Harrison, Arkansas, May 18, 2001, Crawdad Days Festival
I attended my first Loverboy concert in my hometown of Harrison, Arkansas Friday May 18th. It seemed like it took forever for them to set up for the band after the opening band was off stage.
I might add that Scott Sudbury and his band opened and I would really like everyone who has a chance to see, to go because they were the best opener I had ever seen and I have been to several concerts.
As the crowd crew lounder and more restless, the time finally approached. It was 10:10 when the band came on stage. The crowd started screaming. Then Mike comes on stage and they start with "Nororious". It was a high energy song and Mike sounded just as great as the cd I listened to before the concert.
In this small town, this was our first big concert in many years and I am not sure the crowd knew what to do. But I was standing through the whole thing and finally everyone was standing when they started playing more popular songs like "Hot Girls In Love". Everyone started singing along and Mike worked the crowd. I have to say my favorite song is "Turn Me Loose" and the crowd really got loud on this one.
Matt and Spider were just wonderful! I was very impressed with all of the talent that was on that stage, and to know that most of those people had been together from the beginning was also very impressive. After "Turn Me Loose" was over, they started "Working For the Weekend" which was always a great crowd pleaser.
I had heard all the trouble the guys had making it to the show getting stranded in Memphis and I know they had a bad day, and I think I can safely say that you could tell Mike was a little tired. Maybe not in his voice, cause it was INCREDIBLE, but he didn't move around as much towards the end of the show. When they left the stage, the crowd couldn't stop screaming. I myself screamed out "Lovin Every Minute Of It" !!!!!! And then they came back and played some more. It was a great encore that ended with "Lovin.." and a really good version of "Come Together". Mike had everyone in the audience singing. He knows how to work the crowd. I was very disappointed that they didn't do their ballads like "This Could Be the Night" and "Heaven In Your Eyes" cause I was really looking forward to hearing Mike on those.
All in all, it was a great night and I got to meet Matt who was a very nice person and got my pic taken with him. I just couldn't get enough, that is why I had to go to Little Rock.
Little Rock, Arkansas, May 27,2001 Riverfest
Got there one hour before showtime to get a good seat. They came on around 4pm and started out the same as the Harrison show. Everyone was really into it. It was a more lively crowd than in Harrison. Mike's voice again was incredible! Everything went pretty much the same way and the crowd sang along to every song. I was hoarse by the end of the day. This time I did not get to meet any of them. Was really hoping to meet Mike. It was well worth the 3 hours to get there and sit in the hot sun. So whoever says that Loverboy are has beens needs to go see their show.
They are just AWESOME live and I would go to every show if I could.