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The seeds of the band were sewn with keyboardist Neal Doughty enrolling in an electric engineering program at the University of Illinois. On his very first night he met drummer Alan Gratzer, they hit it off and Doughty became a fan of Gratzer’s band soon afterwards. As is the case with a lot of student bands, Gratzer’s bandmates weren’t happy with the way that the frontman of the band treated them. Coincidently, their frontman was also their keyboardist, and come the end of their university’s spring semester the bands guitarist Joe Matt, told the frontman that he, bassist Mike Blair and Gratzer were leaving the band to start a new one with Doughty.
This proved to be a good move, as they had formed the first incarnation of REO Speedwagon, taking the name from a car that Doughty studied in one of his engineering classes. They started playing concerts around their campus bars, university events and frat parties, as a matter of fact their first concert was at a frat party that turned into giant food fight after they came of stage. Something still wasn’t quite working however, and the band would go on to have significant line up issues for the next couple of years, with only Doughty and Gratzer remaining as the sole founding members of the group.
These were to plague the band for their entire existence as a band but it was in 1970 that the band settled on a line up that was going to see them skyrocket in popularity. Luttrell, Gratzer and Doughty were joined by Gregg Philbin on the Bass guitar and prolific songwriter Gary Richrath on guitar. With Richrath on board the band gained their first legion of fans in the American Midwest, and after the concerts they were playing grew every larger, they signed their first record contract with Epic Records in 1971. Their self-titled debut album came out the same year and saw a mild hit in the form of “157 Riverside Avenue”, a concert staple of theirs to this day.
At the start of their career, the band adopted a progressive rock influenced sound that struggled to find a place among the larger than life hard rock stars of the day. Although they consistently sold enough to stay on Epic Records, they didn’t see legitimate commercial success until the end of the decade and their transition to the stadium rock sound of their later work. As with many bands in the 70’s, their first taste of success came with the release of a live album, 1977’s “Live: You Get What You Play For” was their first release to be certified platinum and showcased what the band considered to be the best side of them, their live performances.
This was a smart move, rewarded in 1978 when their seventh album, the ridiculously titled “You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish”, was their first album to enter the Billboard 200 Top 40, peaking at number 29. This was only a taste of their future success, however, and 1980’s “Hi Infidelity” saw its lead single “Keep On Loving You” reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 after five months on the chart. The album was a monster hit, selling over ten million copies and marking the band out as one of the key rock bands of the 1980’s.
Since then, they’ve been one of the bastions of American Rock, still selling out arena’s the country over and a huge draw all over the world to boot. There might be cooler bands out there but not many of them have the songbook that The Speedwagon has, and when it comes down to it, that’s all that matters. Highly recommended.
Críticas en vivo
There is absolutely nothing like the experience of seeing REO Speedwagon live. The band was the soundtrack to so many of the greatest moments of my life, so seeing them live lifted the flood gate of memories back into my mind.
I can only hope every fan of REO Speedwagon has that same experience. The night I saw them they were playing to a packed house. I Showed up 3 hours early and it paid off. I was three rows from the front, crammed in, and not going anywhere. The fans around me were great. We all Talked things REO and rehashed the memories we had of long road trips with Speedwagon pumping through our speakers.
Suddenly the lights dimmed and then rose. The band received what seemed like 30minutes of applause and then it was show time. The band opened with “Take it on the run”, I went nuts. Then they played “Don’t let him go”. Two of my favorites back to back. The night continued just like that, Hit after Hit.
It all felt like a dream one song slipping into another. They played songs from the 70’s and 80’s seamlessly reminding the audience of their prolific career.
There aren’t many bands that have written and composed so many great songs. If you every see them live, consider yourself lucky because you are seeing one of the best live bands in rock and roll.
It was a wonderful show ss always. This was my 7th or 8th time seeing them in concert and will go again.
Kevin is a true showman. The last time they were in Augusta was the day after band member Gary had died. Kevin came out and spoke of him. Which brought everyone to tears.
But as true professionals. The show must go on.
Thank you R.E.O. SPEEDWAGON for always touching our hearts and bringing back memories. As you said last night
"Rock and Roll will keep us YOUNG!!!!
donna-gay-strickland
REO Speedwagon has always been a fun concert experience.
They're energetic. They play all of the key songs and also dust off some oldies but goodies. Their shows are well paced and for fans, it's always an enjoyable night.
The only drawback is they've been playing the same 15 songs for the past 15 years, save for a couple changes here and there.
Have seen them eleven times, however, and will definitely see them again.
These guys may be old but they can still rock. Kevin Cronin can still sing and Dave can still play guitar. The show itself is a little mellow. They remixed some songs to be a little bit more soft. They like to just play one song after another without any big breaks by talking to the audience. But the music is great and the light show is awesome. Great stage setup.
JosephB1996
Band played favorites from past and even some songs that were on side B, that was really cool if you know their music. Still high energy and David is still the man on his Gibson's and fenders. Will see again, but never at Harrahs Cherokee NC. Crowd was too drunk, out of control, and security lost control of the crowd.
loriesman
Awesome Show, one of those bands that sound better live. Almost 2 hours, played our favorites, must see!
Share stage with Firehouse, another great band rock the house for 45 minutes.
Third in the lineup was John Waite, forgot how good of a vocalist he is, would go to another show even if he is the only headliner.
josermedina
REO was great as always. They were the opening act and therefore we only got 70-75 minutes of them but they did all there pre-1980 hits. There was only 1 early album cut and none of the later ballads like 'After Tonight'. There was no sign of Cronin slowing down and you definitely get your money's worth.
steve-mercer-3
the sound system really is poor.. the lead singers voice is soft and he was having a hard time projecting... we found the same problem when we saw meat loaf.. very bad,
but when we saw ambrosia and little river band it was good. so who ever is incharge of sound really has to step it up...
rossie22222
Already did
Thanks
Great Show, everyone on their feet
Singing every song
Nice tribute to Tom Petty
Really enjoyed the entire show
Ready to find out when they will ne back or near. Maybe I will make it to 10 shows. Hopefully
Donna Gay Strickland Hughes
donna-gay-strickland
