REO Speedwagon - Ridin' The Storm Out *Live 1977*

[OPTIMISPOOH]

THIS was when they were still Kickin' and taking names.. Gary, Like Punky from Angel was a tone king

[NormusJohnson88]

wasn't this recorded at 157 riverside ave? he he

[pettibonnotginn]

REO's taking Scorpions' Rock You Like A Hurricane on their coattails right into the Rock n' Roll Hayll of Fame this year-- and it's abouyt mfkn time 4 both ouytstanding bands.

[Freyja1133]

@pettibonnotgin REo will get in to the rhof... but scorpions won't.. for one reason & one reason only...... they're a german hard rock band ! and this is for Americans only !

[HerdPhoto56]

@Freyja1133 Actually, that's not true. Abba (to my great chagrin, considering the bands that are NOT in, bands like Grand Funk, Kiss, etc.) is Swedish and they are already in the RRHOF.

[lovelessheart27]

Awesome Band!!!

[slipknotftw1000]

kevin culd really sing great then nice!!

[slipknotftw1000]

great song!!

[slipknotftw1000]

reo was hella good back in the day !

[Freyja1133]

@slipknotftw1000  this is the line up that I saw play live back in the summer of 1977

[corbinlinks]

Original REO was soo.... rockin'!!!

[superbulldog81]

Looks like Geddy Lee :)

[mjw9363]

that Dude is fucking jammin on the Bass

[spockadee]

Somebody should call Gary on the telephone please!!!

[jplafoot]

they ought to bring gary back for the 30years aniversiray & let hjm plat his off. resa

[FlashYes1]

Terry Lutrell!

[anton823]

kevin cronin and the fro....cool beans!

[edwinf9999]

The studio version is so bad compared to the live version.

[virnman]

@edwinf9999 That's because Mike Murphy sang on it rather than Kevin

[power99990]

Hit like if Supernatural bring you here!!

[rnrpeg2]

Kevin---always so queeby--but he's the sweetest guy. and Gary DOES rock. this band was bad-ass before they 'heard if from a friend who...'

HAHA

[TheHankster777]

whats up the crowd is dead rocknroll whats wrong hankster777

[elementengage]

Kicks ass and takes names ...

[lguizi]

Supernatural brings me here

[SammiSeverity]

in their prime R E O was one of the best live acts going at the time

[nashburnette]

@SammiSeverity They still are, every year.

[narbealter]

supernatural

[TonySkyRush]

That was no lip sync man,that was a great performance. Its great looking back at the true artists of my youth. I feel sorry for young people now. There are some great artists out there but you have to search for them.

[ricknchrissy1]

DUDE Whats up with the hair??

[shnoopydoo]

@ricknchrissy1 HAHAHA! And we thought the 80's was big hair rock. HELLO!

[steelflame1]

This band used to rock. What happened to them ?

[rizzlaxl]

You cant call it REO with out Gary. 'cause Muc Rake said so.

[Syzygy60]

muggles is catching on

[Syzygy60]

nothat's the story we tell non musicians

[1983REDROCKSU2]

Its was a "Les Paul" conspiracy plotted by Gary and Kevin taking over the Midnight Special that night! It don't have to be organized it just has to be carried out with loud intentions! Thats what the meaning of ROCK AND ROLL is truly about!

[ChicagoBoomBoom]

I had to stop listening to REO in 2007, after buying "Find Your Own Way Home," released in that year. Oh, man. That was horrible power ballad garbage. Long ways away from the classic live album "You Get What You Play For," which is the ultimate rock and roll party album! Bring back Gary on the guitar!

[1bonzo]

one of the most powerful songs ever, and REO too, well well well.

[DeJay323]

Best version right here

[MKWFan5000]

I remember watching the Midnight Special every week. your right, the crap thats out night dosent compare to music from the past. you needed real talent and worked hard to get a recording contract. now, just look pretty. So glad I grew up in the 70s and wish I had a time machine.

[hangawara]

@MKWFan5000 isn't youtube the time machine, ...

[shnoopydoo]

@hangawara OMG you are so right!!

