After 42 years of touring the world, REO Speedwagon, a classic rock band known for their power ballads, is still rolling with the changes.
They have toured every year since their inception and are still jamming. The band - feathered hair and all - will perform Saturday at the Johnny Mercer Theatre.
"Our concerts are pretty much a sing-along," said lead singer Kevin Cronin, who has fronted the band since 1972. "We have a core of eight or 10 songs that we better play or there will be an angry mob waiting outside the tour bus after the concert - those songs that everybody wants to hear - and, honestly, we still love playing 'Can't Fight This Feeling' and 'Riding the Storm Out' and 'Roll With the Changes."
Edwin McCain, the singer-songwriter who hails from Charleston, S.C., and is best known for hits such as "I'll Be" and "I Could Not Ask For More" will open the show.
REO Speedwagon's heyday was in the '80s after the release of their "Hi Infidelity" album that sold almost 10 million copies.
"Thirty years ago right now, we were in the rehearsal studio finishing the song, writing of what was going to be just our next album," Cronin said. "We had no idea that it was going to sell 10 million copies and change our lives so dramatically."
The album was No. 1 for 28 weeks and produced four top-10 singles.
"We went from being a pretty well-known Midwestern band to touring all over the world," Cronin said.
In honor of the album's release anniversary, the band is working on a 30-year retrospective and has been scouring their attics and garages in search of memorabilia.
"I found the original demo tape for the album in a box in the garage - something we have been searching for for 30 years," Cronin said. "There was just magic in the air when we made those demos. Most of the lead vocals and guitar solos and rhythm tracks on the "Hi Infidelity" album itself - our best album ever - is basically a demo tape."
What set the album apart, Cronin said, was the emotion.
"The truth of the matter is what people respond to is the emotion," Cronin said. "I think its just something in the authenticity of the emotion the people had when they made the record and somehow it gets captured."
While taking time to reflect, they are also looking ahead. You'll hear newer music mixed with the old favorites during the concert. The groups most recent album, "Find Your Own Way Home," was released in 2007.
"As huge of a year we had in 1980-81, I don't have this feeling looking back that those were the good ol' days," Cronin said. "I really feel like I'm hitting my peak now. I'm continuing to write songs people love."
REO Speedwagon Favorites
No. 1 hits "Can't Fight This Feeling" and "Keep On Loving You," as well as "Roll With the Changes," "Keep Pushin'," "Time for Me to Fly," "Riding the Storm Out" and "Take It On the Run."
In June, Pat Benatar will hit the road with REO Speedwagon. Pat, who hasn’t released an album since 2003, has plenty of songs to choose from in her catalog. One thing that is impressive about those tunes is that they’ve all stood the test of time. We asked Pat why she thinks that is. (Cut #3) “I don’t know. I mean, some of them are very stylized and are so particular to the era, and those are the ones that we sometimes leave out because I can’t even find any way to justify doing them. And I’m sure that happens to everybody but I have to say that most of them are okay, they hold up because the content of them is the same. What they’re about doesn’t change. You know, it’s the same story for everybody, all the time.” Pat’s tour with REO Speedwagon kicks off on June 24th in Connecticut
wo types of fans left the REO Speedwagon/Styx concert Friday night at the Kentucky Exposition Center's Freedom Hall: those who'll remember a great time and those who had a great time but won't remember it at all. REO Speedwagon, which played first on the split bill (the bands alternate positions nightly), delivered a high energy 13-song set of mostly hits that had the crowd at the two-thirds-full arena on its feet the entire time. Highlights included "Keep On Loving You," "Take It on the Run" and "Can't Fight this Feeling." "When I walk out on stage, I look out there at the crowd and I feel just such a sense of joy, and that I want to spread that joy around for four hours on a Friday night," Kevin Cronin, REO Speedwagon's frontman said when we spoke last week. "Let the people of Louisville forget their troubles, and revisit their youth, and get out there and have a party, and have a good time and we’ll provide the entertainment." No surprise, the 38-year rock knew his audience. The woman behind me who fell across two rows of seats during REO Speedwagon's set and was passed out on the shoulder of a friend (who was also passed out) during Styx's set? Safe bet she'd forgotten about whatever was ailing her Friday night. Those of us who were able to keep it together though had no less a fun time though, singing along to hits of our youth and maybe even making out. I skipped the beginning of Styx's set to attend the REO Speedwagon meet and greet (because that's how I roll). When I returned to my seat after chatting with Cronin and the band's road manager about such rock n'roll staples as finding babysitters and where to get a good hot brown in Louisville (because that's how I roll), many fans were sitting for the first time that night, which might be a result of their age as much is Styx's music being mellower than REO Speedwagon's. But as we all know, "Come Sail Away" cures all. Styx's signature song brought everyone to their feet, singing along Eric Cartman-style to the rock epic.
by Tara Hall
wo acts that were regulars on the charts in the early '80s, REO Speedwagon [ tickets ] and Pat Benatar [ tickets ], will join forces for a summer co-headlining tour dubbed "Love On The Run." Beginning June 24 in Uncasville, CT, the tour will hit the road for a slate of summer shows that so far includes 21 cities from coast to coast. The itinerary, which is currently scheduled to conclude Aug. 27 in Gilford, NH, will expand when additional tour stops are announced in the coming weeks, according to a press release. Edwin McCain and Keaton Simons will trade off providing opening support on the trek. "Both REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar share a history of hits, a family-oriented approach, and a continuing desire to rock hard and have fun doing it," REO Speedwagon lead singer Kevin Cronin stated in a recent press release. "We embrace and take pride in our past achievements, while we are all about growing as artists and keeping our standards high. We intend to prove it every night on stage with the 'Love On The Run' tour." REO continues to support 2007's "Find Your Own Way Home," which marked the band's first collection of new material in more than a decade. The 10-track set, billed as a return to the power-ballad/melodic-rock-anthem glory days, has spawned the adult-contemporary hits "I Needed To Fall" and the title track. "Go," Benatar's most recent release and 12th studio effort, surfaced in 2003. The album peaked at No. 187 on The Billboard 200. Last summer, Benatar celebrated the 30th anniversary of her 1979 debut album, "In the Heat of the Night." The set received platinum certification in the US and its third single, "Heartbreaker," became Benatar's first radio hit, climbing to No. 23 on The Billboard Hot 100.
