REO Speedwagon play their final shows this week and Kevin Cronin has shed more light on what led them to finally call it a day after 47 years as a working band.
In September it was announced that the band would cease touring at the end of 2024 due to “irreconcilable differences” between Cronin and bassist Bruce Hall. Now in a new interview with Billboard the frontman has revealed the details behind that decision.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I ever see this coming,” he said. “I didn’t want to end REO Speedwagon. This is sad, and I would do anything in my power to continue. I never quit the band; I never will quit the band. I just got outvoted and… have to stop calling it REO Speedwagon at the end of this year.”
Cronin’s problem is that the ownership of the band name lies with three people: himself, Hall and the sole remaining founder member Neal Doughty. Hall hasn’t been able to play live since back surgery in November 2023, the same year Doughty retired from touring. Those two have decided to bring an end to the band, outvoting Cronin by two to one.
The frontman was putting a brave face on what, for him, is an enormously frustrating situation: “The simple answer is that REO Speedwagon at this point is a three-person partnership… and I have one vote. So if I get outvoted then I have to accept that, whether I like it or not. I’ll be honest with you - I don’t like it. But I have to accept it… I would do everything in my power to be able to continue with REO Speedwagon but, when a vote is taken, you have to live with the results.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Cronin acknowledged that the break up has involved some acrimony between Hall and himself: “It’s kind of like a divorce of sorts,” Cronin says, “and during a divorce things get a little muddy and things get a little sticky. I wish it could’ve been more amicable, but the minute attorneys get involved it just changes the atmosphere of things.”
Still, the show must go on. Speedwagon play their final gig at the Venetian in Las Vegas this coming Saturday. Then in January Cronin makes his solo debut in Thackerville, Oklahoma, in all probability playing a very similar set. “It’s gonna be called Kevin Cronin, but if you want to see an REO Speedwagon show, that’s what it’s going to be,”
“I feel a certain responsibility to the fans to keep it going…without the name REO Speedwagon, which is a big thing to not have,” he told Billboard. “I consider myself kind of the shepherd, in a way, of the songs of (late REO Speedwagon guitarist) Gary Richrath, so I intended to continue playing those songs…’cause I know people still want to hear them.”