[Mr83382]

@hangawara was thinkin the same thing

[lance9772]

I HEARD THAT KEVIN USE TO RENT HIS HAIR TO SQUIRRELS IN THE WINTER LOL

[unclemick13]

I seen these guys in I think it was like 1977 at the Bluffton College in Bluffton Ohio with the Manfred Man Band and it was when this song first come out. Rocked the place out!!

[atomicplayboy4u]

W\AITING FOR THE SOLO ! :)

[jbeng1953]

Cronin on the 6 string is rare. WOW!! I have seen this band a dozen times. One of Midwest best! I am illinois born and bread! WE ROCK!

[dudelive321]

Followed them for a whole summer

[cathyharvey4]

Gary Richrath rules!!

[billsav57]

This is them at their pre-power ballad best. But that hair ... obscene!

[WashitaExpatriate]

@billsav57

LOL...It's the clothes that make me cringe! I'll freely admit that I still (at way over age 50) like seeing longer hair on anyone who'll grow it!

[nukarr]

great stuff

[scott30771]

I have never seen them so nervouse on a stage.

[bigdanbear]

Great stuff. Music

[bigdanbear]

Love this stuff. The music was MUSUC!

[semjaavria]

I love how everyone supports Richrath...if you don't, listen to Golden Country from Live: You Get What You Play For

[Freyja1133]

@semjaavria I wrote a set of lyrics which tells KC how we feel about Gary....

they're called break REOs Heart

I'll post them after they're typed up

[EclecticDiscus]

Cronin ruined that band, Richrath was the heart.

[SqueekyDc]

There's no denying it REO RULED back in the day !!!. Long live Gary Richrath !!

[bozo841983]

this man is tore to the gills !!!

[MultiRushfan]

i like REO.. but i wish they would have expanded lyrically from girls. i wana look at em, fuckem.. but not talk about em! one reason why im a serious RUSH fan. and their music is better. but i do like REO.

[777GMoney]

Did Kevin Kronin borrow those pants from Jimmy Page? Richrath rules

[thelenis]

Richrath is a very under rated guitarist

[TheXXXDB]

Gary Ritchrath....the CORNER STONE of REO.......they have NEVER been the same without him.....

[mrwhitford1966]

@TheXXXDB Indeed! Who is REO Speedwagon without Gary Richrath??? That's like Led Zep w/o JP; Aerosmith w/o JFP; Stones w/o Keef; Pink Floyd w/o DG . . . need I say more? Gary Richrath - most underrated guitar player ever. Watch him in these mid 70's clips - he's brilliantly cool.

[TheXXXDB]

@mrwhitford1966 i agree brother....500%....

[Freyja1133]

@TheXXXDB GAry's also the ehart of REO Speedwagon... with out him, REO  has no heart

[thoa1960]

@TheXXXDB Agree 100%. LOVE Cronin. But Richrath is spectacular.

[LisaandFranksMom]

Saw REO in concert back in the day...a full day of 17 or so bands...REO came on right before Heart, who were the headliner, final act...REO was MUCH better than Heart....they played ALL their hits and were totally awesome!!

[barkleyspider]

Richrath was a badass!

[jacobwalters85]

Back when Kevin Cronin sounded like a man!

[gogomountain]

I saw them last night at the LA County Fair, Pomona, CA! They still have Kevin Cronin and Neal Doughty (keyboard). They played this song, too. It was great! Regarding the video, it looks like Kevin is wearing a wig. That hair just doesn't look naturual . . .

[butchgriggs2]

Yup Duff..You were born a little late..

The good news is all the music is here...The bad news is you don't get to experience getting your hands on the vinyl.

There was something very romantic about getting that album. The smell of fresh vinyl. You looked intently at the art, read cover to cover the little booklets that came with them.

If you wanted to know about the band? You could not just google it. It was magical and mysterious.

The fact you are here is enough. Being there was magic.

[ole9421]

@butchgriggs2 Well said, man well said.

[Ludwigzildjian1]

Gary should be on the top 20 best guitarists or top 10

[WealthLetter]

Now that my friends is some classic Rock. Performed Live, before auto tune, when talent mattered.

