Rick Springfield Delivers a Dose of Nostalgia at the Greek Theatre

Matt Matasci

This weekend at the Greek Theatre, music fans were given the chance to step back a few decades for Totally 80s Live by K-EARTH 101. Rick Springfield headlined the evening with opening support from Loverboy (“Working for the Weekend”) and The Romantics (“What I Like About You”), two groups who exemplified the defining sounds of that decade. Springfield may have hit his commercial peak 35 years ago with “Jessie’s Girl,” but he has very much stayed active as a musician and puts on an energetic performance with songs that span his discography.

The Australian singer opened up his set with a cut from his most recently-released album, “Rocket Science.” The song, “Light This Party Up” doesn’t fall too far from the sound most music fans associate with Springfield. However, the song does contain the slightest hint of a Southern rock twang. To beef up his set, a few covers were thrown into the mix; these covers included “I’ve Done Everything For You” by Sammy Hagar, “Roar” by Katy Perry and “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift.

The audience had to wait for the third song to hear the first original Springfield cut from the ‘80s, “I Get Excited” from 1982’s “Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet.” Many associate the Australian singer with the dreaded “one-hit wonder” label but it is not really an accurate description of Springfield. The follow-up to his breakthrough “Working Class Dog,” “Success…” went platinum and produced a total of three top 40 hits (“Don’t Talk to Strangers,” the most popular of the three, was performed toward the end of the set). The middle of his set featured a medley of older songs including “Bop ‘Til You Drop,” “Celebrate Youth,” “Calling All Girls,” “Jessie’s Girl,” “Don’t Walk Away,” “State of the Heart” and “What Kind of Fool Am I.”

Unsurprisingly, Springfield saved his biggest single and calling card for the encore. After the audience cheered him back onto the stage, the band ripped through the punchy power-pop hit that elevated his fifth studio album to multi-platinum status.

Rick Springfield brought the ‘80s to the Greek Theatre on July 16.