While I am disappointed that I didn’t get to hear Cronin’s distinct sound, I think some good came out of Kronin’s bad health. Some were with their friends, some were with their children and even grands. Some were single, some had been married forty years. Some were being rolled in on wheelchairs.
Some were probably rolling illegal cigarettes. Keep on rolling, keep on rolling, that’s what we all did the night that REO Speedwagon came to town. The youngsters asked the married couples to come out to dance and many did. Then they called for thirty and even forty years. Levon asked if anyone was married 20 years or more. It was an older audience, as you would imagine for a band started in 1967. Levon worked the crowd well at the beginning and the end. They did mostly covers, but their original “With My Eyes Closed” is worth a quick download. The young trio, based out of Nashville, got called back on stage to help REO Speedwagon close out the show with “Roll with the Changes.” They had wowed the crowd earlier with their opening act. They cheered and did their best to carry him through the show by singing along.Ĭronin’s misfortune provided a break for the opening act, Levon. The crowd responded in the way that devoted fans do. The Illinois-born, California resident sounded folksy, almost country, when he joked that he “shorely” would appreciate everyone’s help. He promised to do his best with the music and encouraged everyone to sing along. They are super stars – rock stars – but sometimes, on nights like that night, he reminded us how very human we all are. In Columbia, SC, on February 29, Cronin was less rock star and more older, but wiser, man.Ĭronin said that rock stars often don’t feel human. They got to learn more about the very real side of Kevin Cronin. No, the audience got something a little different. The audience didn’t get what they came for – the chance to hear Cronin singing 50 years‘ worth of hits. He felt bad, and the crowd felt bad for him.
Recently at Columbia’s Township Auditorium, REO Speedwagon lead singer Kevin Cronin was both.Ĭronin owned it almost immediately. Sometimes you are a 68-year-old man with the flu. When MTV launched in 1981, they played the video, as REO Speedwagon were huge at the time, with a string of hits from their Hi Infidelity album.Sometimes you’re a rock star. Directed by Arnold Levine, the black-and-white footage was shot at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri at their show on May 13, 1978. The band made a music video for this song in 1978, three years before MTV went on the air. It was their first album to be co-produced by lead singer Kevin Cronin and lead guitarist Gary Richrath. The album was the seventh studio album by the group, released in 1978. Released as the first single from their 1978 album You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can’t Tuna Fish, the song became their biggest hit to that point. The song hit him in a flash: he started writing the lyrics on a brown paper bag in his Ford Pinto while he was driving. On that trip, he had lots of time to think about all the changes in his life, and how he was (quite literally) rolling with them. Cronin returned to the band in 1976, which meant moving from Chicago to Los Angeles, where they had relocated. Kevin Cronin had left the band over conflict with guitarist Gary Richrath and other creative tensions. Today’s song of the day is “Roll with the Changes”! It was featured on the album, You can tune a piano but you can’t tuna fish. This week, on the song of the day, we are featuring songs from Reo Speedwagon.
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