Rick Springfield stormed the Sangamon Auditorium stage Sunday night, November 23, 2008, in Springfield, Illinois starting with Mr. PC off his new album Venus in Overdrive, and he never stopped rocking after that! It was an extremely fun concert, and I’ve never seen another performer interact so much with the crowd.
After a few introductory songs, he stopped to mention that Nyquil and red wine together was a nice high. I think he must have been under the weather a little bit, but his singing was strong and sounded great, especially on the four new songs he sang from his new record. Some of his older stuff sounded rough in patches, and he was more than willing to let the audience fill in for him at some points in the show. No one in the audience seemed to mind a bit.
The place was packed with women, as I expected, and try as I might, I could not find a man anywhere in the first three rows. I think I spotted one guy in the fourth row and perhaps two in the fifth row. Overwhelmingly this concert was for women though, and I didn’t have any problems with that at all! They packed the front of the auditorium and were mesmerized by the mere sight of Rick Springfield so close.
Rick Springfield sat down on the stage and put his arms around a lucky woman on the far left side of the stage. She was so stunned and delighted that her reply when he asked her name was “Oh God”, to which he replied that was a mighty strange name! He took her cell phone and called her 9 year old daughter, who beat him to the punch line by asking “Is this Rick Springfield?” That was very funny to watch.
He then invited a 7 year old girl on stage to sing a little bit of “Don’t Talk To Strangers”, and actually got down on his knees to stand next to her and talk with her. It was very cute.
A woman stormed the stage on the right side when Rick Springfield headed out for a guitar solo and stole a hug while he was playing, only to run off when pursued by security! I loved that!
And during “Human Touch”, Rick Springfield walked out over the auditorium chairs, surfing through the crowd for an extended period of time. And I’m not talking just a couple of rows, he walked very far out, past the 10th row or something like that, then he walked to the left and to the right. He was being pulled and mauled, and a sea of people swayed wherever he went. At one point he fell and disappeared from view! I thought it looked very dangerous and he might actually be hurt. At one point he told someone to let go of his leg so he could continue walking!
I was sitting in the mezzanine (one of about 100 people I was told, the upper levels were very sparsely filled), but my seat was in the very first row directly in the center looking down on the whole concert. It was a great view for the crowd surfing as well as the show, and I had a great time. Although I did have to rouse the rest of the mezzanine from their seats to dance! No one stood up there, and by the time Venus In Overdrive started, I felt it was necessary to get the Rick party started. So I stood up to dance, and many in the mezzanine followed my lead thankfully!
My photos turned out terrible because I have this problem during concerts where I just can’t sit still enough to take photos. So all my photos are blurry. I did get some great video though, although it too is a bit jerky cause I was getting my Rick Springfield groove on the whole time. The concert started promptly at 8 pm, and with no opening band was over by 9:35 pm. I think that is the earliest concert evening I’ve ever had. I wish the concert had been a bit longer, and I wish Rick Springfield had played a few lighter songs, particularly Saint Sahara and Oblivious from the new album, I love those two! But instead he strictly rocked the whole night, I’m sure that was his intent too.
All in all, a great time and a really fun concert. I’m glad I went. Here is the setlist and some video from the evening. For some reason the SJR did not have a review for this concert, what’s up with that?
Mr. PC
What’s Victoria’s Secret
Affair of the Heart
Living in Oz
I’ve Done Everything For You
Alyson
Venus in Overdrive (I loved this one, my fav of the night)
I’ll Miss That Someday
Love Is Alright Tonight
Crossroads cover
Don’t Talk To Strangers
Bop Till You Drop Medley including:
Calling All Girls
Don’t Walk Away
State of the Heart
What Kind of Fool am I?
I Get Excited
Love Somebody
Human Touch
Jessie’s Girl
Encore:
Who Killed Rock n Roll
Kristina
Here’s Venus in Overdrive with some audience rehearsals before:
Click for more videos:
What’s Victoria’s Secret
I’ve Done Everything For You
Don’t Talk To Strangers (audience sings)
Interaction with Lucky Woman!
7 Year Old Sings
Crowd Surfing during Human Touch
More Crowd Surfing!
Jessie’s Girl
Gotta smash that guitar
Kathy – Thank you for posting a review of the concert! A group of friends & I had the opportunity to meet Rick before the show, had a great time during the show, and were completely miffed that not a one media outlet covered the show. The WAND news was there so at least Decatur was interested! Rick was very personable when we met him and did say he was under the weather, but the show was great regardless!