Rick Springfield Concert

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2009-11-07 00:48:10 -

Rick Springfield
Concert Review

Rick Springfield at Twin Rivers - Lincoln, RI.

Friday, October 16, 2009: I have to admit I am not a fan of Rick Springfield. My Younger sister Chiqui is. She's always liked his music and when we were growing up in the Philippines, she was the kid who would rush home from school to watch him play Dr. Noah

Drake on General Hospital (granted they were mostly re-runs). I've listened to Rick Springfield songs mainly because the same younger sister pushed it on us. I remember having to sit through a movie starring Rick Springfield. My movie memory fails me now, can't identify the movie title. Nor can I recall the movie plot! Not that I'm dating myself, but my musical interests were mellow and OPM (Original Pilipino Music). What brings me to see Rick Springfield now? Sheer curiosity. It helped that the concert venue is close by.

Performing in front of a very enthusiastic crowd (of mostly women!) at the Twin Rivers Event Center in Lincoln, Rhode Island, Rick Springfield started the show off with a bang. No opening acts of upcoming singers or bands. Promptly, it was Rick and he was dancing on and around the stage. Jumping and short of doing cartwheels. He played several guitars (and a pretty mean guitar too). I wondered why he had to have that many guitars, well, I came to find out later, smashing dozens of roses most probably explained that. He must not feel underrated as a guitar player because he shows how well he jams on the guitar. His vocals are strong, the one song I could sing to, "Jessie's Girl" sounded as crisp as when I first heard the recording back in the 80's. Rick's stage presence is good, as the many swooning women could attest, though I'm not too keen on him taking his shirt off. His abs were sculpted to be shown, I guess.

A few songs into the show, a woman breaks through security, makes it on stage to give Rick a hug. Several fans gave Rick roses which he accepted and then pounded on his guitar. A few more women attempted a break onto the stage but the alert security people got them first. His mike stand held roughly sixteen guitar picks at the beginning of the show, by the time he played most of his hits, he's thrown most of the picks out into the crowd. Majority of the songs he played had every person in the crowd singing the words and every person on the floor dancing to them. At one point , he was sort of surfing the crowd by stepping chair to chair on the first few rows. There was an awkward moment when he was encouraging participation from a non-singing security guy. A much more participatory security guy came to the rescue and sang a few lines, albeit off key.

Hard to believe the show ended as quickly as it started. Rick Springfield's been rocking for over twenty years. His energy level and enthusiasm at Twin Rivers Event Center may be proof that he's out to rock for more years to come. Outstanding acoustics and very nice lighting helped. The evening was very entertaining. The venue comfy. The overall experience enjoyable. I still am not a Rick Springfield fan. I did purchase two CDs ( Venus in Overdrive and My Precious Little one) for Chiqui. But now, I get to say, I saw and heard Rick Springfield live at Twin Rivers, and yeah, Dr. Noah Drake rocks!