Saw REO Speedwagon Tonight..

[SteveSly]

Ok, first off, I know that REO is a band that most people around here consider a pariah, but……as a kid growing up in the mid-west in the 70’s REO was very simply a great, straight up rock n roll band. Yea, they lost the plot a bit in the 80’s when they hit it huge with the “High Infidelity” album and all of it’s power ballads, but live they have mostly focused on rock n roll and I have always dug them.

Tonight’s show was at a 1500 seat theater here in Kalamazoo. Overall it was really good. Kevin Cronin and Bruce Hall’s voices are still in really good shape and the band is all still great instrumentally. They stuck pretty much to the oldies with nothing post mid 80’s. For me, I would like to have heard some more recent stuff, but I am weird and the crowd probably just wanted the classics. All the hits were there and they pulled out “Golden Country” from way back in 72 which has always been one of my favorites. In fact, they did 3 tracks from REO II which was way before they hit it big, but in my opinion one of their best albums. My only complaint was the show was a bit on the short side at 90 minutes. Considering the considerable catalogue that they have, and the fact that the show ended 45 minutes before the venue curfew, I thought it could have been a bit longer. Oh well, other than that it was cool, and we had a great time. Drummer Brian Hitt is very underrated IMO, and the band’s secret weapon has always been original keyboardist Neal Doughty who is still very impressive. Here is the set list from what I remember:

DON’T LET HIM GO
TAKE IT ON THE RUN
MUSIC MAN
KEEP PUSHIN
GOLDEN COUNTRY
CAN’T FIGHT THIS FEELING
THAT AIN’T LOVE
TOUGH GUYS
LIKE YOU DO
TIME FOR ME TO FLY
ROLL WITH THE CHANGES
BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN
ENCORE:

KEEP ON LOVING YOU
RIDING THE STORM OUT

[Trane]

Saw REO Speedwagon Tonight..


My condoleances...

or did somebody do a tigerjacking of your family to force you to go see one of their shows.???





JK, but I did buy their double live album back then, mainly to get acquainted with their better (Ha!!!!) early stuff... I think it (the album) only lasted max 2 years in my collection, before I dumped it out... I never found much interesting in their layman's FM rock

Of course, tjheir crappy albums of the early 80's didn't help... (thpough I did score big time with a chick on Keep On Loving You, if memory serves...



================

By pure curiosity, I checked them out on RYM, and saw that there are some rather long songs on their first two albums (and my library system has got them on catralog)... How are those first two albums??? I mean, it could be time for a reappraisal. of their early stuff.. (can't believe I just wrote that on a public forum)

[Koreabruce]

Don't know about the 2nd one, but the first one is straight-ahead blues-oriented rock with a bit of boogie thrown in. I sort of liked it back in the day (mainly because I was able to pick it up in the "bargain bin" section at a local record store, I think.) The most interesting thing about it is that the singer is none other than Terry Luttrell, who went on to be Starcastle's singer. His style is, shall we say, quite a bit different on the 1st REO album, though!

[WHORG]

We saw REO many times during the 1970's while in college - they always belted out a great live experience and were prolific tour dogs.

Glad you had a good time !!!

[Jimmy Giant]

Keep Pushin' and Golden Country were always favorites of mine.
I saw them open for Styx a dozen or so years ago.
However, just hearing Cronin speak between songs makes me want to jump on stage and punch him in the face!

[SteveSly]

Saw REO Speedwagon Tonight..
or did somebody do a tigerjacking of your family to force you to go see one of their shows.???

I never found much interesting in their layman's FM rock

By pure curiosity, I checked them out on RYM, and saw that there are some rather long songs on their first two albums (and my library system has got them on catralog)... How are those first two albums??? I mean, it could be time for a reappraisal. of their early stuff.. (can't believe I just wrote that on a public forum)

I knew I was going to get some posts like this one and I understand why most people here would not dig REO. I honestly think you had to have grown up in the Midwest of the USA in the 70’s to get it with them. They were the definition of what you describe as “Layman’s Rock” back in the day. But ya know what? Sometimes I just want to drink some beers, and hear some basic straight up rock n roll. Anyway, it’s all good.

Regarding their albums, my favorite is still “You Can Tune A Piano But Can’t Tune A Fish”, with “REO II”, and “REO” (also known as Cow) probably 3rd.

