The Canadian band that boomed onto the scene in the ‘80's has fans singing along.
Loverboy lead singer Mike Reno looked around the State Fair’s Cole Muffler Court on Sunday afternoon and thought he had a pretty good read on the folks sitting in the metal benches and crammed into every foot of green space.
“I bet there are a lot of people out there who don’t normally go to a rock concert,” Reno said, spying a fair number of grandparents and little kids. “I’ll make it easy. When I do this, you do this,” Reno said, pumping his arms, left-right, left-right.
The fans followed his lead well. Reno had underestimated the number of people in the crowd who have followed the Canadian band since its glory years in the 1980s.
Whenever Loverboy began a song that landed on the Billboard Top 40 chart–and they had nine of those, starting in 1981 and ending in 1987–the fans let that be known with a cheer. When the time came for a chorus, the fans were equal to that vocal responsibility, too.
“Notorious” started off the set. It shared the devilish attitude that carried Loverboy back then–and still does. In a nutshell: “every mother’s nightmare, every schoolgirl’s dream.”
The favorites kept coming.
“Only the Lucky Ones,” “Queen of the Broken Hearts,” “This Could Be The Night”, and “Turn Me Loose” all brought back memories of the decadent ‘80s.
Reno wasn’t done giving his rock-by-number instructions, either.
“The pained look on the face of the drummer and guitar player means it’s really good,” he said. “He’s not in pain or anything.”
Guitarist Paul Dean took his star turn at the microphone, singing a chunky lead on “So Emotional.” Dean and Loverboy at that moment sounded for all the world just like the Rolling Stones when Keith Richards steps to the microphone to relieve Mick Jagger from lead vocals for a spell.
Dean got a good tale in, too, hooking the state trooper into the story of an over-the-speed-limit race to the airport that threatened a speeding ticket but ended with a police escort at 100 mph.
It seemed like the band played that fast with Reno back on the driver’s side for the Loverboy classic “Working for the Weekend.”