[timmytheimpaler]

2 years before rock and roll peaked...these were the days.

[briandavisradio]

Gary Richrath = UNDER-RATED ! Awesome guitarist !

[briandavisradio]

Is that Howard Stern singing ? Damn ! I never knew LOL

[Doug4422]

Notice the video here . . . Bert Sugarman's Midnight Special . . . what a show . . . they had some of the biggest acts ever on that stage, from REO Speedwagon, to Roy Orbison, to KISS. I wish they would come up with a show on the same format today. This show was placed on NBC after the Tonight Show went off air, because, in those days, there was "Nothing after Carson."

[dbrinkm1]

@Doug4422 Bert Sugarman's Midnight Special .was the first show to simulcast audio on FM stations which For the first time you could watch the concert on tv and listen to the audio through your fm stereo.Those were the days !

[Doug4422]

@dbrinkm1 Tell me about it . . . those were simpler, and imo better times.

[dbrinkm1]

@Doug4422 Doug....REO used to play at our frat parties at U of Ill. & Ill State U as well as " Chances R " In Champaign Il. Great days !!

[Strngs012]

I wish they would put out theses old shows on DVD or something. I guess it would be too difficult with all the licensing and that. Damn lawyers gotta have there cut.

[wandererlain]

Seriously, classics like this and even the blues played by the lonely guitar men in London's subways sounds better than today's sad excuse for music.

Give the buskers a damn record label, I say!

[vtjumpr]

Riding the storm out in Vermont!! com'on Irene!!

[lizziep2003]

The PERFECT song to have playing while waiting for hurricane Irene to hit the Philly area! The storm was not as bad as expected but it was still very scary! I'm still here and REO still rocks! Enjoy!

[jferr9999]

Great video from a great band during a great time period for music. Perfect clip for getting through Irene OR just a quick day picker upper. Speaking of "periods", It would be great if Kevin Cronin got off of his and got back together with Gary!! REO just isn't REO without Gary Richrath. These two are just like every great musical duo that brings out the best (and sometimes the worst) in each other and separate neither is even close to the same..... Sad that it's always ego and resentments that

[psycom54]

What a great concert, seen REO and Joe Walsh at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, N.J. around this same time, I remember this lead guitarist put on a show, so comfortable he was that he came prancing out on stage of all things eating a hard roll and playing a lead guitar solo. It was a good time and a greater evening.

[genman57]

@psycom54 Right On Man!!

[jwgreathouse]

if there is a better vocalist I haven't heard em yet!

[songsofblack]

Gettin ready to ride Lady Irene in Philly.

I needed to listen to this.

[CatzEyes93]

music for irene

[OVTobin]

Music to Ride (Hurricane) Irene to!

[NPAMike]

Hurricane Music!

[loraljohnson]

This band is not the same without Gary on guitar. Grow UP guys. You were once REO Speedwagon, now your new guitar player is playing covers.

Came here since Hurricane Irene is coming tomorrow. And I will be... Ridin' the Storm Out here in Delaware

[youcansuckmylittleto]

Gary was REO!! Is that a sheeps ass on Kevin's head???

[skot71]

Gary Richrath needs to be back in REO!!!!!

[DABIGRAGU1]

For TSL

Take care guys.

[TheIdolkiller]

For all those who think they can beat the wrath of Hurricane Irene

[hareball196969]

Always think of this before a big storm.

[saranovey]

yup they don't music like they used to that's for sure....never be anything as good as the 70's music was...



[Gurkha69thID]

@saranovey there is great music out there, you'll just never find it on mainstream radio.

[lee47848]

@saranovey i disagree and yes i cut my teeth on this music.grunge was every bit as good if not better than this

[Freyja1133]

@saranovey and 80s

[NilesDuff]

I was born in the wrong decade. I wish I could turn on popular radio, and hear this instead of auto-tuned dance party garbage. Also, Cronin's knees are like a metronome.

[wandererlain]

@NilesDuff I know what you mean. I couple of my friends put on the crappy shit-hop channel in their homes, but I just go blank, even with all the girls jumping around. That's not rock n roll. This is God compared to the new shit.

