At age 75, Rick Springfield can’t stop touring.
The rocker known for classic ‘80s nuggets like “Jessie’s Girl” and “Don’t Talk to Strangers” still performs at least 60 concerts a year. Besides shows with his band, he will do acoustic storytelling concerts and collaborations with orchestras. But this time he has joined forces with fellow ‘80s heartthrob Richard Marx for an acoustic tour.
The show, which comes at Atlanta Symphony Hall on Monday, Feb. 17, is nearly sold out with tickets starting at $49.75 via Ticketmaster.
“I’ve cut back but I still love the reaction of the crowds,” said Springfield in a recent phone interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s an addictive thing. It’s a great party. It’s hard to give that up.”
Springfield is doing a blend of shows this year including an “I Want My 80s” tour this summer with John Waite, Wang Chung, Paul Young and John Cafferty that doesn’t feature an Atlanta date.
The Marx combo was Springfield’s idea. “I’ve known him since 1988,” he said. “We joke around a lot, and I thought it would be fun for the audience to see that,” he said.
The concert is a stripped-down acoustic affair where they trade off hit songs, of which they have plenty. Springfield and Marx collectively own 31 top 40 hits on the Billboard charts from 1971 to 1994.
Last November in Palm Desert, California, for instance, they performed Springfield’s “I’ve Done Everything For You” followed by Marx’s “Hazard,” then “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and “Should’ve Known Better.”
“It’s not taxing,” he said. “We sing harmonies on each other’s songs. I play solos over Richard’s stuff. It’s two guys with guitars.”
While Springfield is obligated to play songs like “Affair of the Heart” and “Love Somebody,” he prefers his newer material, some of which will be on his second greatest hits album. The record comes out Friday and features songs from the last 25 years including his recent guitar-edged song “Lose Myself.”
“I’m proud of that one,” he said. “It’s very up-tempo and lyrical. It’s about losing yourself in somebody to the point you are willing to destroy your life for them.”
Having been in the spotlight for more than five decades, he is well aware that his fans are aging with him. “It’s very humbling when they show you photos of them backstage when they were 13,” he said. “It’s pretty wild to know they are still interested in what I do.”
His breakthrough on the pop charts in 1981 with “Jessie’s Girl” coincided with his 18 months playing Dr. Noah Drake on “General Hospital.” He returned in the mid-2000s and again for the 50th anniversary in 2013.
“It’s freaking hard work!” he said. “There’s no action. It’s all talking heads and memorizing dialogue. For me, it wasn’t about acting. It was just getting through the amount of lines and not screwing up.”
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Of course, his acting highlight was working with Meryl Streep in the modestly successful 2015 comedy “Ricki and the Flash” where Streep got to play a rock star.
“She was never even remotely Meryl Streep the actress, ” he said. “She was always really down to earth.” He recalled one of his sons Josh was helping with the movie and parked her car: “He dinged it. There are other actors I would have dreaded that happening. But she was not one of them. She was nice about it.”
His earliest memory of Atlanta goes back to the late 1970s. “I went to Burt Reynold’s restaurant Burt’s Place [in downtown Atlanta at the Omni] and bought a T-shirt with his caricature on it,” he said. “I wore that shirt for the longest time!”
Credit: LIFETIME
Credit: LIFETIME
Springfield also spent time in Atlanta 11 years ago shooting an episode of Lifetime dramedy “Drop Dead Diva” playing an aging rocker being kicked out of his band.
Unfortunately, Atlanta had a rare snowstorm that February and he couldn’t fly to Nashville for a show. Fortunately, fellow musician Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts was also guesting on “Drop Dead Diva” in the same episode, and Springfield hitched a ride with him.
“We both got in the bus and got totally drunk on the ride,” Springfield recalled. “We also wrote a great song and it ended up on one my albums.”
Credit: SIRIUS
Credit: SIRIUS
Springfield has been also hosting a weekly show on SiriusXM’s 80s on 8 channel called “Working Class DJ” since 2021. “It was my manager’s idea,” he said. “I actually wanted to be a deejay before I discovered the guitar. It’s gone on longer than I ever imagined. Be careful what you wish for!”
He admits he is no Alan Hunter or Mark Goodman, two former MTV veejays who are on the same channel. “I play up the fact I’m not a professional,” he said.
His show has a weekly theme such as “Super Bowl bangers” and “80s songs that saw the future.”
“They give me a script and I ad-lib from there,” he said. “I make fun of the scriptwriter. He knows I’m doing it for laughs. He’s a good foil.”
IF YOU GO
“Rick Springfield and Richard Marx”
8 p.m., Monday, Feb. 17. Tickets start at $49.75. Atlanta Symphony Hall, 280 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, www.ticketmaster.com
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