Sunday, June 27, 2010

Rick Springfield at the Taste of Joliet

Saturday June 27,2010
The Taste of Joliet
Joliet, IL
review by B Dahl
photo by Lauri J

The Taste of Joliet is held at a football stadium, and the stage was set up at one end, while food venders lined the sides and the other end of the field. Rides and carnival games were also set up outside the stadium. There was a fenced in area in front of the stage for the “reserved” ticket holders, though this area had no seats and was a general seating area, too (ie, has the potential for people pushing up front once Rick took the stage). Some fans had gotten there as early as 7:30 AM to be up front, but the reserved area really didn’t start filling up until the second band started playing.

Two bands were on-stage before Rick: Camouflage, a local band of older guys who played mostly classic rock cover songs; and 7th Heaven, also a local group who are well-known in the Chicagoland area, who play current cover songs as well as their own songs (that some of the audience seemed to know, as they have a huge local following). Both bands were fairly good and made the time waiting for Rick enjoyable. 7th Heaven especially seemed to have a lot of energy; as part of their set, they play “30 songs in 30 minutes”, which is a montage of familiar songs.

* There were a couple of special guest performers tonite with Rick:
- Dustin Walker, a 14-yr-old guitar player who played Rick’s guitar during “What’s Victoria’s Secret” This kid is an amazingly talented guitarist, a real rock-star performer, with great stage presence. At one point, Rick handed him some roses to shred, and Dustin at first refused- like maybe saying that was something only Rick could do - but then he took them for a mini-rose explosion.
- Jackson, Jack White’s son (also a young teen?), who played drum during “Crossroads”. He also had great stage presence, and did an awesome job.
- and Jack White himself (Rick’s drummer from the 80’s), who played drums for the surprise second song during the encore. This seemed to have been unplanned, as the “clear the venue” music started playing first, and Rick had to tell Matty (sound engineer) to turn it off as he introduced Jack.

* The “heavy breathing” that Rick used to do during “Jessie’s Girl”, he now did in the pause between the first and second verse of “I Get Excited”. During the pause in “Jessie’s Girl”, he held his hand over his eyes and scanned the audience, looking for “a woman like that”.

* While having the audience practice the “Yeah Yeah” for “Venus in Overdrive”, Rick repeated it different ways, and made other sounds for the audience to repeat. He said it sound like we were calling aliens, and he looked skyward, as if waiting for them to arrive.

* For “Don’t Talk to Strangers”, in addition to choosing some people in front of the stage (who couldn’t sing, according to Rick), he waded thru the crowd to the tent that was set up on the side, with raised seats, that Rick called “the expensive seats” (I think these may have been the festival organizers and sponsors and such?). He had a few people there sing, and then said, “See, rich people suck at singing, too! Does anybody here sing in this crowd?!” On his way back to the stage, he found one of “the city’s finest”, a police officer named Willis, who he had sing, and then he told Willis that he wasn’t allowed to give anyone a speeding ticket for the next month if when he stopped them, they mentioned that they’d heard the police officer sing at the Rick Springfield concert. Back on stage, he tried to get a little girl in front to come on-stage with him, but when she refused, another girl was pushed on-stage from the side. He had 9-yr-old Maddie (sp?) dance with him first, jumping around wildly and waving his arms, before he had her sing.

* When introducing “Love Somebody”, after asking who saw the movie “Hard to Hold”, Rick asked who thought he should have won an Oscar for that movie, and if his naked butt should have won an Oscar, too? Then, he said that his naked butt was nominated for an Emmy from his appearance on Californication. This song (“Love Somebody”) he sang on both shows.

* During “Human Touch”, Rick went into the audience without his guitar and with a handheld mic. He went only as far as the fence that separated the reserved area from the general admission area, and sang most of the song from there, standing on top the fence.

* During the chorus of “Jessie’s Girl”, George B and Matt joined Rick at his mic center stage, and pushed him away every time it was time for them to sing the refrain.

