A fan blog for all the latest news
Soap Opera Digest Sept 22nd 2009
A New York State Affair of the Heart
Where else can one find wine slushies, duck races, butter and sand sculptures, vacuums that pick up bowling balls, haircuts, massages, manicures, an American Iron Chef, and Rick Springfield? Why it’s the New York State Fair of course!
The mid week fair day was perfection; the sun was shining and temperatures were moderate. People all around were truly enjoying their day with the carnival rides, livestock, fried dough, ice cream, and pastries only New York’s water can make; and that vibe of true enjoyment would last throughout.
The Chevrolet Court, or Chevy Court as it is referred to, is the smaller, general admission, venue of the fair that offers great accessibility to wheelchair assistance and hearing impaired individuals, by providing assigned seating and a sign language interpreter. When planning the fair this year, much attention was paid to this particular venue as a major goal was to attract record breaking attendance numbers despite the economy by providing the best possible value for the admission price; and talk about value, fairgoers got Bobby Flay followed by Rick Springfield all on one stage, in one day - awesome!
The waiting time of the day was long, but was always filled with something to do, and it was cool to hear some of “Rick’s Jukebox” selections playing during the wait. As the sun began to set and songs from VIO began to play, the large crowd was treated to the cruise promo video. After the video and true to fair custom, we had to sit through a few speakers. The first gentleman, who after making some very Mr. Anti PC comments, told those in the first ten rows to remain seated for the show. This was to ensure the hearing impaired and wheelchair accessible people were able to see and everyone happily obliged. The next speaker, a favorite of mine, NY Senator Chuck Schumer, spoke about the success of the fair and told us we would all be Jessie’s Girls for the night. Finally, Rick was introduced by a local radio personality.
The crowd was treated to very adrenaline infused Rick belting into “Mr. PC” and “What’s Victoria’s Secret”. This was a show where something memorable happened during every song, Rick played with some of his rarely seen (and pretty good!) dance moves, and his best known hits shone.
After “Living in Oz” Rick addressed the audience for the first time to ask why stuffed animals were being thrown at him. Picking up a bear wearing a shirt with “60”on it, he jokingly asked, “Go?” “I Get Excited” was then introduced with the questions, “How many of you really knew what this song meant when it first came out?” and “How many of you get it now? “ I’ve Done Everything for You” had Rick flirting with his finger points to the very enthusiastic and awesome sign language interpreter, and “Jet”…”I thought the major” (…oops, I kind of get hung up on that one!) And... “Jet” was a sure crowd and Rick pleaser; lots of Rick smiles were directed towards a gentleman in the second row who stood and rocked to the song wearing a Paul McCartney “Driving USA Tour” shirt.
It was obvious from the beginning of the show guitar issues were going to be bountiful, and although he didn’t know it at the time, Rick prepared for the biggest guitar issue of the night by changing his shirt on stage right before “Venus in Overdrive”. Within the first few seconds of VIO, guitar #1 was gone. Within the first minute of VIO, guitar #2 was gone, and while guitar #3 was being prepared, we were treated to a Rick Springfield sans guitar. Rick Springfield a la sans guitar has always brought me back to those Solid Gold days of his awkward bopping, but age has done this man well and I personally would like to see this more often!
“Don’t Talk to Strangers” was the highlight of the night. Rick’s prey for the song included Sergio, a New York State Trooper. Rick didn’t recognize the state wide famous purple ribbon troopers wear, and asked “what” he was, finding out he was a trooper, Rick made Sergio promise if he stopped anyone and the person mentioned the show, they would get a free pass. Moving on to the next pushover, Rick found a 74 year old English woman who played along quite humorously. The children portion of the song included a crowd the likes I had yet to see. No fewer than twelve children got on stage and danced and sang to an up-tempo DTTS. Rick even went past the usual arm sway and joined in on the dancing with some kicks. Since there were so many of them, Buzz escorted the children backstage to safely ensure their return to the waiting parents.
Not convinced he could top DTTS, Rick proved me wrong. He gave the audience a “Love Somebody” at center stage with no headset and a “Human Touch” that sent him far back in the crowd walking on the skinny backs of the bleachers. In return, the crowd gave Rick a roar like no other I have heard when those first famous chords of “Jessie’s Girl” were played, and always ever present performer, he reciprocated with the newer, anticipation filled JG arrangement - full of breaks and starts, and searches, and points, and crescendos, and a full Rick Springfield JG jump!
While waiting for the encore, I was looking up at the full moon and enjoying the beautiful weather. August in central New York is known for its warm days and cool nights…and cool nights mean clothes. Certainly there was too much of a chill for a shirtless encore, right? WRONG! On stage walks a shirtless Rick offering his best “Wild Thing” with a dirty little peek down his pants during, “So come on and hold IT tight“. Yes, “It” not “Me”! The show ended with “Kristina” and extra long Rick Hug.
Leaving the venue I saw tons of people, both men and women, holding vinyl RS records, waiting for Rick and hoping for a signature. I headed out for last round of fried dough and thought although the slogan for New York State is “I ‘heart’ NY”, for this night, the slogan was New Yorkers ‘heart’ Rick Springfield.
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 Tonite
Crossroads Blues
Don’t Talk to Strangers
Love Somebody
Human Touch
Jessie’s Girl
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Wild Thing
Kristina
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
