Side Stage Magazine
January 7, 2016
Badlands Pawn, Gold and Rock n’ Roll
Sioux Falls, SD
Written By: Elsa Martinez
His career spans decades in music, movies, TV, and as an author. Yet his music and his fans are still here and still amazing! Selling over 15 million albums, touring the world and being on film, everyone knows his best by his megahit “Jessie’s Girl”.
His full band show was the first showcased at the Badlands venue in Sioux Falls, SD for their “Thursday Night Live” event. This amazing new venue is by far one of the best places I have seen a show. It is big enough to bring in big names in music, but small enough to make it an intimate experience with the performers. Before the show, Rick (Springfield) requested that the front barriers be removed so the fans could stand at the stage, which made it even more intimate.
With a new album ready to drop on February 19, 2016, his tour is going through March 19
th, with a mixture of full band (plugged) shows and “stripped down” (acoustic) shows. At 66 years old, “two-thirds evil,” as he told the crowd, he is still jumping around on stage and running out into the crowd, as he did during “Human Touch” and his signature rose-thrashing on his guitar, in which he has jokingly called himself the “Morticia Adams of rock and roll”.
If the atmosphere was not filled with screams when he took the stage, they surely did fill the room when he took his jacket off to reveal his not-so-60’s ripped biceps.
Although most of the crowd was undoubtedly there to see him perform “Jessie’s Girl”, they all found themselves singing along to the other songs just as loudly. He has proven time and time again that he is not just a heartthrob, but he can also bring a high-energy set with his hits like “Love is Alright” and “Don’t Talk to Strangers”, but with incredible guitar-shredding songs like “Wipeout” and “Pipeline” by The Ventures.
He closed the show with a video teaser of clips from various movies and shows that had stars singing “Jessie’s Girl”, like Hot tub Time Machine, and two of his other hits “I’ll Make You Happy” and “Kristina”, which incidentally was his opening song back in his 80’s heydays. All in all, seeing him live, you would not even think that he was in his 60’s and still churning out hits just like he has been since the 70’s, but his charisma and talent is clear and I look forward to hearing his new release next month.
Set List:
-Light This Party Up (from his new album “Rocket Science” release date Feb 19, 2016)
-I’ve Done Everything For You
-I Get Excited
-Down (from his new album “Rocket Science” release date Feb 19, 2016)
-Affair of the Heart
-Roar (Katy Perry)
-Our Ship's Sinking
-Medley of songs (Bop ‘Til You Drop / Celebrate Youth / Calling All Girls / Jessie’s Girl / Don’t Walk Away / State of the Heart / What Kind of Fool Am I)
-Love Is Alright Tonight
-Guitar solo / Pipeline / Wipeout
– Wild Thing
-Don’t Talk To Strangers
-Human Touch
-Love Somebody
Encore:
– (Intro to Jessie’s Girl – video snippets of movies and shows where people sang the song)
-Jessie’s Girl
-I’ll Make You Happy
-Kristina