* At one point early in, someone in the front handed Rick some festival food: a large, non-alcoholic drink and a corndog wrapped in foil. Rick was uncertain about what the corndog was, and asked if it was something he ate. He then threw it back to Rodger and Matt, saying they ate anything. Rodger unwrapped the corndog, and tried to play drums with it, which Rick then had to do, too, before throwing it over to George B. (who tossed it off-stage to George N.) Later in the concert, someone from the audience handed Rick a beer, the band which was one of the festival sponsors.

* The documentary film crew (Yellow Rick Road) was there filming both on stage and in the front of the audience. And a photographer from the Joliet Park District was running all over the stage and in the front row snapping pictures during the entire concert.

* What he wore: Rick came out on stage wearing jeans, a white button shirt with gold designs and ripped off sleeves, a jacket, and sparkly black high top sneakers. The jacket was quickly removed, and once the white shirt became soaked with sweat, he changed on-stage into a black sleeveless pull-over shirt. No change for the encore.

Set list:
Mr. PC
I’ve Done Everything for You
Affair of the Heart
Living in Oz
What’s Victoria’s Secret
Celebrate Youth
I Get Excited
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:
Kristina
Wild Thing

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Rick Springfield in Europe

A fan review from the Sweden Rock Festival

http://www.planetaor.com/?p=1978

photo by Pam Geiger

A fan picture link from Oslo:

http://picasaweb.google.nl/ray.bogman/RickSpringfieldOslo2010#

Thank you to Ray for posting them in the comment section!

Rick Springfield Song Tournament - Round 2

Be sure to vote for your favorite songs. We've also added some more categories to add to the fun! In this poll you'll find Round 2 for "Favorite Rick Springfield Song'. Also added are Favorite Video, Favorite CD, Favorite recorded cover song, Favorite Live cover song, and Live Song you most want to hear.

Rick Springfield Song Tournament

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Rick Springfield rocks Germany


Sunday June 13, 2010
Weingarten Open Air Festival
(moved inside)
Weingarten, Germany
By
Birgit Fischer

Got home at 3 in the morning, had to go to work at 8.
Now I'm at home, tired but happy :-) the show was a blast, everybody (Rick included) was very happy and satisfied about everything. I'm so proud of him!
Got the chance to meet him backstage. Tthere was not much time, but I had a little talk with him and he promised to come back to Germany for 4 shows in December.
Rick was amazing. No one would ever believe he is over 60!!!! He was in a very good mood and he applaud for the audience and gave us "thumbs up" for a few times.

Greetings from Germany
Birgit

Set List:
Mr PC
I've Done Everything For You
Affair of the Heart
Living In Oz
WVS
Celebrate Youth
Venus In Overdrive
I'll Miss That Someday
Love Is Alright Tonight
Crossroads
DTTS
Love Somebody
Human Touch
Jessie's Girl
Encore:
Wild thing
Kristina

Thursday, June 17, 2010

More Summer Tour Dates for Rick Springfield

confirmed on rickspringfield.com
August 07, 2010
Michigan City, IN
Blue Chip Casino
Public on-sale is 6/24

August 28, 2010
Lewiston, ID
Pioneer Park
Public on-sale is 6/28

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Rick Springfield & Bret Michaels Tour Date



Confirmed on www.rickspringfield.com

Co-headling with Bret Michaels
Sat July 31 2010
Pala, CA
Pala Casino Starlight Theater

tickets on sale June 18th
http://www.palacasino.com/

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Norway Welcomes Rick Springfield



Saturday June 12, 2010 Rockefeller Music Hall
Oslo, Norway

Review and pictures: Carl Thomas

My Rick Springfield day started early: at 11 am I was in Oslo to meet fellow Rick fans, and we started with some beers at the hotel they were staying. Then I got a SMS from the guys who make the fan-documentary (YellowRickRoad), and they wanted to meet us outside the venue at 5.30 for an interview. We did so, and found about 5 other fans allready standing in line; 5 hours before Rick was suppose to be on stage! Well, we did the interview and went to get something to eat. A few hours later we were back at the line, meeting the same people. I was afraid it would only be us. Now, we knew that they would open the doors at 8.30, as they were going to show the soccer match between England and the US on big screen before the concert. More people were coming, and after a while there was around 2-300, and as I guessed, around 70% men.

