4/8/05--Rockin with the graybeards

So the other day I get a phone call from the wife.  It seems the hand surgeon that she works with once a week is the team hand specialist for the NHL Florida Panthers, and as such gets lots of deals on tickets at the Office Depot Center.  Well, being that there has been no hockey season this year (Grrrrr!), the team's owners has been making it up to the season ticket holders by having a series of free concerts featuring, ya know.....artists that you used to care about.  Apparently they've previously had concerts featuring Styx (without Dennis DeYoung on lead vocals) & Kansas (without any apparent talent remaining).  Last evening, Kim secured some free tickets (my favorite kind) to see former major arena rock stars REO Speedwagon.
You remember those guys, don't you?
"Take it on the Run"
"Time for me to Fly"
"I Can't Fight This Feeling"
"Roll with the Changes"
"Riding the Storm Out"

So we go to the arena, where we are shocked, amazed and surprised to find out:
PARKING IS FREE.  Seriously, in all the years I've been going to the arena, I can't recall there ever being a single event where there was not a charge for parking.
This actually impressed me more than the free concert---FREE PARKING.  I think I would've come to the event just to park for free!  Ahem....but I digress.
Anyway, we go in to the building, where we find our very good seats about 20 rows up pretty much right in the middle of the building.  Very nice sightlines.  The opening band comes on, with some bald guy as the lead singer (not bad) and Kim goes:
"This isn't REO Speedwagon, is it?"

Uh, no honey.  Kevin Cronin hasn't lost THAT much hair yet.  (As an aside to all of you non-REO fans out there--lead singer Kevin Cronin was well known throughout the music industry for having a fabulous "white guy afro" during the band's heyday).
No it was your average local band doing approximately 5 cover songs to warm the crowd up for the headliners.  So I'm doing a little people watching, and the good news is that apparently tonight, unbeknownest to us, was "Women over 35 year old  trying desperately to look slutty and still mildly still attractive night" at the arena.  Let's just say that a lot of slightly saggy breasts were up so high that a lot of duct tape had been purchased at Home Depot's in the Ft Lauderdale area that evening.

So right about 8:40pm, the lights go down and onto the stage comes....REO Speedwagon!  I was thinking back to my high school days just outside of St Louis
when they first broke nationally and were appearing at the Checkerdome.  Of course the first thing you notice is that Cronin's hair is way shorter than in their heyday, although its been that way for a few years now.  Of course, two of the other guys in the band were sporting the fine combination of shoulder length hair gone completely gray.  Yep, no split ends there music fans.  So they come on and truthfully, they don't really sound too bad.  Cronin is talking a little too much between songs for Kim's taste though.  I like a little patter between songs as much as the next guy, but Kevin was getting downright chatty.  Just get to the damn music!
Their playing all the hits, and at one point comes the defining moment of the night.
Cronin is introducing a song and announces:

"We'd like to play a song that was featured on our 2nd album....that was released around 1972."

So I look over and I see Kim doing some quick math in her head.  She turns and says.....without a hint of shame or reservation:

"1972?  Holy crap these guys are like 60 years old!"

Its all about that graybeard rock baby.  Coming to an arena near you.  Mom & Dad may have listened to their Ray Conniff records....their Al Martino....Vikki Carr.....
but they never experienced a little graybeard arena rock. 
I guess they never truly lived.

Later,
Jeff