Pop-rock legend serves up 'Jessie's Girl' to fan delight

Ahhh ... there's nothing like summer rock 'n' roll, with thousands of carefree fans clapping and bopping to their favorite artists under the big, lakeshore sky.

What could be better? I can only think of one thing: classic tunes -- the ones you loved in junior high (when it was still called junior high) -- being sung by the guy whose poster was stuck on your locker door. Hypothetically, of course.

Rick Springfield fit that exact bill for the 10,000 fans (about 90 percent of whom were female) who turned up to shriek like banshees at Muskegon Summer Celebration's Heritage Landing on Tuesday night.

Springfield, clad in jeans and a sleeveless black shirt, sauntered onstage about 40 minutes late, a bit off-putting but, with this crowd, as long as he showed at all, they were happy. They would have forgiven him anything, as long as he sang you-know-what and whipped his shirt off at the end. Springfield kept up his end of the bargain on both counts, and in return he was able to trot out some great new songs for a crowd of zealous fans.

"Will I Ever See You Again" and "Beautiful You," both recently released, were gorgeous, melodic, hook-ridden, shoulda-been-hits.

Oddly, "Broken Wings," the hit Springfield does have going on, his first in close to 20 years, was absent, though he did break from rock 'n' roll and crooned one selection from his album of softer stuff ("The Day After Yesterday") coming out Tuesday: 10cc's "I'm Not in Love."

He should have sung a few more softies, because, vocally, he works well as a balladeer. That's not to say Springfield can't belt out a rocker, because he hit out of the park songs such as "I've Done Everything for You," "Love Somebody," and "Kristina." Here and there, though, it was obvious his band was doing the heavy lifting and the heartthrob was coasting. Just once in a while.

Depending on where you were sitting or standing, things took a bit of a slide when Springfield ventured into the crowd to hobnob with his adoring admirers. It was hard to hear him while he had his back turned to hundreds of people. Plus he was goofing off so much it detracted from the music a bit. Or maybe the poor man was being pawed at so much he couldn't keep it all together.

Finally, though, the sweaty Springfield made his way back to the stage (after 40 minutes!) and broke into the piece de resistance, the reason 99 percent of the crowd had come to see him. From the opening bars of "Jessie's Girl," fans became unglued and just went bonkers, singing along to every word and loving every second. Life, indeed, was good.