Saturday night I was at the Rick Springfield- Richard Marx concert at the Event Center in Bethlehem, Pa.Oh, Little Town Of Bethlehem was appropriate, as it snowed all day on our way up to the casino/resort. So it was nice to be safe and warm inside the almost-filled Event Center for almost three hours.
I've seen Richard Marx many times over the years. he remains one of my favorite artists ( and a truly nice guy). I saw Rick Springfield in Atlantic City for the first time back in September. This show was a stripped down, full acoustic set show by both artists.
Turns out the 80's heartthrobs have been friends for years, but only recently decided to tour together for shows here and there, in-between their own solo concerts. What was to follow was a highly entertaining few hours of music and fun.
Springfield and Marx are alike in many ways but also different. Springfield is the tall one, Marx is short; Marx has the far better voice, still rich over all these years, but Springfield is the better guitarist ( although Marx played one song on the piano); Both are excellent songwriters. Springfield mostly writes for himself, whereas Marx writes and produces more for other artists.
Springfield has put out numerous albums over the years; Marx records an album every five years or so. Springfield is all energy while playing the guitar, squirming on his stool, standing at times, whereas Marx remained standing thru-out his hour-long set, except for a soft rendering of Hold On To The nights.".
Marx is funnier, but after seeing him numerous times over the years, he tells the same old stories regarding his songs. Springfield seemed a bit nervous at first, starting a long-winded story about doing gigs in Vietnam during the war when he was younger, but he eased up as his set went on.
Despite the differences, each has his own fan core, mostly female, and they showed up Saturday night, some old familiar faces I've seen at previous shows. Devoted fans, who have followed these guys for years, probably most who started out as teenagers, as the audience was generally middle-aged and beyond.
Here are highlights of the evening:
* Marx started the show, after a nicely put together intro film about his career. He came out looking slim, tanned and fit, in a jacket, nice jeans and white no-collar shirt, starting off with "Satisfied". He had the crowd singing along right from the start. He's a charming, engaging guy, and is very easy to like with his humor. I think even the hard-core Springfield fans who came to see their man Rick were singing along to Richard's songs.
Marx introduced the evening as "The Two Dicks Tour", and teased the crowd by playing a few chords of "Jessie's Girl" before stopping,muttering "I can't play that song- the guy backstage would be f-king pissed".
It was all hits, from "Angelina" to "Hazard" to "take This Heart." Even with Springfield's set, the treats were the melodies and little extras, the non-hits sprinkled in. For instance, Marx did a brief melody of songs he has written or did background singing for, or produced for other famous artists. Like "Crazy" for Kenny Rogers; "Edge Of A Broken heart" by the all-female 80s group Vixen; or "This I Promise You" by H'Sync.
Marx has sang along to a video of his three boys (The Marx Brothers) in the studio, plying and singing to Richard's mini-hit of a few years ago, "When You Loved Me."
I was a little disappointed, so close to Christmas, he didn't do at least one song from his good Christmas album of a few years ago ("Christmas Spirit"). Hearing a sweet song like 'Christmas Mornings' would've been nice to hear acoustically on the piano.
Marx closed his set with his signature tune "Right Here Waiting", nicely done on the piano, just like the old days.He got a standing ovation for his excellent hour on stage.
Next came Springfield, opening with "I Get Excited." interestingly, even though it was labeled as a "stripped down", acoustic performance, Rick had some pre-recorded background vocals and instruments recorded on the laptop sitting next to him on stage.
As with the Marx set, Springfield did mostly hits, but the best parts of his time on stage were the surprises. During "Human Touch" when he sang "I need it too", he waled down the steps, off the stage, and started giving high-fives to fans in the middle rows.One can tell he likes his fans and the adoration, and truly believes in the "Human Touch" aspect of being a rock star. This love fest of selfies and hugs lasted a good ten minutes or so.
Probably the best part of Springfield's set was his touching tribute to his parents. His father died in 1981, at the height of his fame, and Rick wrote a song called "My Father's Chair", which he did tenderly, singing the last part without a mic, standing at the edge of the stage to a nearly silent arena.
He has sang a new song called "4 Billion Heartbeats" in tribute to his mom, who died last December at the age of 96. I loved both songs, and especially the surprisingly emotional rendering of the songs.
Picking up the pace, Springfield did a sizzling version of the Sammy Hager song 'I've Done Everything For You. "Don't Talk To Strangers" was good. "Also fun was a mash-up of three 80s songs: a snippet of "Jessie's Girl," " Stacy's Mom" and" 867-5309". The new song "If Wishes Were Fishes" was fun as well.
Rick closed with his own signature song, the full-version of" Jessie's Girl", before invited Marx back on-stage. What was to follow, after over two hours of great music, was probably the best to come. The duo did 4 more songs, two Marx tunes "Endless Summer Nights" and "Don't Mean Nothin'", and two Springfield songs "Affair Of The Heart" and "Love Somebody." They sounded great together, both vocally and guitar-wise.
They closed the show doing The Beatles "All My Loving", a fantastic surprise which was well-done by both artists.
We left the Bethlehem Event Center, into the cold, snowy night, smiling and truly "satisfied"..
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it was my second time at the Sands casino in Bethlehem, and the casino was busy but not crazy on Saturday afternoon. Playing Joker Poker, my girlfriend and I actually made a few bucks.
We ate at Emeril's Fish House. The food was good, and the atmosphere was classy, most of the diners pre-show people.
Nice place, pricey but nice.I liked the lay-out of the entire complex, as the main restaurants are on the casino level floor. The Food Court, mall-like shops and the Event Center are on the main floor downstairs.
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