Little River Band brings 40 years of hits to Greensburg's Palace Theatre

Friday night, it was late, I was walking you home … after seeing the Little River Band at The Palace Theatre.

You’ll be able to say that if you take your sweetie to the band’s show Friday in Greensburg. And then you’ll really have something to reminisce about.

Hits like “Reminiscing” — along with “Lonesome Loser,” “Cool Change,” “Happy Anniversary” and a slew of others — are what have kept the band touring since its heyday in the late 1970s. But it’s not just boomers in the audience.

“We’ve been asking at our shows since the pandemic, how many are seeing the band live for the first time. About 80 to 85% of the audience put their hands up,” said bassist/vocalist Wayne Nelson.

“We have 25-year-olds, 21-year-olds, listening to music on a way wider spectrum than you or I did in the ’70s, so we’re basically crossing into a third generation of fans.”

Anybody can relate to a good song, Nelson said.

“The band, to its credit, never followed a trend. The songs were always about life,” he said. “I always say life doesn’t change, just the toys do. We’ve always had a heavy vocal influence, both vocal and guitar harmonies.”

Those distinctive harmonies led the late Glenn Frey of The Eagles to call LRB “the best singing band in the world.”

From Australia to America

Little River Band formed in Australia in 1975, garnering success in the early years both at home and increasingly, as the fan base grew, in the United States.

Little by little, the Aussies were replaced by Americans as “all those years of making the trek back and forth became very difficult,” Nelson said.

The last original member left in 1977, and the last Australian retired from the road in 2006.

Prior to joining LRB in 1981, Nelson — who grew up in Illinois and moved to Los Angeles in 1978 — played with musicians including Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina. He was opening for LRB with Messina’s band when the invitation came.

He took a hiatus for family reasons from 1996 to 2000 but is still by far the longest- tenured member.

Since the early 2000s, Nelson said, LRB mostly has been a touring band, playing 80 to 100 shows a year. Joining him in the current lineup are keyboardist Chris Marion, lead guitarist Rich Herring, drummer Ryan Ricks and rhythm and lead guitarist Colin Whinnery.

Recent releases have included “The Hits … Revisited,” a 2016 CD of nine re-recorded hits and two new songs; and “The Big Box” from 2017, a box set of 6 CDs and a DVD with live footage from the LRB 40th anniversary tour.

Next up will be an album of songs recorded live on the road in 2019.

Relevant and creative

Their last release of new music was “Cuts Like a Diamond” in 2014. Some of the newer songs also have become live show mainstays, Nelson said.

“They’re very emotional songs that have been getting standing ovations, so it’s very rewarding to put them up on stage,” he said.

“We’re trying to be relevant and be creative, to complete the history of the band by playing the hits as necessary and the new songs to keep us fresh,” he said. “(The newer songs) are the 2000s version of the band, and the stories reflect more of the ups and downs of our life experience.”

Nelson said 2021 is shaping up as a decent touring year, despite the continuing issue of pandemic-related postponements and cancellations.

The group got back to it in March, with three concerts in Florida, and then “tiptoed” through its dates from May through July, Nelson said.

“Then from July 4 on, we’re booked for every weekend through Christmas,” he said.

The Oct. 15 show at The Palace was rescheduled from the original date of June 26, 2020, and then from Jan. 29. All tickets from the original date will be honored.

Tickets are $49.75-$69.75, with an additional fee when purchased at the door.

Details: 724-836-8000 or thepalacetheatre.org.