Loverboy still enjoys playing live shows – even after being in the music business for 33 years.
“We like to see who has more fun, the audience, or the band, 'cause we love playing these songs and the audience loves singing them back at us,” said Mike Reno, the band's lead singer. “It's kind of like a jukebox; every time you drop a quarter in, you hear a song you know and you love. Everybody, after all these years, knows all the words, so it's a giant contest on who can be louder, the audience or the band.”
Loverboy will take the stage in Olds on July 29 at the Olds Agricultural Society grounds.
Reno said band members enjoy playing in small towns or smaller venues such as casinos. The band also does a lot of outdoor shows in small towns or bigger cities. Everybody in the band grew up in a small town and enjoyed when groups would come to town and play.
“We're just repaying that favour,” he said. “We find that in the smaller towns people are just totally into it and happy that we came. And a lot of times when we go way up north too, (fans) are just so appreciative that we've come that far that they come out. It's really cool; it's a nice community vibe, and we really love it.”
Reno said although all the travelling can sometimes get band members down – the band played 120 shows last year and will do 80 this year – when they finally get on stage, it makes everything worthwhile. He also said that everyone in the band enjoys playing together and that's what keeps it going after all these years.
“In our case we play so well together that it really does sound like a magic couple hours when we're together. We really look forward to it. We kind of say we do the show for free; we charge everyone for travelling,” he said.
Loverboy last put out an album two years ago and will release another near the end of this year. It's a compilation of older unreleased songs and newer material. Reno said with the digital format now being the standard, the older recordings were going to be lost, so those were combined with newer material to make a new record. With only being allowed about 10 songs per record, the band always has some excess material that never ends up being released.
“Now we've got songs that span 33 years, so it's going to be a very interesting, eclectic album,” Reno said.
Loverboy's fan base continues to evolve, he added, with the Internet allowing younger fans to discover the band while still keeping older fans who have liked the music for years.
“I think the Internet has allowed people to do a lot of research on their own. We'll play … an outdoor concert and there's 7,000 people. I would say that there's 2,000 people in their early 20s. We have got a whole other younger crowd coming out to see Loverboy and I think they like the positive lyrics and the high energy,” he said.
Tickets for the show are $39 and are available at Stevens Jewellers.
Gates open at 6:30 p.m. with the opening act Run, Romeo, Run taking the stage at 7:30 p.m. and Loverboy scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
