Head East Setlist:
One Night | Get Up And Enjoy Yourself | Gettin’ Lucky | Prisoner | Mama Let Him Play | Jefftown Creek | Since You Been Gone | Never Been Any Reason

REO Speedwagon Setlist:
Don't Let Him Go | Keep On Loving You | In Your Letter | Take It On The Run | Keep Pushin'
|Golden Country | Can't Fight This Feeling | Like You Do | Time For Me To Fly | Back On The Road Again | Roll With The Changes

Encore:
Ridin' The Storm Out

REO Speedwagon began their career in the Midwest and has remained a popular concert draw for over 35 years. Tonight was no exception as a capacity crowd jammed into the new concert auditorium that is part of the First Council Casino in Newkirk, Oklahoma. The crowd got a treat before the main event, however, as another Midwest staple opened the show, Head East.

Head East currently contain only one original member, keyboardist Roger Boyd. He has wisely assembled the rest of Head East to be able to reproduce, nearly perfectly, the sounds of the bands’ platinum album, Flat As A Pancake, as well as any other era of Head East. The group is rounded out by Greg Manahan on bass, lead guitar and vocals, Glen Bridger on lead guitar and vocals, Eddy Jones on drums and vocals and Darren Walker on bass, guitar and vocals. Darren is the emcee of the band and sings lead on most songs.

The band got the crowd rocking with their classic FM radio hit “Love Me Tonight” and proved they’re not a band resting on the laurels of one album, Flat As A Pancake, as they performed two news songs, “One Night” written by guitarist Glen Bridger and “Prisoner” by Greg Manahan, that stood up well against the classics. Vocally, the band sounded amazing and sonically, the guitars were cranked up, distorted and featured melodic harmony solos which have always been part of Head East’s legacy. The band impressed everyone in attendance with stellar performances of “Jefftown Creek” and the Russ Ballard classic “Since You Been Gone” before ending the evening with “Never Been Any Reason” from the classic Pancake album. The REO friendly crowd cheered and nodded in appreciation of a warm up act gone good.

As fun as it was to hear Head East, and sing along to the famous line from “Never Been Any Reason” that goes “save my life I’m going down for the last time,” the crowd quickly put their hands together and began to chant for REO. Speedwagon still consists of vocalist and rhythm guitar player Kevin Cronin, keyboard player Neal Doughty, bass player Bruce Hall, guitarist Dave Amato and drummer Bryan Hitt. The band, while obviously not as young as they once were, still take care of their selves physically and dress like rock stars.

Opening number “Don’t Let Him Go” was preceded by a musical passage that built up slowly and got the crowd immediately on their feet. The first four songs were all from REO’s classic Hi Infidelity. Sandwiched between Top 10 hits “Keep On Loving You” and “Take It On The Run” was the cheesy “In Your Letter,” which is one song that certainly separates the sexes among REO fans. The ladies seem to love the boogie-woogie feel of the song while the guys sigh and wait for the hard rock songs to come later in the set. They didn’t have to wait long, though, as the rocking and inspirational “Keep Pushin’” nearly brought the house down. REO then played the epic “Golden Country”…after Kevin Cronin rant number one. KC was on a roll as he fired up the crowd challenging everyone to “take our country back.” Once done with his motivational speech, Neal Doughty and Dave Amato took over, musically. “Golden Country” is a rocking tune that features wah-wah soaked guitar, mystical organ ramblings, powerful lyrics and an amazing guitar solo. After the power the band unleashed on “Golden Country,” the crowd was eating out of their hands the rest of the night.

Cronin took center stage after the epic tune and began chatting with the audience. The rest of the band could have left the stage, went to the casino and played in a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament by the time he finished introducing the next song. This was perhaps the most extended intro even Cronin has ever performed. The crowd listened patiently and even laughed as Kevin admitted the next song was performed at one of Motley Crue bass player Nikki Sixx’s weddings. Cronin said he has never seen a man with so many girlfriends and wives, who looked differently except for their boobs, which remain identical. He looked at Amato and said, “I think when Nikki breaks up with them he takes their boobs and gives them to the next one.” From there, however, Kevin kept going on and on about how much he loves the song and how much it means to him when people use it in their weddings or tell him stories of how the song represents an important part of their life. He, finally, decided to get back to business and introduced the REO #1 hit “Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore.”

Once the sappy love song ended, Cronin announced that the remainder of the show would feature nothing but pure classic rock. With that, REO went into a song from 1972’s R.E.O. II album titled “Like You Do.” This is another song that features a lot of jamming onstage and killer organ and guitar solos. “Time For Me To Fly” was met with the usual sing-along from the crowd. Cronin introduced “REO Speedwagon’s secret weapon” as bass player Bruce Hall. The tall, blond-haired bassist took center stage, flopped out a bass solo and then gave Amato a nod to kick the distorted guitar into high gear. The Hall penned “Back On The Road Again” has always been, and will always be, a highlight of any REO concert. The band ended the main set with the classic “Roll With The Changes.”

No one was fooled when REO bowed and left the stage. Constant cheering got REO back out for another musical interlude that ended with Neal Doughty’s famous siren wail that ushered in “Ridin’ The Storm Out.” After some extended jamming, REO, once again, took a bow and left the stage, this time for good. It was very odd seeing REO play a concert and not include “157 Riverside Avenue” in the set. No matter how loud the crowd cheered, the show was over. The house lights came up and the crowd dispersed.

REO Speedwagon has had many different eras during their 35 + years. They have been a hard rock band, a pop band and a classic rock band. One thing is for certain, they are still a damn good band, no matter if they are playing protest songs from the 1970’s, bubblegum pop from the 80’s or new material from the 2000’s. The Speedwagon is dedicated to their craft and seem poised to continue to keep riding the storm out for a long time to come.