Honoring A Legacy with Love: A Magical Night

As many of you know, our family has been huge fans of the band REO Speedwagon and even bigger fans of two of the musicians-Neal Doughty and Bruce Hall. I talked about it in my blog from September 2024 which you can check out HERE.

Last weekend, my girls and I had the opportunity to see the band honored one last time as the past band members came together to play a show and raise money for the Moffitt Cancer Center. You can hear more about that in my podcast episode with the beautiful Kimmie Sue Hall. Just know that Saturday night was more than a rock show; lives were saved.

The last year has been challenging for Bruce Hall to say the least. He was forced to stop playing with the band he has been a part of for over 50 years and in the most awful way but I will not go into those details. This post is about a night of love and celebration of a band and people who were able to come together one more time.

Bruce Hall

Saturday night we saw past members of REO rock the house along with family and other musicians who stepped in as part of the celebration. Retired members Neal Doughty and Alan Gratzer came back along with Terry Luttrell, Steve Sciorfina, Mike Murphy and of course, Bruce Hall. They were joined by the band Levon (you need to check them out). Bruce's daughter Sara Siders aka Sass sang and his son Timmy played drums and sang. They had a special memorial tribute to Greg Philbin and Gary Richrath and what made it even more special was having Eric Richrath play too. Eric (Gary's son) was in Scotland but made the trip back to be at this special show.

The man who needed this night the most (in my opinion) was front and center. Bruce was onstage again playing bass and singing in front of a crowd that loves him. As his daughter and son joined him for his "signature" song Back On The Road Again, I saw the joy in him radiate out to the audience and reflect right back to him.

As I stood in the crowd and clapped and sang along, I took a few moments to just feel the energy-the love was palpable. It was truly magical.

And it was not just during that song-the whole show was a celebration of love. While I felt emotional many (many) times during the concert, I didn't tear up until the next to last song Roll With The Changes when the family members came out onstage.

This was when I realized that this was it. This was possibly (never say never) the last time we would hear these songs played live. It was truly bittersweet.

The weekend was about more than just a concert; it was filled with nostalgia and friendship as my daughters and I met old and new friends. Even the drive to Illinois took us past several towns where REO had played including the very first venue in the Wisconsin Dells where these adventures started for us. We celebrated a bridal shower with a group of wonderful friends we met through the band (Congratulations McKenzie!). We met people we only had known online before now and relived memories of past shows with people we had met in-person.

The best part of this past weekend was the time spent with my girls. I always tell other parents to expose your kids to the same music you do, not because you may end up meeting the band but to have common ground during the good and the tough times. Some of our best family memories are linked to our REO trips and the best people in our lives came about because of our REO journey. I am so thankful to have had this experience.

Bruce and Neal were very influential during those teenage years and that made it even more meaningful for the three of us to go to this show together. Bruce and Kimmie Sue are great people and they have always been so kind to us. They truly care about others. I don't have the right words to adequately tell them how much we love and appreciate them and I hope they know.

I said I wouldn't go into the negative but I will say this: I know that the last year and a half (or more) has been so hard on Bruce Hall and his family. He did not deserve the treatment he received. He should have been able to go out and play and sing and make the decision to be done on his terms.

Thankfully, Saturday night was the opportunity to do that and I hope he felt the love that he has brought to so many for so long come right back to him. He deserves that and so much more.

One more Bruce Hug

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If you would like to hear about Tommy's story and how the Moffitt Cancer Center saved his life, you can click the button below.

Tommy's Story