Springfield: ‘We’re going to have a great time’ | News, Sports, Jobs

The Grammy Award-winning singer is perhaps best known for “Jesse’s girl” said he really likes open-air concerts.

“It’s a freer environment,” he said in a recent phone interview with The Messenger.

“Everyone has a better attitude out there under the stars,” he added.

Springfield will perform under the stars at For Dodge on Friday night as headliner for Shellabration.

He promised a show that would make people forget, at least for a few hours, about things like taxes, mortgages and crazy things happening all over the world.

“I’m just looking forward to playing and celebrating with the crowd,” said Springfield. “I’m just looking forward to the big party.”

“We’re going to have a great time,” he added.

He will sing on a stage set up at Central Avenue and Ninth Street in the heart of downtown. It won’t be the first time he’s performed on a street in the middle of a city.

“I’ve done a few,” he said. “I love it.”

Springfield said he is aware that probably 70 percent of Friday night’s audience will be there to hear his hits. In addition to “Jesse’s girl,” his string of hits includes “I did everything for you,” “Don’t talk to strangers,” “Affair of the heart,” And “To love Somebody.”

In the 80s he had 17 Top 40 hits.

But he said he’s also leaving room in his playlist for new material. He said he has a new single coming out called “I could lose myself” which he will perform on Friday.

Springfield’s Fort Dodge concert is part of one of the short tours he has been doing in recent years. He no longer goes on long tours that keep him on the road for weeks and months at a time. Instead, he does tours that include three to five concerts and then returns home to Malibu, California.

“Three, four or five shows and then at home it keeps fresh,” he said.

When he’s not on tour, he’s got plenty to do. He and rocker Sammy Hagar, who “I did everything for you,” are partners in a rum producing company called Beach Bar Rum.

He also has a radio show called “Working class DJ.” Springfield said that becoming a disc jockey was the first job he wanted. However, he said “Working class DJ” he is mainly concerned with having fun.

“I don’t take it seriously at all,” he said.

“I get people coming up to me and saying, ‘I listen to your show,’ and I’m like, ‘Really?’” he said.

Springfield has also been an actor, starring as Dr. Noah Drake. “General Hospital” his best-known role. He hasn’t acted much lately, which he attributes in part to the pandemic, which he says continues to slow Hollywood down.

“I’m still open to parts,” he said.

Singing and acting are very similar, he said.

“Both really operate from the same place in the soul,” he said.