ION INDIE MAGAZINE September 2016, Volume 28 | Page 34

By Timothy Schumann
On June 23rd, here in New Orleans, I had the sheer pleasure to cover RICK SPRINGFIELD--with supporting acts
LOVERBOY and NIGHT RANGER--at Champion Square, right next door to The Superdome.
Now truth be told, I am not a fan of Rick Springfield and you would have to be living under a rock in the 80's to not
know who Loverboy and Night Ranger were. I mean, if you listened to Top 40 rock stations back then, well it’s a given.
After my research on all three of these bands, we are talking major history here. All their years combined totals out
to be around 110 years…now what does that tell you? These guys have endured the test of time and are still going
out on tour and putting on fantastic shows--case in point, June 23rd here in NOLA.
Night Ranger hit the stage at 7:30 sharp with their blend of San Francisco hard rock. Songs like “Sister Christian”
and “Don't Tell Me You Love Me” had this middle-aged crowd on their feet through the entire set…as it should be
with 11 albums and 17 videos over the past 32 years. Even though JACK BLADES is looking a bit “long in the tooth”,
he still puts on an epic performance! Next on deck was Loverboy, and did they follow suit--“Working For The
Weekend”, “Heaven in your Eyes” and “Turn Me Loose” had the joint jumping. And how could it not--with classic
rock hits such as these. 9 albums in 34 years tells the story.
Finally Rick Springfield takes the stage around 9:45, and I gotta tell ya, this crowd (mostly female) was here to see
Rick and Rick only! This 66 year old Australian has lived quite the life. He's a singer, songwriter, actor and author,
with 21 albums in 44 years. But here's the kicker: back in ‘81 when “Jessie's Girl” was number one, he was also
Noah Drake on General Hospital. Needless to say, the ratings for GH went thru the roof! How cool is that? He just
blew away this audience with hits like “I've Done Everything For You”, “Don't Talk To Strangers” and of course, his
iconic song, “Jessie's Girl”.
As I stated in the beginning of this review, I was not a fan of Rick Springfield, but after covering the show for my
publication, I sure do look at him in a different light. He had the crowd eating out of his hand; just one hell of a
performer! I had just a fantastic time and everybody I met treated me like gold. All in all, just one hell of a night!