Rick Springfield is a man of his word.
On Aug. 7, he was set to perform at the Stockbridge Amphitheater along with other ‘80s icons John Waite and Men at Work. But 40 minutes into the concert, persistent lightning forced Men At Work — which had performed only two songs — to leave the stage as a safety measure. (Waite did perform a tight 20-minute set earlier)
Two hours later, the rest of the concert was canceled. Headliner Springfield, who was waiting in the wings for his turn at the mic, came onstage and vowed to return to rock Stockbridge.
On Sunday, he did just that. Despite a steady mist of rain and half the crowd that turned out for his aborted August show because of the inclement weather, Springfield delivered a show that was worth the wait.
He started out somewhat cautious. He was a bit flat on opener “Affair of the Heart,” telling the crowd that he was struggling with a sore throat and asked fans to fill any gaps he missed.
But those concerns seemed to diminish as “I Get Excited,” Living in Oz” and “Party at the Beach Bar” — a collaboration with fellow rocker Sammy Hagar — allowed him to warm up his vocals.
Soon he was in fine form, rocking through Hagar’s “I’ve Done Everything for You,” “The Light of Love,” and “Everybody’s Girl.”
“I forgot how much punk energy all that early stuff had,” he said of his early songs.
The evening turned emotional on “World Start Turning” and “My Father’s Chair” as Springfield talked about parental loss and his lifelong struggle with depression (he attempted suicide at age 17 and considered killing himself again in 2018). He sat down near the edge of the stage and talked about the disease’s ever-presence in his life, adding that not even fame, fortune and a loving wife could make the threat disappear.
“You got this, Rick,” the crowd responded.
Credit: LEON STAFFORD/AJC
Credit: LEON STAFFORD/AJC
What’s always fun about seeing an artist live is learning that there is a musician behind the rock star persona and the carefully curated songs. Springfield spent much of the evening showing that his chops extend beyond singing, launching into several solo rifts, including The Ventures’ beach-inspired “Pipeline,” complete with video montage of surfing, Tab Hunter and ‘50s beach films playing in the background.
To punctuate his gifts, Springfield played a guitar version of “Great Balls of Fire” in honor of legend Jerry Lee Lewis, who died last week at the age of 87.
“I was lucky enough to be in a bar with this guy in the ‘80s,” Springfield said to the crowd. “(It was) 10 o’clock in the morning. And he asked me to buy him a drink and I did. A double shot of Jack Daniels. I’m happy to say it was Jerry Lee Lewis.”
Of course, no Rick Springfield concert is complete without his biggest hits, “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “Human Touch,” “Love Somebody” and, of course, “Jessie’s Girl.” And on them he did not disappoint.
For “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” Springfield employed the familiar “girls versus guys” audience participation trick to rile up the crowd on the song’s chorus. The outnumbered men strangely appeared to sing more loudly than the predominately female audience.
On “Human Touch,” Springfield crowd-surfed through the audience, remarking between lyrics his surprise that it was raining. (The stage apparently got only a touch of the light precipitation that fell throughout the 90-minute concert.)
“Jessie’s Girl” began with Springfield in the shadows as a montage of others singing the song in film and on TV, including Craig Robinson in “Hot Tub Time Machine,” Ashton Kutcher on “Two and a Half Men” and Cory Monteith on “Glee.”
As the lights came back up, the familiar opening guitar riff of the song pierced the air like lightning.
“Jessie is a friend,” Springfield sang. “Yeah, I know he’s been a good friend of mine.”
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