Summoned through belly, hammered into form by the throat, given propulsion by bellowing lungs, hammered into form by the throat, his voice has tenderized the hearts of millions in a kind of high-wire walk -- both breath-taking and spectacular. Kevin Cronin has dug the foundations for the poles and strung the wire himself, and at age 58, the REO Speedwagon front man’s vocals still retain their famous flair.
“Kevin is an incredible front man not just in terms of our band, but in all of rock and roll,” said the band’s 57-year-old bass guitarist Bruce Hall. “He’s not often brought up in conversation with your best vocalists of all time, like in the same sentence as Robert Plant, Elvis Presley, Steven Tyler, or Freddie Mercury, but Kevin deserves to be right alongside the best-of-the-best.”
With an immaculate sound and youthful energy, REO Speedwagon is an act that has truly perfected the formula of the classic rock concert, seizing nostalgia and using it to their advantage in the creation of a party from the past. In Hopewell at the Constellation Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center Sunday, the American rock legends will unleash an avalanche of jukebox gold in a set full of soaring harmonies, smoothly changing gears between 1980s pop rock and power ballads and 1970s-style hard rock -- an encyclopedic definition of rock and roll.
Since releasing their debut and self-entitled album in 1971, the five-man band have produced 17 albums, including the monumental 10-million seller, 1980s Hi Infidelity, their ninth studio album, which went on to become the biggest-selling rock album in 1981 producing the bands first No. 1 hit, “Keep On Loving You,” and the angst-ridden breakup hit “Take It on the Run,” which reached No. 5 on the charts. The band, which today only includes one member from the original lineup, 64-year-old keyboardist Neal Doughty, also produced another No. 1 hit, gusher “Can’t Fight This Feeling” off the groups 1984 album Wheels Are Turnin’, to go along with 13 total Top-40 singles. To date, REO Speedwagon has sold more than 40 million albums, and 22 million in the U.S.A, the same amount as Jimi Hendrix, The Police, and Lionel Richie.
“I’ve been in the band since 1977, so for 33 years of the groups 39-year history, and have loved every bit of success our band has garnered,” Hall said. “Of the 164 songs REO has written, I’ve been part of 111, and have had the great pleasure of singing lead vocals on ‘Back on the Road Again,’ ‘Someone Tonight,’ Hey, Wait A Minute,’ ‘After Tonight,’ and ‘Born to Love You.’ Above all that, seeing the fans show-after-show has been the greatest achievement of all. Without them, we’re nothing.”
Formed by students attending the University of Illinois in the fall of 1967 to play cover songs in campus bars, the band started out with their equipment being hauled to dates in a friend's used Chevy REO Oldsmobile station wagon, which is where the band name was derived from, playing all over the Midwest. Since fronted by their iconic vocalist in 1972, Cronin and band mates performed in clubs and bars until they rode to the top of the charts with a string of gold and platinum albums, and after four decades, still draw legions of fans out to hear the soft-rock powerhouse they’ve become.
“I never had the opportunity to tour with the guys back when they were in bars and clubs, barely making enough money to eat dinner some nights, because I joined them right at the time when the band was starting to take off,” Hall said. “They just did the ‘Live: You Get What You Play For’ album and tour that went platinum. REO endured many changes in the early days since releasing the first album almost 40 years ago. In total there have been 12 people that have been part of this band, but our current lineup has been together for 20 years now.”
While this is the first time REO Speedwagon will be making an appearance in Hopewell, the band has solidified their place in Rochester music history. They are the only band in history to sell out back-to-back nights at Rochester’s formerly known War Memorial Stadium (now the Blue Cross Arena). During their 1978 “You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish” they became the reason the Blue Cross Arena now has a maximum capacity allowance, having sold far too many tickets and posing safety concerns.
“Believe it or not, I do remember the tour when we were in Rochester, because it was my first year with the band,” Hall said. “In my hotel room there was this mouse, and when I went to catch him he ran into the dressing room closet right before we had to go on stage. When we got back, I opened that door with a lamp shade and caught him, and our band kept him as a pet each night we went on tour for years, and we named him Rochester. Every night before we went out on stage, we’d say ‘Wish us luck, Rochester.’”
Cronin, Doughty, Bruce Hall (bass), Dave Amato (lead guitar), and Bryan Hitt (drums) are working musicians and turn the dial to 11 when they hit the stage. Guitars wailing under fluid fingers, drum beats sound and solid, chest-rattling bass licks, and the upper-register behind the microphone have only intensified over time, and REO Speedwagon, are once again set to take the stage and present an absolutely house-shaking, classic-rock-radio-friendly 90-minute blast-from-the-past evening.
The show begins at 7:30 p.m., with rock legend Pat Benatar as the opening act, set to perform for 80 minutes.
