Springfield Has “Human Touch” with Audience

Last night was my first, but hopefully not my last, Rick Springfield concert. My husband and I returned to the Clay Center in Charleston for this show. Our seats were in the front row, right in front of the speakers, so by the time I left I couldn’t hear or talk (you might remember I went to the concert with laryngitis). Despite my night of lip-synching, I had a great time.

When the lights went down, I was absolutely giddy with anticipation of Rick taking the stage. When he arrived, he did not disappoint. For almost an hour and a half, Rick performed with an energy that could put many half his age to shame. He interacted with the crowd. He left the stage more than once and went out into the crowd. At one point he was putting the microphone down and letting random folks in the crowd sing the line “Don’t talk to strangers”. This presented quite the dilemma for me. As much as I would have loved for him to come over and speak to me, giving me the opportunity to sing that one little line, I couldn’t have responded, so I guess it’s best that he didn’t make the offer. Maybe next time.

One of the greatest things he did, though, was take a little five-year-old boy onto the stage with him. He asked his name and age and then had him sing the line “Don’t talk to strangers”. The kid loved it, and needless to say, so did the audience. Several folks presented Rick with bouquets of roses, which he promptly shook loose and sent petals flying everywhere. Thanks to my front-row seat, I was hit in the chest with several of those petals, which my wonderful husband collected for me to bring home.

When I was a teen and in love with Rick Springfield, my dad referred to Rick as “Spaghetti Legs”, something to do with some dance moves. Bryan Adams never earned a nickname, but probably because since Bryan wasn’t on a soap opera I watched, he wasn’t as visible as Rick was. I made sure to send Dad a picture during the show, and he lovingly responded with a “Spaghetti Legs” reply. I must say that I take that much better than I did when I was 15, when I would become so furious I wouldn’t even speak to Dad. I even must admit that had Dad not responded with a “Spaghetti Legs” comment, I would have been disappointed. After that, though, Dad texted to tell me to have a good time, and after I replied to tell him I’d been hit with a rose, he replied, “That’s good.” I sure do love my dad.

The concert didn’t end too late, which was good since we had to come back to Jackson so I could work today. Jimmy drove home so I could sleep (actually since my head felt like a balloon most of the weekend, Jimmy did all the driving this weekend … I sure do love my husband, too), and we made it home by about 1:30 this morning, and I did manage to get up and go to work today. My voice is slowly coming back. My students assumed I lost it from all the screaming at the concert last night, but then they felt sorry for me when I told them I couldn’t scream or sing or anything at the concert. I’m still not at 100% with my voice, which isn’t good considering I have to read test instructions to a group of students in the morning. Hopefully they will be able to understand my squawking.

Bryan Adams tours frequently, and any time he is close, my husband gets me tickets, usually really good tickets. Rick Springfield doesn’t tour as frequently and usually not anywhere close to where we are, but the one time he does, my husband yet again gets me front-row seats as a surprise first-anniversary gift. I sure do hope Rick comes back around sometime soon. I’d love to see him again. Of course, I’m terribly spoiled, and I want seats like the ones I’m used to, up in the front. My ideal show would be front-row, center-stage tickets with Bryan Adams and Rick Springfield in the same show. I doubt that’ll ever happen, but a girl can dream, can’t she?

Adams Delivers Another Night to Remember

Last night in Cincinnati my husband took me to my sixth Bryan Adams concert. I never get tired of these concerts. Yes, Bryan sings pretty much the same songs every time, but he is an excellent musician, and I love to listen to him sing.

Of course, my favorite concert was the one we attended last year. Sitting in the front row on November 30, in Charleston, WV, at the Clay Center, after Bryan sang “A Night to Remember”, Jimmy whispered in my ear, “Do you want to make this a night to remember?” and before I could process the question, he’s down on one knee with an open ring box in front of me asking me to marry him. I was totally unprepared and shocked and amazed, all at the same time. Of course, I said, “yes.” Since we were in the front row, just to Bryan’s right, he did notice, and he announced our engagement to the entire crowd, and then dedicated the song “Flying” to us. After the show, he again congratulated us in front of the whole crowd, and he came over and shook our hands. Talk about a night to remember.

