Rick Springfield in CO

Vilar Performing Arts Center - Beaver Creek, Colorado

August 29, 2009

Review by Darla Gerken

Photo by Mike Gerken

“Rick Rocks the Rockies”

Beaver Creek, Colorado holds a special place in my heart. When I heard that Rick was going to perform there, I knew that I couldn’t pass up the chance to hop on a plane to see Rick. The venue is located in the Beaver Creek Ski Resort at an altitude of about 8,000 feet in the village. If a person is not accustomed to high altitude, any kind of activity can be a challenge. Rick asked the crowd if anyone else was having trouble breathing, he said it felt like he was on Mount Everest. After a few songs he asked where the oxygen was. There were a few times while singing he missed a few words to take a deep breath. He commented about when entering the resort you have to go through a gate to be allowed up the mountain and that the sidewalks were heated. That, of course, is to melt the snow in the winter.

The night seemed to be one for broken guitar strings; there was a lot of switching out guitars, which kept George busy with repairs. Rick asked if anyone knew that last week was his birthday. Rick asked if we knew how old he was, one guy yelled out “29”, Rick responded with “you win the prize”.

There appeared to be a shortage of roses, guess Colorado hasn’t heard about Rick’s rose explosions. Since my seat was in the second row, I decided that tonight was the night that I would take a lovely white rose bouquet. During Affair of the Heart, I stepped up to stage and Rick walked over and grabbed my roses; which he proceeded to destroy in a white explosion of petals.

As usual, IDEFY, got everyone involved and it used all the oxygen he had in his lungs because we heard a thud and Rick was on the floor. Not that he fell, he laid down on the floor and he was gasping for air after using so much energy. Wish I could have gotten that picture.

Someone had a sign that said “Yeah, Yeah”, Rick asked for the sign and we practiced the words before he sang Venus In Overdrive. Love that song! Before playing Crossroads, Rick stood on the side of the stage and played a guitar solo. I’m not sure what the name of the song was; I’ve never heard him play it before.

In the front row was a “Rick Virgin”, her friend pointed to her when Rick was looking for people to sing DTTS. Rick picked up on that one right away. The virgin sang with little coaxing. Then he put the microphone in the friend’s face and asked her to sing. She didn’t want to sing, he crawled up on her chair and wrapped his arms around her neck, it took a lot of teasing, but she finally sang. All this occurred right in front of me! I was a good girl and only touched his back, so I got my Human Touch for the evening. He got a few other people to sing and then went back on stage with a little girl named Cindy, who did a great job.

During Human Touch, he made it to the back of the venue without any mishaps. When he was ready to return to the stage, he was walking on the ledge of the box seats. That crazy Australian jumped off the 10-foot high wall into the arms of a security guard. Thank goodness he asked ahead of time, “are you ready to catch me?” He is like a cat; he always lands on his feet! Jessie’s Girl as usual made the concertgoers scream with delight, but it always means the night is almost over. It was a great night and it will be one of my most memorable concerts.

Set List:

Mr. PC

What’s Victoria’s Secret

Affair of the Heart

Living in Oz

I Get Excited

I’ve Done Everything For You

Jet

Alyson

Venus in Overdrive

I’ll Miss That Someday

Love is Alright Tonight

Crossroads

Don’t Talk to Strangers

Love Somebody

Human Touch

Jessie’s Girl

Wild Thing

Kristina