Kevin Cronin can be lacking the REO Speedwagon “retrospective” reunion live performance on June 14th within the band’s hometown of Champaign, Illinois, and now the singer has publicly commented on the matter.
The charity live performance will function founding member Neal Doughty, bassist Bruce Corridor, early REO drummer Alan Gratzer, guitarist Steve Scorfina, rhythm guitarist Mike Murphy, and unique frontman Terry Luttrell. Proceeds from the present will profit the REO Speedwagon Basis for genitourinary most cancers analysis at Moffitt Most cancers Middle.
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Cronin, who took over for Luttrell as REO’s frontman in 1972, is noticeably absent from that checklist of band members, because the June 14th date overlaps with Cronin’s beforehand introduced tour with Styx. Per the itinerary, Cronin can be all the way in which over in Bend, Oregon, on the day of the retrospective gig — a battle that Cronin is blaming on the occasion organizers.
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Writing in a Fb touch upon an in any other case unrelated submit, Cronin addressed his absence from the reunion present and mentioned that he was “knowingly excluded”:
“The organizers of the Champaign occasion may have picked a date when all the former members of REO have been obtainable to take part. As an alternative they selected June 14, 2025, a date the place it was public information that I used to be beforehand dedicated to carry out with Styx and Kevin Cronin Band in Bend, Oregon.
Backside line, I’m being requested to take part in an occasion on a date after I can’t probably be there in-person. After which being falsely accused of turning down the invitation. I’m deeply disturbed and harm by all of this.
In any case I’ve completed to assist construct the legacy of REO Speedwagon, I really feel I’ve earned and should be included in any occasion honoring that legacy. As an alternative, I’ve been knowingly excluded.
PS. 35-year REO veterans Dave Amato and Bryan Hitt weren’t even proven the respect of being invited to the Champaign occasion.”
Cronin is being billed because the “former lead singer/songwriter” of REO Speedwagon on his upcoming co-headlining tour dates with Styx. That after the band’s announcement that it might stop touring after 2024 because of “irreconcilable variations” between Cronin and bassist Bruce Corridor, a rift that has seemingly led to the previous’s exclusion from the Champaign reunion.
Regardless of the change in nomenclature, Cronin can be touring with primarily the identical lineup that made up REO Speedwagon towards the band’s finish, as Corridor wasn’t a part of the group in 2024. Cronin be joined by lead guitarist Dave Amato and drummer Bryan Hitt, who’ve performed in REO Speedwagon since 1989, in addition to keyboardist Derek Hilland, a member of REO Speedwagon since January 2023, and Matt Bissonette, who has been REO Speedwagon’s touring bassist since November 2023. Get tickets right here.