So when Jimmy told me Bryan would be in Cincinnati and asked me if I wanted to go, the answer was obvious. Unfortunately, we had our worst seats ever for a Bryan Adams concert (we were in the tenth row), but it was still a great concert. I just never get tired of hearing him sing. We may have been in the tenth row, but the seats were still really good. We had an excellent view of the stage, just to the left of Bryan, and we could still watch piano player Gary Breit as well.

Oh, I might mention this is The Bare Bones tour, where it’s just Bryan with two guitars and a harmonica and Gary on the piano. This is the fourth time we’ve seen him in this setting. These shows are performed in small theaters, which only seat 1200 or so people. It’s a very intimate experience and allows Bryan to interact with the crowd, as he did with us on the night we became engaged. The shows we’ve watched were at the Paramount in Ashland, KY, the Lexington Opera House, the Clay Center in Charleston, WV, and the Taft Theatre in Cincinnati, OH. If you haven’t seen one of these shows, I strongly suggest you do.

As I said before, all these shows are basically the same. Bryan and Gary both wear black shirts and jeans, every time. Both come out in black top hats, every time (fortunately, they do not wear these the entire show). They perform pretty much the same songs; there has been very little variance in what they play. The song Bryan dedicated to us is an example. That was our fifth Bryan Adams concert, and it was the first time that song had been performed. The songs are basically in the same order, and Bryan tells the same stories to set up the songs.

But even though it’s all the same, it’s different every time, too. For example, last November 30, the crowd got to experience the joy of our engagement. Bryan sang a song specifically to us. The folks who were there had a great story to tell their friends about the concert. Even without the proposal, the shows have each had their own personality because the crowds are not the same, which allows the interaction to be different. All the crowds have those people who yell something to Bryan, and in a venue that small, even those who yell from the balcony area can be clearly heard. And because each crowd has its yellers, Bryan has things to respond to which allows different types of interactions each time, giving each show a unique personality.

Last night was a great show, possibly my second favorite since of course last year’s show was my all-time favorite. First, about six or seven songs in, Bryan says that he’s going to play a song from one of his albums that “a couple of you might know”. He started playing his guitar, and I started bawling. He was playing our song … “Flying”. In six concerts, he’s only performed it twice: the night we got engaged and last night. Now, this may have nothing to do with it, but it might have. When we ordered our tickets, Jimmy emailed Bryan’s publicist and told her about last year’s show and how Bryan dedicated “Flying” to us. He never heard anything back, but then, you don’t really expect to hear anything back from folks like that. However, based on the introduction and the history, we’re choosing to believe that the publicist got word to him, and that was our shout-out. That could be totally wrong, but hey, that doesn’t really matter, because he performed that song and it made my night.

Another special event occurred last night. During “Everything I Do”, a guy a couple rows in front of us asked his girl to dance in the aisle. At that crucial moment in the song, this guy dropped down to one knee and proposed. He places a ring on the girl’s hand, stands up and wraps her in a big bear hug, then gives the crowd a thumbs up so we know for sure her answer was “yes”. Those of you who know me, know I’m a crier. And since I’ve already confessed to becoming a blubbering mess during “Flying”, I may as well confess, the waterworks were turned back on as soon as this guy went down on one knee. Unfortunately, Bryan did not witness this proposal as he did ours, though the crowd in the vicinity of the couple was going wild and even gave them a standing ovation in the middle of the song, so they didn’t get a song dedicated to them. However, in the end, that doesn’t really matter. Last night was their special night, and they have their own night to remember. The fact that Bryan acknowledged our engagement last year wasn’t what made my night special. It was that the love of my life asked me to be his wife. That was all that mattered to me, and I’m sure that’s all that matters to her. I will admit, though, that Bryan’s acknowledgment was a nice icing on the cake.

Things mostly settled down after that. Halfway through the show, Bryan invited three people from the top row of the balcony down to fill three empty seats in the second or third row to his right; this is a gesture that always makes a show great. The greatest thing about these shows is that everyone gets to leave with a story to tell their friends. Today, at work, I shared my theory on “Flying” and told of the couple’s engagement; I’ve no doubt that everyone there had something to talk about today. And when the show was over, another great one, I was completely happy. After all, I’d spent the entire evening with my favorite guy, my wonderful husband, listening to some great music from my favorite artist. I’m glad my husband loves me enough that he doesn’t get tired of taking me to these shows.