Sunday, September 28, 2008

Rick Springfield rocks IN!

9/26/08
Horseshoe Casino
Elizabeth, Indiana
Review by Darla Gerken
Photo by Mike Gerken

The Horseshoe Casino is located in the middle of nowhere, but Friday night it was in “Rickville”. The place needed to heat turned up; it was freezing until Rick arrived on stage in a cool leather jacket with roses printed on the shoulder. He started the night with Who Killed Rock and Roll and by the end of Living in Oz, there already were two rose explosions. Rick was now warmed up to the point that he removed his jacket. Not too many 59 year olds can relish in the fact that when you remove your jacket women cheer when they see those arms! He was wearing a new shirt that had studded crosses on the chest and back. Looked like a shirt that he should wear when singing Jesus Saves, which we didn’t get. He continued with Affair of the Heart, Alyson and I’ve Done Everything For You.

It was time for a new song, and Rick asked the crowd if they knew the name of his new CD. I thought there was a little hesitation from the crowd about the name, apparently the casino guests didn’t know. But we came through and yelled out Venus in Overdrive from which he sang What’s Victoria’s Secret, followed by Rock of Life. He played a lot of noodlings on the guitar and commented “pretty good for a doctor”. At one point he broke the connection to the cord on his guitar. He asked if any women in the audience had tweezers to pull out the broken part, along with another question, which was a little naughty. George N appeared on stage with a needle nose pliers and rescued the guitar.
He played Crossroads which lead into the DTTS segment of the show.
Rick approached a man in the audience to sing DTTS. He didn’t want to sing so Rick told him that women like men who sing and he found that out when he was 14 years old. He finally sang, and Rick said you’re guaranteed to get “some” tonight, but I know that I’m not getting any! When one of the portable mics didn’t work; he introduced Matty as a grammy winner and told him to turn it on. He also asked the crowd to flip off Matty, to which they complied. He asked a woman to sing and then said maybe we shouldn’t have turned it on. I guess he didn’t like her rendition of DTTS. There was a woman named Donna sitting down and he tried to get her to stand. It took a lot of convincing, but she finally stood and sang DTTS. The next song on the set list was the Bop Till You Drop medley. It is one of my favorite parts of the show since you get to hear a lot of songs, but just once I wish he would sing State of the Heart in it’s entirety.
He did the usual asking if we knew the name of the movie he was in during the 80’s and how many women were under 16 when they saw it. Love Somebody was next followed by a cell phone call. He took someone’s phone and asked who not to call; he got an answering machine and left a message. I couldn’t understand what he said on the message, but I’m sure it was something funny.

While out in the crowd for My Generation he spotted an older lady directly in front of me. She was beside herself in shock that Rick was so close. He pointed at her with the cutest smile. He said, “you’re a General Hospital fan aren’t you”, she shook her head, I thought she was going to faint. During Human Touch he strolled around our area. I was so excited when he took hold of my husband’s hand and stepped between us. I figured he would keep on going, but to my delight he was standing on my chair! I always thought it would be so cool, but when he is there you have to watch out for your head when he is swinging the guitar. I don’t know why, but when he was there, I didn’t even “reach out and touch”. What is wrong with me??? Rick headed back on stage for Jessie’s Girl. When it came to the part of why can’t I find a woman like you, he pointed at several women in the crowd. JG was concluded with a rose shower and guitar toss. The encore included I’ll Miss That Someday. I think he loves singing it because he smiled a lot during the song. He ended the show with Love is Alright Tonight.

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