A while back, I received an email from a guy who said he was compiling information on Rick Springfield’s past concert performances for a couple of fan sites he was working on. He’d found my blog while Googling the 1981 Working Class Dog tour — Loyal Readers will recall that Rick’s stop here in Salt Lake City during that tour was my first concert — and he wanted to ask me for some details about the experience. We ended up having quite a nice conversation, and, being a helpful little pack rat who’s held on to the ticket stubs from every concert I’ve ever been to, I was able to put together a list for this guy of all the Rick shows I’ve attended. In case anyone out there is curious, I’ve seen him a grand total of eight times, seven of which occurred in the last decade, counting EFX Alive, the Las Vegas stage show he did for a while. The Girlfriend and I saw him twice last year alone. Which I suppose makes up somewhat for not getting to see him this year. He was scheduled for a November appearance in West Wendover, the Nevada border town where Salt Lakers go to gamble and buy cheap hooch in convenient gallon-sized jugs, but that performance was canceled a couple months ago, and he hasn’t come near enough to Utah on any other of his other stops to tempt me. I’m fanboy enough to cross a state border for Rick, but I draw the line at entire states.
I believe a new Wendover date has been scheduled for next spring, but in the meantime, the Internet has provided an alternative fix: you can go here and listen to his entire set from the recent Sweden Rock Festival, nearly a full hour of music that includes many of the old favorites, as well as a couple tracks from his latest album, an abbreviated but kick-ass take on Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads,” and even a little bit of The Beatles’ “She’s So Heavy.” The show ends with one of my personal favorites, a flat-out, pedal-to-the-metal, head-banging rocker called “Kristina.” I’ve seen Rick on both good nights and not-so-good nights, so trust me when I say this performance is well worth your time. Especially if all you know of him is “Jessie’s Girl,” as this is a good overview of where he’s been musically over the past 30 years. Don’t dawdle, though — I don’t know how long this is going to be available. You’ll have to sit through about a minute of Swedish DJ patter right at the beginning, but I thought that was kind of interesting, myself. If you don’t know the song titles by heart the way I do, you can find a set list under the little hyperlink near the top of the page that reads Musiken i programmet. To listen to the concert, look for the music player at the bottom of the page…
In other Rick-related news, his autobiography, Late, Late at Night, is coming out in only two more weeks, on October 12. (I’ve already pre-ordered my copy, naturally, using the Amazon gift card I got from my corporate overlords for being a relatively good sport throughout the summer apocalypse.) And I’ve learned that there’s a documentary currently in production called An Affair of the Heart; it’s billed as “an all-access view of Rick Springfield’s life today and the lives of a few of his most devoted fans.” So that’s something else to watch for.
Finally, just a brief note on that photo up there at the top of this entry. I don’t remember where I stole that from — somewhere on Facebook, I think — but it’s a perfect illustration of what keeps me going back to see this man over and over again. Because let’s be honest, there isn’t that much variation from one show to the next. Every year, Rick mixes up the set list a little and throws in a new song or two, including a cover version of one of his favorite rock classics — “Crossroads,” for example, or Van Morrison’s “Gloria,” or a blues standard made famous by Jimi Hendrix called “Red House” — but you can always be certain he’s going to play “Jessie’s Girl” and “Don’t Talk to Strangers.” He’s most likely going to make the same old joke about baring his behind in the movie Hard to Hold just before he plays “Love Somebody,” the hit single from the film’s soundtrack. And there are certain rituals that get repeated at every show, like someone handing him a bouquet of roses only to have him thrash the hell out of them against his guitar. And there’s the stunt he always does during the song “Human Touch,” when he dons a wireless mike and wades out into the crowd (that’s what you’re seeing there in the photo). But the repetition really doesn’t matter, because his shows are just so damn much fun, for him as well as the audience.
Everyone who’s previously seen a Rick concert loves that thing with the roses; the anticipation is palpable when you see someone holding up a bouquet. And “Human Touch” is just plain neat; I don’t know of any other rock stars who get that close and personal with their fans. (Anne and I have both high-fived him a number of times, and there was even one occasion when I helped steady him as he stepped from one seat-back to the next. Not to sound like a giddy bobby-soxer or anything, but it’s a near-indescribable thrill to have that level of contact with a guy I worshiped throughout my teen years. My mom never got to touch Elvis like that!) And he’s not phony about it. He’s not doing “Human Touch” for appearances, or because it’s something the fans expect (although we do). He’s enjoying it, possibly as much as the fans are. He’s likes his fans. He gets the joke, that all those pudgy, middle-aged women were mooney-eyed teens in his “Jessie’s Girl” heyday, and for the 90 minutes or so he’s performing and teasing them, they’re feeling that way again.
There are a lot of bands and musicians of whom I call myself a fan, and I’ve even seen several of them more than once, but Rick is the only one I want to experience every time he’s playing within a reasonable distance.
I’m now going to go listen to that Sweden Festival again. I hope at least some of you out there will as well, and that you have a good time with it.
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Oh, as long as I compiled that list anyhow, I may as well share it. Ladies and gents, I give you all the Rick Springfield performances I have seen:
- Oct. 31, 1981: Symphony Hall, Salt Lake City, UT
- Sept. 12, 2000: Utah State Fair, Salt Lake City, UT
- June 7, 2002: MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV (EFX Alive)
- June 11, 2004: SCERA Shell Outdoor Theater, Orem, UT
- March 30, 2007: Peppermill Concert Hall, West Wendover, NV
- April 5, 2008: Peppermill Concert Hall, West Wendover, NV
- April 27, 2009: Tuacahn Amphitheatre, Ivins, UT
- Sept. 18, 2009: Peppermill Concert Hall, West Wendover, NV
