Louisville Palace Theatre
Louisville, KY
Photo & Review by B. Minett
Set List:
I’ve Done Everything for You
Living in Oz
Will I?
I Get Excited
Our Ship’s Sinking
Affair of the Heart
Roar (Katy Perry cover)
Happy Birthday (had audience sing to him)
I Hate Myself
Bop medley (Bop ‘Til You Drop/ Celebrate Youth/ Calling All Girls/ Jessie’s Girl snippet/ Don’t Walk Away/ State of the Heart/ What Kind of Fool Am I)
Love is Alright Tonight
Surf guitar music
Wild Thing (The Troggs cover)
Human Touch (in audience without guitar)
You and Me (acoustic)
My Father’s Chair (acoustic)
Love Screws Me Up (acoustic)
Don’t Talk to Strangers
Love Somebody
Jessie’s Girl
- encore
We Can Work It Out (Beatles cover – acoustic)
I’ll Make You Happy
Kristina
Concert Notes:
* Opening act: Berlin. They are a new wave band best known for the song “You Take My Breath Away”, in the Top Gun movie from the ‘8os (and I think may have opened for Rick for some shows during the ‘80s, too?). Again tonite, they gave a very hard-rocking show, and were a good preparation for Rick’s music (in case anyone in the audience thought Rick was going to give a laid-back nostalgic performance). The lead singer, Terri Nunn, walked out into the audience again for one song, and really played to the audience during the entire performance. Tonite, they had two video screens set up at the sides of the stage with videos that really added to the performance.
* This was the final show in a five-day run of concerts for Rick (two with Pat Benatar followed by three full-band shows), but Rick’s energy level didn’t seem to be lagging at all (though he got laughing about something at the start of the show, and missed singing the first few lines of the first song). The guys in the band seemed a little goofier tonite, and during the final encore song, they all (except the drummer) came to the front of the stage to play and seemed to be imitating Rick for fun.
* A few more rose explosions tonite that yesterday nite, though most of the roses were saved for the encore.
* Rick took his shirt off before playing the surf guitar music, saying he’s used to it being hot in California, but not as hot as it was here. I heard later that the temperature in Louisville was 98 degrees, with a heat index (ie, “feels like”) temperature of 102 degrees.
* When he got back on stage after his walkabout in the audience for ‘Human Touch’, he asked a lady in the front row to hold his acoustic guitar while he put his shirt on. Lucky fan!
* The audience tonite seemed to be more local people and not as many hard-core fans, and I think Rick may have noted this, also. When introducing ‘My Father’s Chair’, he didn’t talk about how when the song first came out, many who heard the song at the time hadn’t lost a loved one, but now those same fans listen to it with a new meaning (the intro he’s given in previous shows). Instead, he introduced the song with the story of how he came to write the song (a condensed version of what he wrote in his autobiography) – perhaps realizing that many in the audience didn’t know the story behind the song. At the end of the song, while he wiped away his tears, he said it always gets to him when he sees the picture of his father sitting in his chair (the last photo shown on the video, which Rick turns to look at as he finishes the song).
* Also, what made me think that this audience was filled with more local people, was that, while they rocked along and really seemed to enjoy the songs from the ‘80s, they didn’t seem to have the same recognition factor for Rick’s newer music, (from Shock and End of the World CDs) – which are the songs that fans seem to react to more.
* During ‘Don’t Talk to Strangers’, he brought only one little boy on stage, 6-year-old Mason, who was on stage last nite also. There didn’t seem to be too many young kids in the audience tonite, and Rick recognized Mason and called him on stage by name. Mason got crazy with his dancing tonite; Rick said that he probably didn’t even need to sing with dancing like that (though he did have him sing, too).
* No promotion of his book, Magnificent Vibration, tonite.
* There were a few technical issues with guitars again tonite, with guitars having to be changed in the middle of songs. At one point, I noticed George N, the previous guitar tech (and now on bass), look toward the new guitar tech, Nick, as if to say, Come on, already! Get out here and fix this guitar!
* Who was there: Rick on lead guitar and vocals, George B on guitar, George N on bass, Jorge P on drums, Paul back on keyboards and guitar, Mattie (sound guy), and new guitar tech guy, Nick.
* What he wore: Rick came out in a black leather jacket with zippers, a white v-neck tee, black jeans, black high-top converse sneakers, sunglasses, and 2 bracelets stacked on his left wrist (so what happened to the 10 other bracelets he was wearing just last night?!). He removed the sunglasses after the first song; he took the jacket off after the first three songs; and he took his shirt off for the surf guitar music solo. He remained shirtless until he returned from singing ‘Human Touch’ out in the audience, at which time he put on a light grey v-neck tee. No shirt change for the encore. (I wonder if he might have run out of clean/dry shirts by this time, as after the show for the meet and greet, he was wearing a light-weight jacket zipped all the way up, with no shirt underneath.)
[Final note: Another totally inebriated woman at this show (possibly from more than just alcohol ?). Fortunately, the security at this theatre removed her early on into the show, after she had been warned several times when climbing over seats, trying to run on-stage, posing for her mate to take photos and yelling at him when he wasn’t, and grabbing Rick when he started out into the audience (after which, Rick avoided that side of the audience).]
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