Kevin Cronin will be missing the REO Speedwagon “retrospective” reunion concert on June 14th in the band’s hometown of Champaign, Illinois, and now the singer has publicly commented on the matter.
The charity concert will feature founding member Neal Doughty, bassist Bruce Hall, early REO drummer Alan Gratzer, guitarist Steve Scorfina, rhythm guitarist Mike Murphy, and original frontman Terry Luttrell. Proceeds from the show will benefit the REO Speedwagon Foundation for genitourinary cancer research at Moffitt Cancer Center.
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Cronin, who took over for Luttrell as REO’s frontman in 1972, is noticeably absent from that list of band members, as the June 14th date overlaps with Cronin’s previously announced tour with Styx. Per the itinerary, Cronin will be all the way over in Bend, Oregon, on the day of the retrospective gig — a conflict that Cronin is blaming on the event organizers.
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Writing in a Facebook comment on an otherwise unrelated post, Cronin addressed his absence from the reunion show and said that he was “knowingly excluded”:
“The organizers of the Champaign event could have picked a date when all of the former members of REO were available to participate. Instead they chose June 14, 2025, a date where it was public knowledge that I was previously committed to perform with Styx and Kevin Cronin Band in Bend, Oregon.
Bottom line, I am being asked to participate in an event on a date when I can’t possibly be there in-person. And then being falsely accused of turning down the invitation. I am deeply disturbed and hurt by all of this.
After all I have done to help build the legacy of REO Speedwagon, I feel I have earned and deserve to be included in any event honoring that legacy. Instead, I have been knowingly excluded.
PS. 35-year REO veterans Dave Amato and Bryan Hitt were not even shown the respect of being invited to the Champaign event.”
Cronin is being billed as 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 would cease touring after 2024 due to “irreconcilable differences” between Cronin and bassist Bruce Hall, a rift that has seemingly led to the former’s exclusion from the Champaign reunion.
Despite the change in nomenclature, Cronin will be touring with essentially the same lineup that made up REO Speedwagon toward the band’s end, as Hall wasn’t part of the group in 2024. Cronin be joined by lead guitarist Dave Amato and drummer Bryan Hitt, who have played in REO Speedwagon since 1989, as well as 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 here.
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