[Jerjo]

There was a time in the Midwest when it seemed that REO would even show up for a barn raising. I mean they played everywhere. I saw them a lot back in the day and we were way out in the sticks. Thus everyone I knew had an eight track of "You Get What You Play For". Of course, "Hi Infidelity" was where the old fans grew up and parted ways but I understood why the time was right to cash in.

Is Gary back in the band yet? I used to love his big crunchy tone. Pity that the party became more important than the show. And yeah, Kevin needs to be punched each and every time he opens his mouth onstage.

[progholio]

just hearing Cronin speak between songs makes me want to jump on stage and punch him in the face!

[Vic2012]

Sometimes I just want to drink some beers, and hear some basic straight up rock n roll.

It's actually a crime here on PE. You'd think, right?

Okay, so just out of curiosity, why does everyone wanna punch Cronin in the face?

Being that I did not grow up in the midwest I only heard of REO when they hit the bigtime in the early 80s. Never cared for them but I'm glad they're still out there making a living.

[Harbottle]

No Terry Luttrell, No Reo Speedwagon.

[Koreabruce]

[Jerjo]

Here's nice fat riff. One of my cousins got married around the year this album came out. I remember being in a big conversion van with the wedding party, bouncing down a gravel road with this album cranked up to ear bleed levels, drinking cans of bad American beer.



My cousin died of leukemia in '98, three weeks after my dad died. Every time I hear a song off this album I think of her.

[gryphs also]

Saw them about 10 years ago and loved the show. People forget that before they fell victim to power ballads that they rocked their balls off. Some of the women in the crowd were bitching about they weren't playing "the hits" not knowing they actually were a band before 1980.

[Gerardo]

Ok, first off, I know that REO is a band that most people around here consider a pariah, but……as a kid growing up in the mid-west in the 70’s REO was very simply a great, straight up rock n roll band. Yea, they lost the plot a bit in the 80’s when they hit it huge with the “High Infidelity” album and all of it’s power ballads, but live they have mostly focused on rock n roll and I have always dug them.

Tonight’s show was at a 1500 seat theater here in Kalamazoo. Overall it was really good. Kevin Cronin and Bruce Hall’s voices are still in really good shape and the band is all still great instrumentally. They stuck pretty much to the oldies with nothing post mid 80’s. For me, I would like to have heard some more recent stuff, but I am weird and the crowd probably just wanted the classics. All the hits were there and they pulled out “Golden Country” from way back in 72 which has always been one of my favorites. In fact, they did 3 tracks from REO II which was way before they hit it big, but in my opinion one of their best albums. My only complaint was the show was a bit on the short side at 90 minutes. Considering the considerable catalogue that they have, and the fact that the show ended 45 minutes before the venue curfew, I thought it could have been a bit longer. Oh well, other than that it was cool, and we had a great time. Drummer Brian Hitt is very underrated IMO, and the band’s secret weapon has always been original keyboardist Neal Doughty who is still very impressive. Here is the set list from what I remember:

DON’T LET HIM GO
TAKE IT ON THE RUN
MUSIC MAN
KEEP PUSHIN
GOLDEN COUNTRY
CAN’T FIGHT THIS FEELING
THAT AIN’T LOVE
TOUGH GUYS
LIKE YOU DO
TIME FOR ME TO FLY
ROLL WITH THE CHANGES
BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN
ENCORE:

KEEP ON LOVING YOU
RIDING THE STORM OUT

Bored with prog and metal then?

Just kidding. I've seen them many times in concert and they always deliver the goods. They rock hard too, in fact better than many rock bands that are classified as "hard rock". Whatever you think of them, I consider them to be one of the great American rock bands.

[Trane]

Thanks for that first album...

Nuthin' special (typical laymen's rock)... don't get the 157 track and why it's a favorite... To be honest, the track I liked best was Sophisticated Lady with the organ , Five Men is OK too, because it's a change of pace.But needless to say that it's the final mini-epic Dead At Last that drives the nail into the board.

[JJ88]

80s power-ballads are a weakness of mine, I definitely get why people hate them but I've always admired the craft that goes into these 'made for radio' rock records of that time. 'Keep On Lovin' You' is as close to definitive as a power-ballad gets IMHO.

That 'Midwestern rock' style never meant anything at all in Britain so their early stuff isn't well known here. To be honest I prefer the power-ballads based on my limited exposure to the early stuff...the songs aren't so strong, I don't think, and kind of generic. 'Layman's rock' isn't a term I'd use but I know what's meant.

