I have to preface this with a few caveats: I am a huge Eddie Money fan, and have seen him perform countless times. I believe he's a very generous and gregarious performer, and is gracious with his time in every market he tours. Money is a brilliant composer and lyricist, and I genuinely like the guy. That being said, his show on Thursday night at State Theatre was… well, painful to witness.
To be honest, I didn’t even know until the day of the show that he was playing in town. A friend put it together last minute, calling to ask us to join him and some others for drinks and the show. At $10 admission, we figured why not? Eddie Money’s always been the consummate professional; he performs the songs he knows everyone wants to hear and does it in an entertaining way.
The lineup included a local vocalist and a couple of local bands, and The Rockstar Riders out of St. Louis, Missouri, who tour with Eddie Money. (The name of this last band was bit of foreshadowing, in hindsight, my reasons for which will become clear as you read on.) The show was billed as Eddie Money – It's Only Money: The Stories Behind the Hits, “Eddie will bring you his favorite hits – and the stories behind them – with an intimate, audience-interactive presentation.” Fair enough. Drinks, hanging out with fun people, Eddie Money at a small venue, close to home… sounds like a decent way to spend a Thursday night: I’m in.
This article appears in Feb 9-15, 2012.