Request Night in Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI - Potawatomi Casino 5/19/11
Review by Darla Gerken
Photos by Mike Gerken
Tonight was a combination show – half electric and half acoustic. I was so excited to finally experience an acoustic set, a lot of my wishes were granted with this show.
What a great way to begin the night when Rick appeared in one of his cool black leather jackets to belt out Who Killed Rock ‘N Roll, I Get Excited and Affair of the Heart. The jacket came off for Love Me Do with Rick on
the harmonica and Matt on background vocals. At the end of the song, Rick tossed the harmonica into the crowd and said “it’s yours". What a nice souvenir for a lucky fan.
The band disappeared backstage and Rick made himself comfortable on a stool to begin the acoustic portion of the show. It was unusual to see Rick stationary and not moving all over the stage.
There was a “Wheel of Songs” on stage which had the top 19 requested songs that fans voted for on rickspringfield.com. Rick invited fans individually on stage to spin the wheel, each giving him a kiss on the cheek or a hug. Several fans got smart by not spinning the wheel and just moving the wheel to the song they
wanted to hear which Rick got a kick out of. This part of the show was a treat for many since it included songs that he rarely sings live. Lust lead the list, followed by Karma, and Big Beautiful Friday Night (Hey, Maria). I almost melted when State of the Heart came up on the wheel, I’ve waited seven years for this since I’ve only heard portions of the song in the medley. Perfect and Written
in Rock were next by the luck of the wheel. When Rick introduced Honeymoon in Beirut, he mentioned that it was a song about his wife, Barbara. To everyone’s cheers, Pretty Little Mess came up on the wheel. He said this was one of the top requests. Rick really needs to add this to his set list because everyone loved hearing the song.
After the request portion, Rick said he was getting bored and wanted the band back on stage. I really enjoyed the acoustic version, but when the band started rocking with Itsalwaysomething, there was no question that rockin’ is what Rick does best. The energy returned to the stage. The electric set list continued with IDEFY, Love Somebody, and Jessie’s Girl. The encore included a shirtless Rick singing I’ll Make You Happy and Kristina, which is always
a crowd pleaser, except when it's the last song, it also brings an
end to an awesome show.
Set List:
IGE
Affair of the heart
Encore
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