We have Rick in a total different perspecitve over here. Well after the match, the hole thing started with a short movie showing Rick's life from the start in Australia to where he is now, that was really amazing ! Then the stage exploded as people started cheering. And there he was ! He started playing Mr PC, and did the exact set that he did in Sweden, except for a few songs. After the first two, he told us that he was so tired from the jetleg, and I saw that. I felt really sorry for him, he looked so worn out, but he gave it all to us. His voice gave also proof for that he had a rough concert in Sweden the day before, as it was quite hoarse.

It's funny. Most of us have passed 40, and yes, we are stiff like Norwegians usually are, but after a while we all started jumping up and down. He knows how to entertain his audience ! During human touch he went out to the audience, and that was real fun. First of all he lost his mic, got another, and just walked around making us laugh. He topped it, as he continued further back in and ended at the bar, ordering a beer while he was still singing Human touch. Wow, he was crazy!

Ok, back on stage he told us that he was going to sing a song that was big over here "celebrate youth". To tell the truth, I cant say that this is a favorite song of mine, and it was not big in Norway as he said, but it was a hit in Germany (where he will be playing after Norway). I have to say, the version of the song they played on the concert was much better that the original one, so it was ok. The concert was very very short (under one hour) and most of us was disapointed of that. He only did one extra number (Kristina) and he ended the concert when he really got us going. I cant really blame him, I know how I feel when I come to the US. The jet-leg is really killing you. It's not hard to stay awake, the problem is to sleep when you should, and after a few days, you go nuts.

Well, after some more interviews for the documentary, I were invited backstage to meet Rick and the band. I was the only male going backstage, and the last to speak to him. The women in front took some pictures with him, and again, it was like he was sleeping. He struggled to keep his eyes open. Speaking to him, I felt like I had to grab his arm to get his attention. I showed him my T-shirt, (2010 cruise T-shirt) and told him that if he was there, I would be too. Then he lighted up a bit and gave me his fist to meet mine. They asked me if I wanted a photograph and a picture with Rick, and I just said, no, let the man sleep. He smiled at me, gratefull for my understanding of the situation. I spoke to the rest of the band and told them I would see them on the cruise (but only if Roger promised not to sing). He laughed... Anyway, a great experience. I think people loved Rick, he really made an impression, and I hope he ment what he said when he ended the concert: " I hope I see you guys later". We would love to have him back.

Set List:
Mr PC
I've Done Everything for You
Afair of the Heart
Living in Oz
What's Victoria's Secret
Celebrate youth
Venus In Overdrive
I'll Miss That Someday
Love Is Alright Tonite
Crossroads
DTTS
Human Touch
Jessie's Girl
Encore:
Kristina

Friday, June 11, 2010

Rick Springfield in Sweden!



Friday, June 11 2010
Sweden Rock Festival
Sölvesberg, SE
Photos: Dancy Zahn & Pam Geiger

Rick rocked the Sweden Rock Festival with approximately 25,000-30,000 people in attendance! He even found a way to climb through the crowd to the equipment tower!
Set List:


Mr PC
I've Done Everything For You
Affair of the Heart
LIO
WVS
Celebrate Youth
VIO
I'll Miss That Someday
Love Is Alright Tonight
Crossroads
DTTS
Love Somebody
Human Touch
JG
Crowd: one more song
Wild thing
Kristina

Rick Springfield - Sweden Press Confernce - Part 2

Rick Springfield - Sweden Press Confernce - part 1

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Rick Springfield Song Tournament


We haven't done one of these for over 5 years, so thought it was time for another one. Click on the Link below, choose up to 20 songs and see which songs move forward into the next round.


Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Rick Springfield Returns to NYC



Confirmed on www.rickspringfield.com

September 25, 2010
New York, NY
Nokia Theater

Photo:Rosie Malthaner