Editorials
Still Crazy for Jessie’s Girl: Rick Springfield Brings the ’80s Home to Youngstown
by Dave Parsons
In the heart of steel country, the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheater is a gem. With a capacity of around 4,800, the venue has a sweeping lawn and natural slope to the open-air stage. The Mahoning River curves behind the stage and the skyline of downtown Youngstown looms when it gets dark. It’s a venue built for community, and on Saturday, June 28, 2025, the near-capacity crowd that came through the gates wasn’t just there for a show. They came seeking time travel, and to relive a time in their lives when mousse and melody were the main components of their days.
Billed as the I Want My ’80s Back tour, the evening’s lineup was a soundtrack to a mixtape cassette of heavy hitters: Paul Young, Wang Chung, John Waite, and the eternal heartthrob himself, Rick Springfield.
Kicking off the evening just as golden hour leaned into dusk, Paul Young took the stage with quiet command. Dressed with English understatement in a black open-collared shirt, with a stylish long satin scarf, Young’s voice was in fine shape as he opened with Some People and morphed into I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down.
Young sang each lyric with depth, his raspy voice now smoother than years ago. His short 4 song set was a soulful way to start the evening. His song Come Back and Stay had some folks swaying back and forth, and then the closing song Every Time You Go Away turned the amphitheater into one huge sing-along. Much like the audience singing it, the age and wisdom changed the meaning from a young man begging someone not to go, to an older person who knows they’ll leave anyway. The quality and desperate cry in his voice linked the audience back to when the song was on every one of their mixtapes in 1985.
After a very brief interlude to clear Young’s equipment, Wang Chung emerged next to the roar of the crowd with Wait! and Rent Free. The crowd was primed by now to create a makeshift dancefloor as Let’s Go! began. The projected playing of their 1980s music videos was a huge transition to seeing them 40+ years later, just below the screen. Dance Hall Days got the party started as the two remaining original members of Wang Chung sounded every bit as they did in the day and the party got more intense with the classic Should I Stay or Should I Go?, with the more apropos lyrics of Should I Wang or Should I Chung?.
Needless to say, when they launched into Everybody Have Fun Tonight, the place went nuts. Thousands chanted the chorus together, dancing like they may not have for quite some time, and together as a community, they had fun!
After another brief changeover, John Waite appeared, decked out in a black suit jacket, stylish black hat, and a long scarf similar to Young’s. From the opening chords of Change, Waite’s tenor hit like a shot of good bourbon. Singing the timeless, When I See You Smile, Waite leaned into the microphone like he was telling secrets to the front row. The crowd leaned closer, with some of them smiling, and some of them visibly moved as he rolled into Missing You, still an angst-filled masterpiece of music. Waite didn’t oversell it, and he let the song set the mood.
Waite grew up in Lancaster, England, and became known with the group The Babys, and later with Bad English, before beginning his solo career. He worked cover versions of both groups into his set, before ending with an extended cover of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love. It is fair to say everyone was on the same page, as the audience, and Waite ripped through the song. Waite certainly set the bar high for the rest of the evening and made it apparent that Mr. Springfield had a well-warmed-up crowd, and maybe his work was cut out for him.
And then, after three acts had already made the night worth the ticket, Rick Springfield stormed the stage. The Amphitheatre exploded as the first riffs of I’ll Make You Happy, started. Wearing a black tee, tight black jeans, a leather jacket, and that eternal rocker’s grin, Springfield was bringing it on all cylinders out of the gate. Darting from one side of the stage to the other, tossing guitar picks like rose petals, and then bringing the song to a close with his trademark rose petal shower.
What’s amazing is that he still looks like a soap opera heartthrob/matinee idol/and part-time rock and roll star AND that his voice remains amazingly strong. Affair Of The Heart paced the set and set up the punch of I’ve Done Everything for You.
Born Richard Springthorpe in Sydney, Australia, Springfield’s career began when he recorded his debut RCA album Working Class Dog and landed his role as Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital in a very short period in the early 1980s. His identity has always straddled the two worlds of the soap opera hunk and genuine rocker. You can see that he knows how to walk that line as he can rock and sweat with the best of them, and then flash that smile and break the same hearts he has broken for 40 years.
He turned serious about halfway through the set, talking in detail about some of his challenges, before launching into World Start Turning and State of the Heart. At this point, Springfield grinned, holding his Strat like a weapon, and launched into Don’t Talk to Strangers. He turned the song into a sing-along competition. He divided the house into those over a certain age and those under, clearly showing he knew the median age of his audience. The crowd responded with Don’t talk every time Springfield pointed the mic at them.
It was apparent he was heading for the finish line with each song leading up to the signature song finish. Love Somebody and Human Touch set the stage for a montage of videos introducing Jessie’s Girl. Taking the stage with no shirt, and showing off his 70+ year old body that men in their 40s wish they had, he milked every last ounce of energy the crowd had left, and even let the audience carry the final chorus.
The real story of the night was the fans. There was a woman in her early 60s wearing a vintage Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet T-shirt. She danced all night with the reckless abandon of a teenager. A grandfather clapped his hands and shouted the chorus to Dance Hall Days like it was 1984, while he danced with his teenage grandkids. A couple explained they saw Springfield in Vegas on their 25th wedding anniversary. They went on to explain that in 24 hours, it would be their 40th wedding anniversary, and they were celebrating it again with Springfield.
And those are only a few of the stories among the crowd of thousands. For three glorious hours, it felt like one big family reunion where the dress code required only denim, neon, and heart. For those on the stage, for all the nostalgia, nothing about this performance felt dated. These weren’t faded stars. They were pros—battle-tested, but still playing….just like those mixtapes you discover in the back of a box in the attic. You close the door, put one on, and take that trip back to the day you made it. What was going on, who you ran around with, and how badly you really did want Jessie’s Girl.…the tape ends, and you come back to the present day, and realize how much those times, and the songs, are embedded in your soul, and you are grateful you get to visit whenever you want.
Rick Springfield Setlist
1.) I’ll Make You Happy
2.) Affair of the Heart
3.) I’ve Done Everything for You
4.) Living in Oz / Bop ‘Til You Drop / Souls / Two Tickets to Paradise / Jessie’s Girl / What’s Victoria’s Secret? / What Kind of Fool Am I / Rock of Life
5.) Love Is Alright Tonite
6.) World Start Turning
7.) State of the Heart
8.) Don’t Talk to Strangers
9.) Love Somebody
10.) Human Touch
11.) Jessie’s Girl
John Waite Setlist
1.) Change
2.) Midnight Rendezvous
3.) Every Time I Think of You
4.) When I See You Smile
5.) Missing You
6.) Head First
7.) Back on My Feet Again
8.) Whole Lotta Love
Wang Chung Setlist
1.) Wait!
2.) Rent Free
3.) Let’s Go!
4.) Dance Hall Days
5.) Should I Stay or Should I Go?
6.) Everybody Have Fun Tonight
Paul Young Setlist
1.) Some People
2.) I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down
3.) Come Back and Stay
4.) Every Time You Go Away
