Rick Springfield Rocks Park City at The Concerts on the Slopes

Nestled on the slopes of one of Park City’s premier ski resorts, the Canyons Village Amphitheater offers the kind of setting that can make a concert memorable before the band even takes the stage. 

 

High enough in the mountains to escape the city heat, the evenings feel almost tailor-made for outdoor concerts.  As the sun drops behind the surrounding peaks, the temperature soon follows along with it.  At the tail end of the shows t-shirts give way to hoodies as the cool mountain air makes itself felt. 

 

Lat week provided one of those perfect evenings and Rick Springfield brought a performance that matched the picturesque surroundings. 

 

Taking the stage as part of the Concerts on the Slopes series, Springfield delivered a show built on energy, personality, memories and the kind of connection with audiences that only a career spanning decades can form.  Never standing in one place for too long, Springfield moved from side to side of the stage, to the edges, all while playing the guitar, singing or throwing rose petals at the crowd. 

 

And he sounded great doing it.

 

Springfields voice stayed strong throughout the show while his stage presence was just as polished.  Rather than just singing his catalog of hits through the microphone, Springfield took every moment he could to engage with the crowd, telling stories or jokes and making the audience part of the show.

 

At one point he turned the attention to his birthday which happened only four days earlier and had the audience sing “Happy Birthday” to him.  When he asked if anyone knew how old he was and the fans shouted 77, Springfield replied laughingly how he hates the internet because everything is just out there now, before remarking how he still feels 45. 

 

Judging by his energy and performance on the night it would be hard to argue with him on that point. 

 

Springfield rarely slowed down, but in one of the night’s most memorable moments he did, drawing the attention away from himself and the stage. He told the crowd if they looked off to the side of the stage, they could see the eclipse happening, remarking how he had never performed under one before which elicited cheers from the crowd.  Springfield wasn’t about to let the moment pass by and had the camera crews point towards the eclipse and broadcast it on the concert screens behind him while he performed. 

 

For a brief few moments, the attention shifted from the show on stage to the one happening in the skies before it was back to rock and roll.

 

Springfield continued the show with a smile across his face and the enthusiasm of a performer who clearly still loves performing and being in front of a crowd. 

 

Of course, a Rick Springfield concert ultimately has one song that it’s building towards, and everyone knows is coming.  “Jessie’s Girl” remains one of the most popular rock songs ever written and fans were screaming the lyrics back at a beaming Springfield as he closed out the show with his most famous hit.  Closing the night out with his monster hit while singing under the eclipse was a moment that fans will remember for a lifetime.  One of those special moments that only happens once. 

 

Concerts on the slopes already has one of Utah’s most distinctive settings for live music, with the mountains, stars and the cool air, but this night with Rick Springfield and an eclipse above our heads it transcended being just another venue. 

 

Sometimes a venue is simply a place where a concert happens, on this night it was a place where the magic happened.