rtbuck
Senior Member
REO Speedwagon – ‘Live in the Heartland’ DVD
Label : Soundstage & Koch Vision
Review by Bucky for Rock n Roll Universe
I’ll always remember my teen years in the mid/late 70’s & how one of my favorite things to do on Saturday night was to tune in at 1 A.M. to NBC & watch Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert. DKRC always featured bands I was into at the time such as Kiss & Alice Cooper & introduced me to bands I’d never heard of.
One Saturday night REO Speedwagon was on. I had never heard them before & I was blown away by the first song they played that night”Roll With the Changes”. They played a couple other tunes which were great but the last song was “Riding the Storm Out” which also totally blew me away. I went out & bought ‘You Can Tune a Piano…’ & ‘Live…You Get What you Play for’ & I’ve been hooked ever since.
30 years later I while walking through a Borders store, I noticed the new live DVD from Soundstage ‘Live in the Heartland’. I glanced at the back cover & noticed my favorite REO tune “157 Riverside Avenue” was on it so I bought it with no hesitation. I was so pleased with the performance that immediately after watching it I pulled out their 2007 album ‘Find Your Own Way Home’ & listened to it twice in row (& am currently listening to it as I write this review). They strategically placed 4 tunes from their latest release in 4 different spots in their setlist mixed in among the rest of their smash hits & regular concert staples. If I didn’t already have the latest CD I probably would’ve went out & bought it after watching this DVD. Kevin Cronin’s magic way of stage rapping promoted the hell out of the new songs. REO opened the 94 minute DVD with the title track from the 2007 release & without a break the band launched straight into “Take it on the Run”. Without missing a beat the band reached back to 1976 & pulled out “Keep Pushing”. Cronin goes into one of his stage raps about Soundstage, Illinois, & that they’re here to party! Next song up is from ‘Find Your Own way Home’ & is called “I Needed to Fall” which deals with the struggles of a long lasting love. The familiar voices of Spanky & Alfalfa of ‘Little Rascals Fame’ fill the venue which is the cue to my favorite song off of the ‘Hi-Infidelity’ album “Tough Guys”. Keyboardist Neal Doughty leads into the smash single “I Can’t Fight this Feeling” which is followed by another priceless stage rap by Cronin dealing with the dangers of drinking & thinking in the hotel bar & the band dives into “Dangerous Combination”. A familiar bass run by long time bassist Bruce Hall fills the air as he shows off his rocking vocal talents on “Back on the Road Again”. Guitarist Dave Amato who replaced original guitarist Gary Richrath in 1990 unleashes a fiery solo during the classic REO song. The band really seem to be enjoying themselves onstage & the song ends with some phenomenal & energetic drumming by Bryan Hitt. The band launch into a classic REO sounding rocker from their new CD called “Smilin’ in the End” before closing out their set with a string of classics including “Time For Me to Fly”,” Don’t Let Him Go”, “Keep On Loving You”, “Roll With the Changes”, & “Ridin’ the Storm Out”. The first encore is from ‘REO 2’ “Golden Country” & is followed by my favorite tune “157 Riverside Avenue” from their first album. As always Cronin goes into one of his classic raps during the final tune which is followed by the classic exchange of scat vocals & ripping lead guitars by Cronin & Amato.
Besides the phenomenal show the DVD has a couple of bonus features,one being interviews with Kevin Cronin & Neal Doughty & the other is an acoustic performance taken from XM in which the band performs a real cool jacoustic jazz version of “Ridin’ the Storm Out”(which I wish would be released on CD) & “I Needed to Fall”.
Bucky