[Roguestandards]

@NilesDuff 70s-80s were the best time for rock, today its to much hip hop crap that lowers peoples intelligence kinda sad to see the youth of america and the world having to listen to that bullshit,,,, this was back in the day were people had fun making music not making music just because its "In" and tryin to make a quick buck... (this goes to you wanna be rappers and techno freaks, get ur head outta ur ass and find out what real music is, not the same shit over and over.)

[stingray1964]

@NilesDuff Oh yeah, being a kid in the 70's was the bomb! The shit they played on the radio back then was amazing! Bowie,Heart, Zeppelin, REO, Trower, Jeff Beck, Queen ALL day long!

[butchgriggs2]

@NilesDuff

Yup Duff..You were born a little late..

The good news is all the music is here...The bad news is you don't get to experience getting your hands on the vinyl.

There was something very romantic about getting that album. The smell of fresh vinyl. You looked intently at the art, read cover to cover the little booklets that came with them.

If you wanted to know about the band? You could not just google it. It was magical and mysterious.

The fact your here. Being there was magic.

[ds41980]

@butchgriggs2

Oh man going to that record store and looking through the albums was an experience in itself. Sometimes they were sold out and the only way you could hear the songs were to listen to the radio! Waiting for the record to come in. If you were lucky you had a double tape deck and could record of the radio. But most of us were stuck holding a tape recorder to the radio and hoping someone did not come into your room and blow the whole recording!

[1danrobbins]

@ds41980 Man, that might be the best post on You Tube I have read.  What a great description of the era I grew up in and your defining how we would hold a tape recorder of some sort to record the song on AM, no less, is exactly how it was. Miss those days, really.

[4evershalom]

@ds41980 Absolutely!! I so remember those days!! And when the record store was the next town over, 20 minutes away...the wait was so worth it!!!! I never cursed the rain so much as when it screwed up my radio stations!!! LOL

[ds41980]

@4evershalom

Ah Ha Ha, I totally forgot about the weather messing with your music! Do you remember feeling sad the day you went into the music store and they had converted totally from vinyl to CD? I remember clearly because I was working in a local mall and the guy who ran the store (camelot music) came in to my store and told me and I was like "I gotta see this."

[ReptileBro420]

@NilesDuff i agree dance party shit sucks n there should be more music like this

[KingCrimson776]

lol... at the end of the vid there, it looks like the letters "EW" are brighter than the others.

[DougiesGirlDy]

I am ready for you guys to come back to ABERdeen washington. I was raised in the midwest...PLS bring me bck to the memory

[indy007]

For those challenging Cronin's guitar work for this song, it's a rhythm guitar. Specific to those who commented about it, you probably don't have knowledge of a rhythm guitar or what it does. Learn the differences between a lead guitar and rhythm guitar before you comment.

[notfragile33]

@indy007 Yeah, but you usually can HEAR most rhythm guitars! You can't hear his at all, not over Gary, anyway, when he plays both lead AND rhythm! If you can't hear a rhythm guitar at all, what's the point in having it in your band? Like I said, some help he was!

[fraink7]

just saw them at the Ventura fair tonight.They sound just as good.maybe better.More polished.Hair is quite different,but so is mine!

[09jackstraw]

Takes me back to '79 I'm 17 and the car stereo blasting this tune. Man, those were some times and REO was a big part of the soundtrack of our lives.

[p51d007]

They don't make em like that any more.

I can't remember the number of times I popped in the "live-you get what you play for" album in my car....8 track tape!

[GordosMama1111]

been stormin all night and day..ridin it out

[notfragile33]

I was never sure how it was that Cronin 'helped' Richrath as a second guitarist? You barely hear his guitar at all--as if it was even plugged in to begin with! Makes me wonder if it was like Elvis, he just had a guitar because it made him look like he was doing something

[wags2010]

@notfragile33 i think Gary had it all covered haha. I doubt Cronin's guitar does anything at all

[LeStraTele]

GARY IS GREATNESS!!!