[SteveSly]

There was a time in the Midwest when it seemed that REO would even show up for a barn raising. I mean they played everywhere. I saw them a lot back in the day and we were way out in the sticks. Thus everyone I knew had an eight track of "You Get What You Play For". Of course, "Hi Infidelity" was where the old fans grew up and parted ways but I understood why the time was right to cash in.

Is Gary back in the band yet? I used to love his big crunchy tone. Pity that the party became more important than the show. And yeah, Kevin needs to be punched each and every time he opens his mouth onstage.

Yea, in the 70’s they played the bar / club / party circuit in the Midwest for years, especially Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa Missouri. You could literally see them several times a year easy if you lived in these areas. After that they became the perennial opening act for several years. They used to tour with just about everybody back then until “You Get What You Play For” finally put them on the map and made them medium size venue headliners. By that time they had already been around for almost a decade. When I was in High School “You Get What You Play For” was one of those tapes that I always had in my car, and we played it a lot. “Tuna Fish” was another constant rotation album for me when it came out.

Regarding Richrath, no he has never come back to the band. Basically what happened was right around 1989-ish the band decided to pretty much change their lives, stop their constant partying and turn into health nuts. Richrath had various substance abuse issues and did not go along with the program. Cronin’s more ballad heavy approach to song writing was also a sticking point from what I have read. On the last album with Richrath on it (can’t remember the name off the top of my head), Cronin wrote a song called “One Too Many Girlfriends” which is basically an open letter to Gary about his lifestyle. It is actually the best song on the album, and pretty much describes the situation at least from Cronin’s point of view.

Richrath formed his own band called “Richrath” for a while putting out one album, but that eventually fizzled away. I have read that he continues to have substance abuse issues to this day. I saw a YouTube video of him playing with some cover band that was fairly recent. He is very heavy and does not look very healthy at all. In contrast all of the current members of REO look like they spend a lot of time in the gym. For guys in their 60’s they appear to be in fantastic shape. Their current guitarist is Dave Amato (former Ted Nugent / Jimmy Barnes) who has been with them now for 24 years. He is very good. Richrath was a great guitarist and to my ears had a very unique style. Too bad his demons got the best of him.

Regarding Cronin’s on stage diatribes, yea he did some of that last night although not as much as I have sometimes seen him do.

[SteveSly]

Saw them about 10 years ago and loved the show. People forget that before they fell victim to power ballads that they rocked their balls off. Some of the women in the crowd were bitching about they weren't playing "the hits" not knowing they actually were a band before 1980.

Really, the only ballads they did were the really huge its "Keep On Loving You", and "Can't Fight This Feeling". Other than that it was pretty much all rawk n roll.

[SteveSly]

Bored with prog and metal then?

.

\

LOL.....well, yea. As mentioned in the other thread, sometimes I just want to rock.

[SteveSly]

That 'Midwestern rock' style never meant anything at all in Britain so their early stuff isn't well known here. To be honest I prefer the power-ballads based on my limited exposure to the early stuff...the songs aren't so strong, I don't think, and kind of generic. 'Layman's rock' isn't a term I'd use but I know what's meant.

Along with REO The Midwest / Heartland thing also included bands like Head East, Cheap Trick, Bob Seeger, Michael Stanly Band, Styx, Amboy Dukes / Ted Nugent and even Kansas to some extent. Most of these bands eventually graduated to headliner status around the country, but they all started out on the same Midwest state bar / club circuit back in the 70’s.

[luvyesmusic]

Their "good" stuff happened a bit before my time/was not exposed to it. High Infidelity was a huge record when I was in high school. It was crap that everyone liked ( never been a big fan of Kevin Cronin even as a person ;-) ) and most importantly, chicks liked it and it was good make-out music and good for a fcuk or two ( or three or four) in the back of my van. Live recording of Riding the Storm Out was something often played on classic rock stations. The ballads off H.I. were okay but I love me great guitar playing and original riffs and Gary R. was someone who really stood out on some of those very mediocre songs-okay, they really weren't too bad when it came to predictable and easy counting/ predictable choruses and he's probably why I liked H.I.despite the very dorky, all around, Kevin Cronin. ;-) No love for the guy from me. LOL Off doing the coke too much from what I read. They thought he was at home coming up with riffs. They 80's were a tough time for a lot of folks when it came to coke and I can't imagine even being rich, famous and having it offered up to you for free as much as it was going on for certain folks. Shame, really.

So I looked up a couple of clips. If we are lucky/fortunate, we all get old and fat. ;-)

[luvyesmusic]