16 July 2016, Greek Theater, Los Angeles, CA

Two words: Rock God.

Another word: Wow.

Having only previously seen him live doing a few songs at the Countdown Spectacular 2 extravaganza in Sydney in 2007, and then having had two failed attempts at seeing him headline a full concert (I had a ticket to see him in London three years ago but I was too sick to go; I had a ticket to see him in Sydney two years ago but he cancelled the tour in favour of making a movie with Meryl Streep… as you do), finally I was in an audience surrounded by Rick’s famous Super Fans to see him in full flight and wow. Just wow.

This is an artist who absolutely relishes live performance, loves his audience, adores his fans, plays guitar ferociously, sings note perfectly, and oh my god this man is hot. If you think 38 photos is a lot, I whittled these down from the 130 I took!! And why wouldn’t I? I mean, look at this nearly 67 year-old. Rock God.

He played a great selection of his best known hits, a smattering of new material from his latest album, Rocket Science, some covers ranging from songs by Mondo Rock to Taylor Swift (oh that he would have played the Zoot version of “Eleanor Rigby”, oh if only) and like all artists do these days, staged the show with terrific visuals on the screen behind him, playfully paying tribute to his very lengthy and full music and acting careers, and showing just how many others have paid tribute to him over the years, from Arnie Schwarzenegger to Oprah to Dave Grohl and more. He had kids on stage, he walked through and over the audience, he played a lot of really cool looking and sounding guitars, and of course he finished with “Jessie’s Girl.”

Rick Springfield is a bona fide rock star. He should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He embodies everything that is magnificent about rock music. And he’s Australian. And he is gorgeous.

But you all knew that.