[dairyblonde]

Kevin's brother is so devoted to him.. the golden albums.. all the albums..pictures...everything.­.it was amazing..and Shawn told me he spent his honeymoon at his older brother Kevin (REO Speedwagon lead singer) 's mansion in LA.... wow

[dairyblonde]

I remember as a reporter for a school newsapaper at MSTC and prenant about 7 months with my youngest daughter going to Wausau and talking to his younger brother Shawn the weather man for WAOW Channel 9 in Wausau..miss him...and he's very devoted to his family and to his older brother Keven..

[randyhomerun]

haha my dad loves this song he plays it all the time

[MegaMikeLord]

Killer!!!!

[wscott16]

Cronin looks like a puppet on marionette strings -- and what the heck is he doing with his legs??

[jeffreylewisCL]

AWESOME tune!!!!!!!!

[cloudwaters]

Kevin is wearing a wig, right?

[rzombi666]

@cloudwaters Nope, real hair. That was the 70's! Good times!

[TheJohnnysplits]

how the hell can the audience just sit there motionless????!!!!!

[impala327]

@TheJohnnysplits

Either they totally hate them or were paid not to move.

[kayla5812]

Great video



[wetcavelife]

really great archive. late 70s REO. SOme of the best stuff on the planet! thnaks secondHelping74

[soakthisup]

Writchrath was the original gunslinger type guitarist

[kfc63822]

Updated: May 25, 2011 4:35 PM CDT A tornado watch is in effect until 9 p.m. CT Wednesday for southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, and western Kentucky and until 10 p.m. CT for northeast Arkansas, the Missouri bootheel and northwest Tennessee. Several storm shelters are available for those seeking shelter against possible severe storms

[mediblue9]

Look at that hair O-O

[cujomatic]

When I listen to REO with Murphy at the mike, I think hey, he was ok, and I still listen. When I listen to REO without Gary, I think 'bad cover' and move on....The exception being some of the combo's with Styx...

[Freyja1133]

I saw them play live at soldier field back then they oculd've carried the eintire gig themselves !

[goofywilly]

Was this the "Dust Mop" era for Kevin and his ever changing hair?

[lance9772]

i agree that gary was and is an amazin guitarist,but for me,my buddy kevin is and always will be reo speedwagon.i have chilled with reo countless times and trust me dave amato is well aware of the huuuuge shoes he is fillin,he has nothin but admiration and respect for gary.but i believe if you take away the voice of the band,you take away the band itself,especially an amazin and historic voice like kevin cronin has.

[starkravun]

one of my favorite bands

[stanhilton58]

Richrath ROCKS!

[jeffrea525]

Great stuff...

[dogfacehd]

Gary Richrath was a mf of a guitar player and Kevin Cronin is a gay version of a Billy Squire wanna be. Kevin ruined the band and made it a pile of crap, the same thing happened to Journey when Steve Perry wanted everyone fired and they toured with session players.

[captdg]

@dogfacehd Sayin that Cronin is a gay version of Billy Squire is like sayin Paul Simon is a Jewish version of Neil Diamond..

[kelllygg]

I always liked this version better than when they sang it in the 80's. Messed up the chorus for me. Thanks for posting. They'll probably take it down soon - they always do.

[GuitarzFromMarz]

gary richrath was the driving force behind the band, when he left, it was never the same.

[gostosao1971]

Agree 100%! It's not REO without Gary! Bring back Ritchrath!!!!!!!!!!!

[GuitarChickSG1]

@gostosao1971 You got THAT right, gostosao. This band died when they ousted Gary. He was able to keep the band from becoming "The Kevin Cronin Band". But after he left, that's exactly what it was. Their record sales plummeted and they lost their contract. They only survived by touring with Styx on the "Arch Allies" tour.

[Plexi335]

Thank you for posting this!!!! Never remove it!!!

[marmas58ink]

This sounds pretty good... a lot better than the tape I had from years ago. Listening thru headphones you can notice a bit of faux-stereo added in (I think all the original MS shows were in mono). Seems the version they did in concert back then was a good deal longer than this... If so, right about 3:55 seems Richrath realizes they were doing a shortened Midnight Sp version.

[shakenbaken1493]

I thought no footage like this existed. Thanks a billion!

[larr64y]

love it!!!