On Wednesday the \u201cCan\u2019t Stop Rockin\u2019 Tour\u201d stormed the ShoWare Center in Kent, highlighting the live shows of classic rock stalwarts REO Speedwagon, Styx and .38 Special, who collectively have more than a century of touring experience.<\/p>\n
The show brought out two separate demographics: fans who saw the groups back in their respective heydays, when \u201ciTune\u201d was just a typo, and a younger generation rediscovering them \u2013 a lot of them the offspring of the first demographic.<\/p>\n
Together, they formed an audience of more than 4,000, jamming together at ShoWare, for the Kent venue\u2019s first major rock concert.<\/p>\n
For Jeff Lovre, 44, of Black Diamond, the show was a chance to share his love of live shows with his kids, Chris, 12, and Andrew, 9.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think it\u2019s great,\u201d said Jeff, who has been attending rock concerts since he was a teenager. \u201cThe people here have been great. I have seen Styx and REO before, but not .38 Special. I saw Styx first in \u201983 and \u201984; I think it was on \u2018Paradise Theater\u2019<\/p>\n
Although the show was Chris\u2019 first, Andrew said he was already an old hand at the concert experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI already went to Rush at the White River Amphitheater,\u201d Andrew Lovre said. \u201cI knew of Styx, so I decided to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Adam Hoveland, 20 of Federal Way, the show was a chance to hang out with his dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Styx,\u201d Hoveland said. \u201cAnd it was better than being stuck at home. I liked .38 Special. Now I have some more stuff to add to my playlist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Formed in Chicago in 1970, Styx rose out of the Midwestern club circuit, scoring top-40 hits such as \u201cBabe\u201d, \u201cLady\u201d, \u201cCome Sail Away\u201d and \u201cMr. Roboto\u201d on their way to a career that would find them recording eight consecutive multi-platinum albums in the 70s and 80s. The band\u2019s set focused mainly on songs from that period, although the band did cover The Beatles\u2019 \u201cI Am the Walrus\u201d and performed the single \u201cCan\u2019t Stop Rockin\u2019\u201d which the band co-recorded with REO Speedwagon.<\/p>\n
Like Styx, REO Speedwagon\u2019s genesis took place in the Midwest, when several students at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill. got together to play cover songs in local bars. The band found their greatest success in 1980 when the band released \u201cHi Infidelity\u201d, which sold more than nine million copies, spend more than 65 weeks on the Billboard charts and spawned four hit singles, including the No. 1 single \u201cKeep on Loving You.\u201d<\/p>\n
Special guests 38 Special from Jacksonville, Fla. formed in 1975 and enjoyed three platinum-selling albums in the early 1980s and two No. 1 singles \u201cCaught Up in You\u201d and \u201cIf I\u2019d Been the One.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Wednesday the \u201cCan\u2019t Stop Rockin\u2019 Tour\u201d stormed the ShoWare Center in Kent, highlighting the live shows of classic rock stalwarts REO Speedwagon, Styx and .38 Special, who collectively have more than a century of touring experience. The show brought out two separate demographics: fans who saw the groups back in their respective heydays, when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":16590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-16589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16589"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=16589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}