Heartthrob Springfield still ignites fans
Crowd starts gathering early for prime spot

Waukesha - Markie Fenton and Suzi Glowaski left Pittsburgh at 5 p.m. Thursday and drove all night to get a front-row spot to see 1980s pop star Rick Springfield at Sentry Foods RiverFest Friday night.

They were just two of dozens of women who arrived hours early, some at 5 a.m., in hope of getting a seat that would allow them to lock eyes, catch a smile or achieve their ultimate fantasy: getting onstage with the former soap opera star.

Fenton and Glowaski had not driven the farthest. Some of those staking out prime spots with blankets, umbrellas and lawn chairs at Frame Park had traveled from as far away as Texas and Oklahoma for the free concert.

RiverFest organizers were pleasantly surprised at the popularity of the 49-year-old Springfield, who drew a crowd of several thousand people, most of them women. Had it not been for the suffocating heat, the crowd might have been bigger, the organizers said.

Earlier in the day, rabid fans shared photos, stories and scrapbooks of Springfield.

But as concert time drew closer, Fenton and Glowaski eyed other women with suspicion. They had staked out a prime spot on the ground, center stage, and they didn't want anyone else taking it.

"You won't believe how aggressive the crowd gets," said Fenton, 38, a network television production assistant who has been following the Springfield tour across the country. She speaks from experience, because this is her seventh such concert this year.

"There are no friends in the crowd," she said.

"The claws come out," said Glowaski, 29.

And they were right. By late afternoon, the crowd of adoring women had doubled and tightened up despite the afternoon heat. Women sat shoulder-to-shoulder, defending their position, determined to get as close to the stage as possible.

Earlier, Fenton showed photos of her and a smiling Springfield at a concert in Columbus, Ohio. She had hopes of reliving that moment at Friday's concert. But if she didn't get her chance at RiverFest, Fenton would have two more opportunities, at shows in Chicago and Minneapolis.

"He's worth it," Fenton said.

Just feet away, Jane Miller paged through a thick scrapbook filled with Springfield memorabilia. Miller, of Verona, met Springfield once and twice was chosen to go onstage with him.

The third-grade teacher showed photos of her sharing a microphone with Springfield, his arms around her onstage in Minneapolis. She sends the rock 'n' roller birthday cards and even used a photograph of her and Springfield taken onstage for a Christmas card.

Miller pulled her prized possession out of a zipped plastic bag: a long-sleeved, autographed Rick Springfield T-shirt that she bought in 1986. In a mob of women hungry for Springfield's attention, Miller said wearing the relic gets her onstage.

Sisters Valerie Haas and Melissa Gardner, who drove from Illinois, already had missed one Rick Springfield concert this year because of a last-minute cancellation.

"The concert was canceled, and we could have just died," Haas, 33, said.

"I cried," Gardner, 31, said.

So there was no way they were going to miss seeing Springfield at RiverFest. When the two experienced car trouble, they borrowed a car and peeled out of their hometown of Polo, Ill., at 6:30 a.m. just to stake out a spot slightly to the right of center stage.

"He said he favors the center and the right of the stage," Gardner said.

The two fell in love with Springfield while in junior high school and remember repeatedly watching a television concert of their idol.

"Even at 50 he's so fine," Gardner said. "He's gorgeous."

When Sara Scheel heard Springfield was playing at RiverFest, she rescheduled a vacation that she and her husband had planned for months.

"A kiss on the cheek would be top of the line, but that's too much to expect," said Scheel, of Eagle, displaying a quilt made of Rick Springfield T-shirts.

Fans Michelle DeGrave of Green Bay and Toni Meyer, from the Sheboygan area, arrived at 11 a.m.

DeGrave, 28, said she fell in love with Springfield when she was an 11-year-old sixth-grader.

"I saw him on 'General Hospital,' heard 'Jessie's Girl' and bought 'Working Class Dog,' " DeGrave said. At ages 12 and 13, she saw the heartthrob in concert, joined a fan club, bought all his albums and tried to catch a glimpse of him wherever she could.

She's now raising her 3-year-old daughter, Jessica, on Rick Springfield, and said Jessica already is a fan.

For her 29th birthday, DeGrave and her husband are flying to Los Angeles to see Springfield in concert.

"He has die-hard fans," she said. "He is such a nice guy. We all like the fact that he's married to the same woman. He's not on drugs. I'd definitely raise my kids on his music."