Iconic Band Entertain Full House at Performing Arts Center, Openers Levon One to Watch Out For

Jeff Walker Entertainment Review

While they may not command the same concert draw they did during their heyday of the 1980's REO Speedwagon still have a loyal following, and Tuesday night a near sellout crowd filled the North Charleston Performing Arts Center to witness one of rock n' rolls most durable bands. While lead singer Kevin Cronin's voice has weathered slightly with age, 71 years young he still works the stage like a seasoned performer, with the body of REO's catalog keeping loyalists returning year after year. 

With nearly a dozen hit songs to their credit and many still played on classic rock radio formats, REO delivered 15 songs in over 90 minutes that left the crowd enthralled. While they released several albums during the 1970's it wasn't until their ninth studio album 'Hi Infidelity' (November 1980) that the band broke through the pop culture stratosphere, with six of the songs charting and 'Keep On Loving You' becoming the bands first number one. The album would go on to sell over 10 million copies.

One of the best bands you've never heard of opened for show. Levon a three piece group (Michael David Hall, Jake Singleton, & Ryan Holladay) out of Nashville wowed the audience with their original numbers, classic rock tributes, musicianship, and overall stage presence. During their 45 minute set they offered up Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain' and Journey's 'Lights'. They peppered familiar songs with several of their own including 'Till the Wheels Fall Off' and 'Drinking Today'. Both up-tempo roadhouse songs. 

Although they released a self-titled EP in 2017 and have been touring with REO for three years, surprisingly this trio doesn't have a record label deal. Shocking! Imagine what The Eagles sounded like in the early 1970's and you have the pop, southern soft rock, contemporary country vibe that is Levon.

Eight years paying their dues and travelling in a sometimes broken down Winnebago, Levon is primed to go to the next level in Music City. Lead singer Hall said Levon was pre-heating the oven for the marquee attraction about to follow, but judging by audience reaction Levon set the house on fire!

True to form, REO opened their North Charleston show with 'Don't Let Him Go', a Top 20 hit from 'Hi Infidelity', with the straight-ahead melodic rocker becoming their signature opening song. From that moment on REO ripped through an arsenal of songs that took baby boomers back four and sometimes five decades, however the bulk of their non-stop concert hit parade happened for the band between the mid 1970's through the mid 80's.

The lone exception was 'Music Man' from 1972's R.E.O./TWO. A hardcore concert favorite it is one of Cronin's earliest additions to REO after becoming their lead singer at the tender age of 20. 'Take It On the Run' was a welcome follow up with everyone on their feet singing in unison. 'Pushin' from their self titled 1976 release featured the return of Cronin after he'd left the band to pursue a solo career. 

A string of songs echoed from the 1980's including 'That Ain't Love', 'Tough Guys', and their second ever chart topping single 'Can't Fight This Feeling' from 'Wheels Are Turnin'. The power ballad spent three weeks atop the pop charts in March of 1985. 'Son of a Poor Man' took concert goers back to 1973 as well as paying homage to the late guitarist Gary Richrath who passed in 2015.

REO were joined onstage by Levon supplying background vocals on 'Building The Bridge' coming off the album of the same title in 1996, well after their Billboard chart dominance. Cronin said he sang the song on a 2019 trip to Israel hoping the sentiment of the number might provide solidarity in a war torn nation.

Cronin did find time to engage the audience, recalling how over 50 years how many times REO has played Charleston, travelling here when they were just a bar band from the mid-west. He added 'you can take the band out of bar, but you can't take the bar out of the band'. He drew thunderous applause when he noted that over his nearly 72 years on the planet he had hoped this great country of ours would be more united, but admitted it's more crazy than ever. 2000 plus fans agreed!

The race to the finish including a two song encore was littered with rock radio classics beginning with 'Time For Me to Fly' which Levon band members reminded concert goers to hold up their lit cell phones on. 'Back On the Road Again' and 'Ridin the Storm Out' prove the boys who got their bubbly start from Champaign, Illinois (pun intended) know how to rock and can still deliver great boogie-woogie guitar laden tracks. 

REO closed out the 15 song set visiting both sides of the bands spectrum with 'Keep On Loving You' another power pop ballad and a favorite among female fans and 'Roll With the Changes' one of the best rock n' roll songs of all time from one of the best titled albums 'You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish' (1978). It's the kind of song you crank in your car every time it comes on and the boys did not disappoint with an extended version focusing on every guitar lick and keyboard solo. 

It's inevitable. Bands that got their start in the 1970's are going to age. Hair turns white, or grey, or a little salt & pepper, and for lead singers voices become strained. If you're able to overlook Cronin not hitting the vocal registers he once hit, and you're attending an REO concert based primarily on the band's legacy and body of work than you'll have a good time, especially since they are tight when it comes to musicianship.

REO Speedwagon still put on one hell of a rock n' roll show. Backed by their logo behind the drum kit and well timed neon lights, the band let the songs and the music take center stage. After five decades of recording and touring odds are the band will call it quits soon as original keyboardist Neal Doughty did this year, so I suggest diehard fans catch them one last time before they do leave the concert hall for the final time.

For more on REO and their 2023 tour which carries the boys into the fall visit http://reospeedwagon.com/tour/

For more on Levon visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/levonthemusic/ and their website at https://www.levonthemusic.com/#home-section