Posted on 04/10/2007 2:28:52 PM PDT by ShadowDancer
Apr 8, 2007 9:32 am US/Eastern
REO Speedwagon Plays Wal-Mart
(CBS) EAGAN, Minn. REO Speedwagon became a rock icon with No.1 hits "Can’t Fight This Feeling" and "Keep On Loving You." They played giant stadiums in the ’70s and ’80s, but Friday they performed at a much different venue - a Wal-Mart in Eagan, Minn., reports CBS station WCCO-TV in Minneapolis.
The band is promoting its first new album in a decade and it has an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart.
"I’ve been watching them for 30 years," said Jay Powell from Cottage Grove, Minn., "and I had to come to Wal-Mart to meet them. I never would have thought that."
Kevin Cronin and Bruce Hall performed a short acoustic set for a crowd of fans, most of them over 40.
"REO was the first rock concert I went to when I was 14 years old," said Jeri Jensen, who made the trip from Hastings, Minn., to see the band. "I saw them at the Met Center in Bloomington."
Wal-Mart has an exclusive deal to sell a three-CD set that includes a DVD and some greatest hits. For two weeks it is the only place to buy the new music.
"We're people-people," said lead singer Kevin Cronin, "and this is where people come to buy music."
Teaming up with a big retailer like Wal-Mart or Best Buy is the latest sales tactic by artists targeting adults.
"...They're the ones still buying music in the CD jewel case form while their kids are downloading it for their iPods," said John Rash, Director of Media Negotiations for Campbell Mithun Advertising.
"Do I walk into a Wal-Mart and act the same way I would at Madison Garden? Absolutely not," said Cronin. “That's part of the beauty of this: These people come in and it's kind of in our living room."
Hmmmm...and I thought casino lounges were the end of the line.
Sorry.... they ain’t REO without Gary Richrath.
ROTFL. Buck up.
That’s the place I find my incense and hexagrams the cheapest.
Of course!
About 10 years ago, my wife and I went to a local Wal-Mart and found TG Shepherd (country music star in the 80’s) playing a free concert in the men’s department. I kid you not......
I saw Def Leppard at a free concert in front of Wal-Mart in San Antonio in 1999. That’s when I knew they were at rock-bottom...
...just like the prices inside the store!
ROFL. And I thought 2-bit indian casinos were bad.
“feels so good!”
I once saw Cheap Trick
play our suburb's "Fall Fest" and
two counties over,
Ashlee Simpson played
at last summer's county fair
for all the farmers . . .
parking lot should hold about 10-20 so hurry up and get out to see the chicks
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