience did a good job chiming in when time anyway. When he sang the line about love not being kismet, "you don't choose it, It chooses you", he grabbed his neck, as if being choked by love.

* It seems like I’ll never get used to hearing “Love is Alright Tonite” in the middle of the set. I always get sad when I hear it, because it used to signal the end of the concert. Even with it in the middle of the set, I still felt that way.

* At the beginning of the guitar solo introduction to "Crossroads", Rick took a small fan that someone in the audience had, and used it like a slide on his guitar - which made a weird buzzing sound.

* Rick didn’t spend too much time trying to get people to sing during DTTS. He started with some girl who had been yelling at him earlier, whom he couldn't hear at the time; he had warned her he would get to her later with a mic so she could tell the whole audience what she was trying to say. She wanted him to take a photo with her friend who was celebrating her 30th birthday (which he did, but not on stage, as she had requested). Then Rick pulled a cute 6-yr-old girl onto the stage to sing with him, and mentioned how obnoxious boys were, always so loud! He asked her if she minded his sweat - she didn't seem to fazed by it.

* As George was putting the wireless mic and guitar on Rick for “Love Somebody”, Rick relayed what George was telling him - that the movie "Hard to Hold" won for best picture, best actor, best song. Even with the wireless, he stayed on the stage to sing, then took off the mic and guitar and grabbed a hand mic to come out in the audience for ‘Human Touch”. He didn't go too far out into the audience, only to about the fourth or fifth row, but across both sides of the theatre.

* “Jessie’s Girl” had some changes/additions of guitar music, that sounded very good. I like the different ways Rick changes this classic song to keep it fresh. With the additional guitar music, this is one of the best renditions of the song I think I've heard.

* A two-song encore – and it was shirtless!

Nothing is Every Lost intro

Mr. PC
What’s Victoria’s Secret?
Affair of the Heart
Living in Oz

I Get Excited
I’ve Done Everything for You

Happy Birthday (led audience in singing)

Jet
Alyson
Venus in Overdrive
I’ll Miss That Someday
Love is Alright Tonite

Crossroads
Don’t Talk to Strangers
Love Somebody
Human Touch
Jessie’s Girl
-encore-
I'll Make You Happy
Kristina